Japan on Thursday marked 75 years since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks. Atomic bombs were dropped on the cities on August 6 and 9, 1945, almost completely destroying them. Between 130,000 and 226,000 people — mostly civilians — lost their lives.
These archive photographs show the scale of the devastation the nuclear weapons caused.
Use the slider tool below to compare the photographs of Hiroshima before and after the atomic bomb was dropped by the US Air Force.
A mushroom cloud caused by the nuclear bomb dropped by the B-29 bomber “Enola Gay” over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Photo taken by the US Army on August 6, 1945Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum via AFP Photo
Drag the slider across the image below to see photographs taken before and after an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima.
The city of Hiroshima before and after the first atomic bomb was dropped. August 6, 1945.
An atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” — the same type that was dropped by a US Army Air Force B-29 bomber on August 6, 1945, on Hiroshima, JapanAlamos Scientific Laboratory via AFP Photo
B-29 plane “Enola Gay” photographed after landing on Tinian Island from its mission to drop the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945The National Archives via AFP
The damaged Hiroshima Prefectural Industry Promotion Building in Japan, photographed in September 1945. It was later preserved as a monumentAFP
Survivors walk past one of the few buildings still standing two days after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945Max Desfor/AP Photo archive
The devastated city of Nagasaki after an atomic bomb was dropped on it by a US Air Force B-29 bomber on August 9, 1945AFP
Children wearing masks to protect themselves from radiation in the city of Hiroshima in 1948 after the US nuclear bombing of the city during World War IISTF/AFP
A mushroom cloud rises moments after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945AP Photo
An atomic bomb nicknamed “Fat Man” was dropped by a US Army Air Force B-29 bomber on August 9, 1945 over Nagasaki, JapanLos Alamos Scientific Laboratory via AFP
The Roman Catholic Church of Urakami stands over the scorched cityscape of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 after an atomic bomb was dropped by the US over the industrial centreAP Photo archive
The remains of a factory were photographed in September 1945 in the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki, gutted by the atomic bombing on August 9, 1945AP Photo archive
