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Fastfission (talk | contribs) m rv -- more detail than THIS article needs. feel free to add that information elsewhere, i.e. under Manhattan Project or Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
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By the unconditional surrender of Germany on [[May 8]], [[1945]], the Manhattan Project was still months away from a working weapon. That April, after the death of American President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], former Vice-President [[Harry S. Truman]] was told about the secret wartime project for the first time.
Because of the difficulties in making a working plutonium bomb, it was decided that there should be a test of the weapon, and Truman wanted to know for sure if it would work before his meeting with Joseph Stalin at an upcoming conference on the future of postwar Europe. On [[July 16]], 1945, in the desert north of [[Alamogordo]], [[New Mexico]], the first [[nuclear test]] took place, code-named "[[Trinity test|Trinity]]," using a device nicknamed "[[the Gadget]]." The test released the equivalent of 19 [[megaton|kilotons of TNT]], far mightier than any weapon ever used before. The news of the test's success was rushed to Truman, who used it as leverage at the upcoming [[Potsdam Conference]], held near Berlin.
[[Image:Hiroshima aftermath.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians.]]
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