Nagasaki bomb
Witness History4 Aug 2025

Nagasaki bomb

On 9 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing at least 74,000 people.

It led to the end of World War Two in Asia, with Japan surrendering to the Allies six days later.

The Nagasaki bomb, alongside the Hiroshima bomb on 6 August, remain the only times nuclear weapons have been used in a war.

In an interview he gave to the BBC in 1980, British prisoner of war Geoff Sherring describes how he survived the explosion. Produced and presented by Rachel Naylor.

This programme was made in collaboration with BBC Archives.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: The Nagasaki bomb on 9 August 1945. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Avsnitt(2000)

The killing of Pablo Escobar

The killing of Pablo Escobar

The Colombian drug trafficker, once one of the richest men in the world, was shot dead by police on 2nd December 1993. He had been on the run from the authorities for over a year. Jordan Dunbar has be...

2 Dec 20199min

The first confirmed case of HIV in America

The first confirmed case of HIV in America

Robert R was a teenager who died of a mysterious illness in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1969. It was only in the 1980s that doctors studying the Aids epidemic realised Robert had died of Aids. Ned Carter...

29 Nov 20198min

Handing back Uluru

Handing back Uluru

In 1985 Australia's most famous natural landmark, Uluru, the huge ancient red rock formerly known as Ayers Rock, was handed back to its traditional owners, the indigenous people of that part of centra...

28 Nov 20199min

From cakes to computers

From cakes to computers

In the early 1950s, the leading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world's first automated office system. It was baptised LEO - the Lyons Electronic Office - and was used in stock-taki...

27 Nov 201910min

India's economic revolution

India's economic revolution

In the 1990s India began to open up its largely state-controlled economy to foreign investment. Subramanian Swamy wrote the blueprint for reform and he's been speaking to Iknoor Kaur about what worked...

26 Nov 20198min

The man who gave his voice to Stephen Hawking

The man who gave his voice to Stephen Hawking

American scientist Dennis Klatt pioneered synthesised speech in the 1980s. He used recordings of himself to make the sounds that gave British physicist Stephen Hawking a voice when he lost the ability...

25 Nov 201910min

Exploring Arabia's Empty Quarter

Exploring Arabia's Empty Quarter

In the 1940s, British gentleman explorer Wilfred Thesiger travelled extensively in one of the world's harshest environments - the Empty Quarter of Arabia. Thesiger lived with nomads in order to cross ...

22 Nov 20199min

The man who got Delhi on track

The man who got Delhi on track

India's capital city built a brand new mass transit system to tackle its traffic jams and air pollution. The first section of the Delhi Metro was opened to the public in 2002. E Sreedharan was managin...

21 Nov 20198min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
badfluence
p3-dokumentar
en-mork-historia
mardromsgasten
gynning-berg
aftonbladet-krim
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
skaringer-nessvold
killradet
nemo-moter-en-van
flashback-forever
kod-katastrof
p3-historia
spar
p1-dokumentar
hor-har
svenska-fall
historiska-brott
aftonbladet-daily