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)

How America 'lost' China

How America 'lost' China

After the end of WW2 the US feared its wartime ally, China, would become communist. In 1946 after the end of Japanese occupation China returned to a civil war which had been fought on and off for year...

13 Juni 20199min

Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap the Reichstag

Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap the Reichstag

In June 1995 artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in fabric. The former German parliament building sat on the border between East and West Berlin. It had been gutted by fi...

12 Juni 20199min

The first anti-psychotic drug

The first anti-psychotic drug

In the first half of the 20th century, most mentally ill patients were locked away in psychiatric hospitals and asylums. Those suffering from severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia, were often sed...

11 Juni 201911min

The end of the war in Kosovo

The end of the war in Kosovo

Hundreds of thousands of Kosovan Albanians were forced to leave their homes when NATO started bombing Serb targets in the former Yugoslavia in 1999. By the time the bombing stopped, on June 10th 1999,...

10 Juni 20198min

The Gurkha soldiers fight for equality

The Gurkha soldiers fight for equality

For over 200 years soldiers from Nepal have fought in a special regiment in the British army called the Gurkhas. In 2009 all retired Gurkhas won the right to live in Britain, following a high profile...

7 Juni 201911min

Broadcasting D-Day

Broadcasting D-Day

Hear how the BBC reported the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France on June 6th 1944. The operation was a crucial step in the liberation of western Europe. Using original BBC reports from the time -...

6 Juni 20199min

The Little Prince

The Little Prince

In July 1944, a plane piloted by the author of the world famous children's story The Little Prince, disappeared over the south of France. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, an experienced aviator, was on a rec...

5 Juni 201910min

D-Day

D-Day

Eyewitness accounts of the Allied landings on the coast of Normandy during World War Two on 6 June 1944. The massive operation was a crucial step in the liberation of western Europe from years of Nazi...

4 Juni 201911min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
badfluence
en-mork-historia
aftonbladet-krim
mardromsgasten
p3-dokumentar
gynning-berg
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
skaringer-nessvold
nemo-moter-en-van
killradet
flashback-forever
hor-har
kod-katastrof
spar
aftonbladet-daily
vad-blir-det-for-mord
svenska-fall
rattsfallen
p3-historia