On this day in 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, murdering tens of thousands of innocent people. Just three days earlier, it had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The Japanese had, as of early 1945, already asked for peace and a negotiated settlement. The Japanese military posed no real threat to the outside world at that point. However, American leaders wanted nothing less than total, unconditional surrender. They were willing to kill thousands of innocent children if that’s what it took to get it. And so they did.