August 6, 1945: A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima
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An estimated 140,000 people died in the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.
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(CNN) -- At 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, time literally stopped in Hiroshima, Japan.
At that moment, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay released its payload -- an atomic bomb named "Little Boy" -- over the city of 350,000 people situated 426 miles (686 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.
Hiroshima was charred and leveled beyond recognition. Some 140,000 people died in the attack. Another 70,000 died when U.S. forces dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, 593 miles (954 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, three days later.
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 My God, what have we done? 
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-- Capt. Robert Lewis, co-pilot of the Enola Gay, recalling the moment the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima
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On August 14, Japan surrendered to allied forces to end World War II, one of the bloodiest and most far-reaching conflicts in history.
But the arrival of the Atomic Age and the brutal evidence of how effective the new weapon was tainted the ensuing peace.
"Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense of uncertainty and fear -- with such a realization that the future is obscure and that survival is not assured," famed U.S. journalist Edward R. Murrow said at the time.
The Soviet Union's development of nuclear weapons spurred an arms race with the United States that would define the Cold War. Homeowners built bomb shelters, students took part in drills to shield themselves from nuclear attack, and the world shuddered as the United States and the Soviets faced off in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Many other nations rushed to create their own nuclear weapons. In addition to the United States and Russia, Pakistan, India, France, China and Great Britain officially have such programs, with experts speculating that several other nations -- including North Korea and Israel -- have nuclear capabilities. To date, no nuclear weapons have been used in battle since 1945.
