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# I Saw The World End
- URL: https://robert.winter.ink/i-saw-the-world-end/
- Published: 2020-08-06T13:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-03T06:35:06.000Z
- Description: I went up to the hillside and took a panorama view of the city and found the whole city on fire. - Kiyoshi Tanimoto,
- Author: Dr Robert N. Winter
- Tags: 100DaysToOffload, History, OnThisDay, #wp, #wp-post

> I went up to the hillside and took a panorama view of the city and found the whole city on fire. - Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Japanese Methodist minister.

The devastation that unfolded in the seconds following the [explosion in Beirut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%5FBeirut%5Fexplosions?ref=robert.winter.ink) has been likened to an atomic bomb. The timing of the analogy is striking as [#OnThisDay](https://robert.winter.ink/tag/onthisday/) in 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

The Imperial War Museum commissioned a piece to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: '[I Saw The World End](https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/i-saw-the-world-end?ref=robert.winter.ink).' A work which is as poignant as it is groundbreaking. Expressing humanities capacity for division: the splitting of the atom, division of humanity and the planet, division of fact and fiction, division of races.

In the face of such raw power, I find myself lost for words. So I commend you to the piece and wish you good night, and good luck.

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[Hiroshima Aftermath](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29188992&ref=robert.winter.ink) is licensed under [Public Domain](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=robert.winter.ink).

This post is day 096 of my [#100DaysToOffload](https://robert.winter.ink/subject/100daystooffload/) challenge. If you want to get involved, you can get more info from [100daystooffload.com](https://100daystooffload.com/?ref=robert.winter.ink).