The Hiroshima 81st anniversary commemorates the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and honors the people who were killed, injured, displaced, or exposed to radiation. Hiroshima held its official 2026 Peace Memorial Ceremony at Peace Memorial Park from 8:00 to 8:50 a.m. Participants observed a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m., the time of the bombing. This year’s declaration again connected remembrance with the continuing debate over nuclear deterrence, disarmament, and the responsibility to preserve the testimony of aging survivors.
Fast Facts
- 🕊️ The anniversary date — Hiroshima marked 81 years since the atomic bombing on August 6, 2026.
- 🕗 The moment of silence — Participants paused at 8:15 a.m., corresponding to the time of the bombing in 1945.
- 📍 The ceremony location — The official commemoration took place at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
- 👥 International participation — About 50,000 people, including representatives from approximately 120 countries and regions, were expected to attend.
- 📜 The central message — Hiroshima’s mayor criticized continued reliance on nuclear weapons as instruments of deterrence.
- 🧓 The survivor legacy — Preserving hibakusha testimony is increasingly urgent as the survivor population ages.
- 🌍 The global significance — The anniversary links historical remembrance with present questions about nuclear security.
- ⚠️ The editorial responsibility — Casualty figures, quotations, attendance totals, and policy claims require careful sourcing and context.
What Is the Hiroshima 81st Anniversary?
The Hiroshima 81st anniversary is the annual commemoration of the atomic bombing that devastated the Japanese city on August 6, 1945. The observance honors those who died, recognizes the experiences of survivors, and renews Hiroshima’s appeal for lasting peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons. It is commonly called Hiroshima Day, although official and editorial descriptions often use terms such as Peace Memorial Day, memorial ceremony, or anniversary commemoration. The event is not a celebration. It is a solemn act of remembrance that connects a specific historical tragedy with present decisions about war, diplomacy, nuclear policy, education, and collective memory.
The 81st anniversary took place on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The official Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, close to the hypocenter of the explosion. The annual ceremony serves several purposes at once: mourning the dead, supporting survivors and their families, preserving historical evidence, educating younger generations, and asking governments to confront the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
Although milestone anniversaries such as the 75th or 80th may attract greater international attention, every annual observance carries the same essential responsibility. The passing of another year increases the distance from 1945 and makes the preservation of firsthand testimony more urgent. It also raises a difficult question: whether remembrance influences current policy or becomes a ritual separated from political action.
What Happened at the 2026 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony?
The 2026 Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony brought survivors, families, public officials, foreign representatives, and members of the public together for remembrance at Peace Memorial Park. Hiroshima scheduled the official ceremony from 8:00 to 8:50 a.m. on August 6. According to reporting published that day, approximately 50,000 people and representatives from about 120 countries and regions were expected to participate. The gathering included a silent prayer at 8:15 a.m., the Peace Bell, a declaration from Hiroshima’s mayor, messages from invited guests, and other established memorial traditions.
The ceremony at Peace Memorial Park
Hiroshima’s ceremony follows a formal sequence designed to place the victims at the center of the observance. The program traditionally begins with the dedication of the updated Register of the Names of the Fallen Atomic Bomb Victims. Flowers are offered at the Memorial Cenotaph, and attendees stand for a minute of silent prayer while the Peace Bell sounds at 8:15 a.m.
The mayor then delivers the annual Peace Declaration. Additional parts of the ceremony include a release of doves, commitments to peace, messages from distinguished guests, the Hiroshima Peace Song, and a formal closing. These actions combine civic ritual with a public appeal: victims are remembered by name, while contemporary leaders are asked to consider what the history of Hiroshima requires of them.
Hiroshima made approximately 7,000 ceremony seats available for the 2026 event, according to the city’s advance announcement. Separate seating was offered for international residents and visitors needing Japanese-to-English interpretation. These arrangements reflect the event’s international significance as well as its local character.
The main message of the 2026 Peace Declaration
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui used the 2026 Peace Declaration to challenge the idea that nuclear weapons provide an acceptable or durable form of security. He argued that treating nuclear deterrence as realistic can push the goal of a world without nuclear weapons farther away. He also warned against minimizing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons or accepting force as a normal way to pursue national interests.
The declaration placed responsibility on governments, but it did not limit responsibility to governments. Matsui also called on individuals to learn from the past and act on its lessons. That emphasis matters because Hiroshima’s peace message has long operated on two levels: formal diplomatic advocacy and personal education. International agreements are necessary, but public understanding determines whether disarmament remains a political priority.
Expert insight: A memorial declaration becomes more than ceremonial when it connects historical evidence with decisions governments and citizens must make in the present.
International and national participation
Representatives from the United States, Iran, and many other countries and regions were among those expected at the 2026 ceremony. Their presence gave the gathering diplomatic significance, but attendance alone did not resolve disagreements about nuclear policy. Hiroshima’s message challenged governments whose security strategies continue to depend on nuclear deterrence.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attended the Hiroshima memorial for the first time in that office. She described her government’s approach to preventing the use of nuclear weapons and pursuing disarmament as realistic and connected it to the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Her participation also occurred amid debate about the future of Japan’s three non-nuclear principles and the country’s reliance on the United States’ extended nuclear deterrent.
That tension is central to understanding the anniversary. Japan presents itself internationally as a country with a special responsibility to advance nuclear disarmament, yet its security policy remains connected to a nuclear-armed ally. Survivors and disarmament advocates have repeatedly asked Japan to take stronger steps, including engagement with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
What Happened in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945?
At approximately 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, making it the first city attacked with a nuclear weapon in war. The explosion produced an intense blast, extreme heat, widespread fires, structural collapse, and radiation exposure. People were killed immediately, while many others died later from burns, injuries, illness, and the effects of radiation. Homes, schools, hospitals, public buildings, businesses, and transportation systems across the city were destroyed or severely damaged.
Hiroshima had military importance, but it was also a city filled with civilians. Children were traveling to school or taking part in wartime work programs. Adults were commuting, preparing meals, caring for relatives, or beginning ordinary daily tasks. Understanding the bombing requires attention to that civilian reality rather than focusing only on the weapon’s technical design or strategic purpose.
The bombing did not create a single, easily measured moment of loss. Some people died instantly. Others survived the initial blast but died hours, days, weeks, or months later. Many survivors lived with persistent physical illness, psychological trauma, displacement, poverty, and social discrimination. Families were separated, personal records disappeared, and the destruction made the identification of victims extraordinarily difficult.
How many people died in Hiroshima?
An estimated 140,000 people had died as a result of the Hiroshima bombing by the end of 1945, although casualty totals vary by source, timeframe, and counting method. The estimate should not be presented as an exact count. The destruction of records, movement of people in and out of the city, unidentified remains, delayed radiation effects, and different definitions of bombing-related death all make precision difficult.
Writers should distinguish among people killed immediately, people who died by the end of 1945, and people whose names were later added to memorial records. These figures answer different questions. Combining them without explanation can mislead readers even when each number comes from a legitimate source.
What happened after Hiroshima?
Three days after Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Japan announced its acceptance of surrender terms on August 15. The formal surrender followed on September 2, bringing World War II to an end.
The end of the war did not end the effects of the bombings. Survivors required medical care amid devastated infrastructure and limited knowledge about radiation illness. Many experienced symptoms that were poorly understood. Others encountered discrimination in employment, marriage, and community life because of fears about radiation and hereditary effects.
Postwar Hiroshima eventually rebuilt into a major city, but reconstruction did not erase the past. The city preserved ruins, created memorial spaces, collected testimony, established educational institutions, and developed a public identity centered on peace. The result is a city that is neither only a site of destruction nor detached from it.
Why Is 8:15 a.m. Important on Hiroshima Day?
8:15 a.m. is important on Hiroshima Day because it marks the time when the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. During the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony, the Peace Bell sounds and participants observe one minute of silence beginning at that time. The precise moment creates a direct connection between the present-day ceremony and the morning on which the city was destroyed. Schools, community groups, religious organizations, peace advocates, and individuals outside Japan may also observe silence, although local times and customs vary.
The observance of a precise minute prevents the anniversary from becoming only an abstract lesson. It asks participants to stop ordinary activity and acknowledge that the bombing interrupted thousands of ordinary lives. The silence also gives people with different religious, political, and cultural backgrounds a shared way to remember without requiring identical beliefs.
Who Are the Hibakusha?
Hibakusha is a Japanese term commonly used for people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The word is often translated as “bomb-affected people” or “people exposed to the bomb.” It includes survivors with many different experiences, levels of exposure, injuries, family histories, and views. Official recognition can involve specific legal and administrative categories, so the term should not be reduced to a single type of experience.
Why survivor testimony matters
Hibakusha testimony gives the historical record a human scale that maps, military documents, casualty estimates, and photographs cannot provide alone. Survivors have described ordinary life before the bombing, the moment of the explosion, the destruction that followed, the search for relatives, medical consequences, and the challenge of rebuilding their lives.
Their accounts are also evidence. Responsible use of testimony requires preserving the speaker’s meaning, identifying the source, respecting context, and avoiding sensational editing. A survivor’s story should not be used merely as an emotional opening before the article shifts entirely to weapons policy.
Many hibakusha have spent decades speaking to students, journalists, policymakers, researchers, and international audiences. Their advocacy helped establish the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons as a central part of the disarmament debate. Survivor organizations have also pushed governments to move beyond expressions of sympathy toward concrete policy.
Expert insight: Survivor testimony should be presented as lived experience and historical evidence, not as emotional decoration for an anniversary article.
Passing memory to younger generations
The aging of the hibakusha population creates an urgent preservation challenge. Museums and archives record video interviews, digitize documents, translate testimony, and catalog personal objects. Hiroshima also supports people who learn and retell survivors’ experiences as testimony successors, while educators bring primary sources into classrooms.
Digital preservation can expand access, but it cannot replace careful interpretation. A short clip separated from its original interview may lose important context. Artificial intelligence may help organize or translate archives, yet generated summaries should always be checked against the original testimony. The goal is not to simulate a survivor but to preserve what survivors chose to communicate.
How Does Hiroshima Remember the Victims?
Hiroshima remembers the victims through an annual memorial ceremony, named registers, monuments, museum collections, survivor testimony, peace education, lantern floating, flowers, bells, and moments of silence. These forms of remembrance operate together. Some preserve individual names and belongings, while others create shared public rituals. The city’s memorial landscape turns history into a physical experience, allowing visitors to move among evidence of destruction, spaces of mourning, and institutions dedicated to peace.
Peace Memorial Park and the Atomic Bomb Dome
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park stands in an area that was once a busy commercial and residential district. Today, it contains the Memorial Cenotaph, Peace Bell, Children’s Peace Monument, Flame of Peace, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and other memorial sites.
The Atomic Bomb Dome is the preserved ruin of the former Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Located near the hypocenter, its exposed structure became one of the most recognizable visual records of the bombing. Its preservation was debated, but it ultimately became a symbol of both destruction and the determination to prevent another nuclear catastrophe.
The Memorial Cenotaph contains the register of names associated with atomic-bomb deaths. New names are added as eligible victims die or are identified. This continuing process demonstrates why a single casualty number cannot represent the full human history of the bombing.
Lantern floating on the Motoyasu River
In the evening, people float paper lanterns on the Motoyasu River near the Atomic Bomb Dome. The lanterns often carry handwritten messages of remembrance and peace. The practice is connected to mourning for people who died and to the memory of victims who sought water after suffering severe burns.
Lantern floating is visually powerful, but images should retain their context. A photograph of glowing lanterns is not simply a picturesque travel scene. It represents grief, consolation, memory, and a public commitment to peace. Captions and alt text should communicate that meaning without inventing details about individuals shown.
Flowers, silence, bells, and doves
Floral offerings acknowledge the dead and give participants a tangible act of respect. Silence provides space for personal remembrance. The Peace Bell marks the exact time of the bombing and carries the city’s message beyond the immediate ceremony. The release of doves represents hope and peace.
These symbols are familiar, but responsible reporting should not allow symbolism to replace substance. The ceremony’s meaning also lies in the names recorded, testimony preserved, policies debated, and commitments tested after the event ends.
What Did the 81st Anniversary Say About Nuclear Weapons in 2026?
The 81st anniversary argued that remembering Hiroshima requires governments and citizens to question continued dependence on nuclear weapons. Mayor Matsui’s 2026 declaration criticized political leaders who treat nuclear deterrence as an acceptable and realistic basis for security. His message reflected Hiroshima’s longstanding position that the humanitarian consequences of nuclear use make abolition necessary rather than optional.
Nuclear deterrence and nuclear abolition
Nuclear deterrence is the theory that a country can prevent attack by maintaining the ability to impose catastrophic retaliation. Supporters argue that this threat discourages adversaries from initiating nuclear war or other large-scale attacks. Critics respond that deterrence depends on the permanent possibility of nuclear use and can fail through miscalculation, accident, escalation, unauthorized action, or deliberate decision.
Nuclear abolition seeks the verified elimination of nuclear weapons. Advocates often emphasize humanitarian law, moral responsibility, the unequal risks borne by civilians, and the impossibility of guaranteeing that deterrence will never fail. Opponents or skeptics question whether disarmament can be verified and enforced in a world marked by distrust and military competition.
Hiroshima’s official message clearly favors abolition. A balanced article can explain the logic used by deterrence supporters without treating the two positions as morally or historically identical. Hiroshima’s intervention in the debate arises from direct experience with what nuclear use does to a city and its population.
Japan’s difficult nuclear position
Japan maintains three non-nuclear principles: not possessing, not producing, and not permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons. At the same time, Japan relies on its alliance with the United States, including extended nuclear deterrence, as part of its national security strategy.
This creates a persistent contradiction. Japan speaks for disarmament as the only country to have experienced atomic bombings in war, but it remains protected by a nuclear-armed ally. Debate intensified around the 2026 ceremony because Prime Minister Takaichi’s government faced speculation about whether it could reconsider part of the three non-nuclear principles while preparing security and defense documents.
Survivors and disarmament organizations have also criticized Japan for not joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The government has generally emphasized gradual disarmament through existing frameworks, particularly the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. These approaches share the stated goal of preventing nuclear use but differ significantly in method, urgency, and legal commitment.
Important policy note: Japan’s nuclear policy, government leadership, treaty position, and defense plans can change. Verify these details against official documents immediately before publication or republication.
Why the issue remains urgent
The danger addressed by Hiroshima is not confined to history. Nuclear weapons remain part of military planning, alliance structures, and geopolitical competition. International conflicts can increase the risk of escalation, while weakening arms-control arrangements can reduce transparency and trust.
The 81st anniversary did not offer a simple path through those problems. It did establish a standard for evaluating policy: strategic arguments must not erase the foreseeable human consequences of nuclear use. Hiroshima asks decision-makers to consider not only whether weapons may deter conflict, but what happens when deterrence fails.
How Did Hiroshima’s 80th and 81st Anniversaries Differ?
The 80th anniversary in 2025 was a major milestone, while the 81st anniversary in 2026 emphasized continuity, present nuclear risks, and the need to preserve survivor testimony beyond a landmark year. Both ceremonies took place at Peace Memorial Park and included a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. The differences concern public attention and editorial emphasis, not the value of the lives remembered.
Hiroshima Anniversary Comparison — Key Differences:
Annual reporting should avoid implying that remembrance loses importance after a milestone. The 81st anniversary demonstrates the opposite: historical responsibility continues when global attention moves elsewhere.
Why Does Hiroshima Still Matter 81 Years Later?
Hiroshima still matters 81 years later because it provides documented evidence of what a nuclear weapon does to civilians, a city, public health, families, and generations of memory. It also challenges a tendency to discuss nuclear weapons only through abstract language about arsenals, delivery systems, strategic balance, and deterrence. Those concepts may be important to security policy, but they are incomplete without the human consequences recorded in Hiroshima.
The city’s history demonstrates that the effects of nuclear use extend beyond the instant of detonation. Medical consequences, displacement, missing relatives, destroyed records, damaged institutions, and social discrimination continued long after the blast. Recovery required not only rebuilding streets and buildings but also caring for survivors and creating ways to preserve a history many found difficult to describe.
Hiroshima also matters as an example of civic memory. The city did not preserve the Atomic Bomb Dome or build Peace Memorial Park solely to document destruction. These places ask visitors to consider choices: how societies respond to suffering, how governments define security, and whether remembrance can influence policy.
For younger generations, Hiroshima is increasingly a history encountered through museums, testimony recordings, textbooks, archives, films, and digital media rather than direct conversation with witnesses. That makes source quality especially important. Simplified social posts can spread awareness, but they can also remove context, repeat inaccurate casualty claims, or turn memorial imagery into aesthetic content.
The anniversary’s relevance therefore depends on more than repeating a familiar slogan. It requires sustained historical education, protection of primary sources, careful reporting, diplomatic work, and informed public debate about the risks societies are prepared to accept.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing About Hiroshima
The most serious mistakes in Hiroshima anniversary coverage involve careless language, unsupported numbers, decontextualized imagery, and the treatment of victims as background to a political argument. Accuracy and respect reinforce one another. A factual error can distort the historical record, while an insensitive framing choice can reduce people to symbols.
- ⚠️ Calling the anniversary a celebration — Use commemoration, observance, memorial, or remembrance instead.
- ⚠️ Giving a casualty number without a timeframe — State whether the figure refers to immediate deaths, deaths by the end of 1945, or a later memorial register.
- ⚠️ Conflating Hiroshima and Nagasaki — Hiroshima was bombed on August 6; Nagasaki was bombed on August 9.
- ⚠️ Focusing only on the weapon — Center civilians, survivors, families, medical consequences, and the city’s destruction.
- ⚠️ Using graphic images for attention — Select visuals for documentary and educational value, not shock or clicks.
- ⚠️ Removing testimony from context — Identify the speaker, archive, date, translation, and surrounding account.
- ⚠️ Treating deterrence as a settled question — Explain major arguments while accurately representing Hiroshima’s stated abolition position.
- ⚠️ Reusing outdated ceremony details — Confirm the year, attendance, speakers, officeholders, declaration, and policy context before publishing.
How Can Schools and Communities Mark Hiroshima Day Respectfully?
Schools and communities can mark Hiroshima Day respectfully by using verified historical sources, centering survivor testimony, and connecting remembrance with thoughtful discussion rather than spectacle. Activities should be appropriate for participants’ ages and cultural context. Educators should prepare students for difficult material, distinguish evidence from opinion, and avoid graphic content that is not necessary for learning.
A respectful seven-step observance
- Explain the date — Establish what occurred in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
- Observe a silence — Explain why 8:15 a.m. has memorial significance.
- Read verified testimony — Use museum, archive, or institutional sources.
- Study a timeline — Separate Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Japan’s surrender.
- Examine primary evidence — Analyze maps, objects, photographs, or documents with context.
- Discuss present relevance — Explore humanitarian, ethical, and security questions respectfully.
- Record a concrete response — Invite reflection, research, art, or a peace-education project.
A meaningful program does not require participants to agree on every historical or political interpretation. It does require evidence, empathy, and a clear distinction between respectful disagreement and denial or dehumanization.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Hiroshima 81st Anniversary
When was Hiroshima’s 81st anniversary?
Hiroshima’s 81st anniversary was observed on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The date marked 81 years since the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945.
What does the Hiroshima anniversary commemorate?
It commemorates the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and honors the people killed, injured, displaced, or exposed to radiation. It also recognizes survivors and renews appeals for peace and nuclear disarmament.
What time was Hiroshima bombed?
The atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima at approximately 8:15 a.m. local time on August 6, 1945. The annual ceremony observes one minute of silence beginning at that time.
Where was the 2026 Hiroshima ceremony held?
The official 2026 Peace Memorial Ceremony was held at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. The park contains the Memorial Cenotaph and several major memorial sites.
What happened during the 2026 ceremony?
The ceremony included the dedication of the victims’ register, floral offerings, silent prayer, the Peace Bell, the mayor’s Peace Declaration, a release of doves, guest messages, and the Hiroshima Peace Song.
How many people attended the 81st-anniversary ceremony?
Reporting published on August 6, 2026, said approximately 50,000 people were expected to attend. The gathering included representatives from roughly 120 countries and regions.
How many people died from the Hiroshima bombing?
An estimate frequently used by Hiroshima institutions and major news organizations is approximately 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945. Totals vary because records were destroyed and different sources use different timeframes and counting methods.
What does hibakusha mean?
Hibakusha is a Japanese term for people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Survivors had varied forms of exposure and experienced different medical, personal, and social consequences.
What is the Hiroshima Peace Declaration?
The Peace Declaration is an annual statement delivered by Hiroshima’s mayor during the August 6 ceremony. It honors the victims, reflects on current global conditions, and calls for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Why are lanterns floated in Hiroshima?
Lanterns are floated on the Motoyasu River to console and remember the dead and to express hopes for peace. Many lanterns carry handwritten messages from participants.
Is Hiroshima Day the same as Nagasaki Day?
No. Hiroshima Day is observed on August 6, the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Nagasaki’s memorial anniversary is observed on August 9.
Why is the Hiroshima anniversary still relevant?
The anniversary preserves the historical record, honors victims and survivors, and gives the public a basis for evaluating nuclear policy. It also highlights the humanitarian consequences that can disappear from abstract discussions of military strategy.
Is the Hiroshima anniversary a celebration?
No. It is a solemn commemoration and memorial observance. Writers should avoid celebratory language when describing the anniversary.
Keep Hiroshima’s Lessons Present in Today’s Nuclear Decisions
The definitive lesson of the Hiroshima 81st anniversary is that remembrance must preserve human experience while informing present choices about war, security, and nuclear weapons. The ceremony honors those whose lives were taken or permanently changed, but it also asks whether governments and citizens are willing to confront the risks that remain. As firsthand witnesses become fewer, accurate history, responsible education, and careful preservation become more—not less—important.
Hiroshima should not be reduced to a date, a ruin, a casualty estimate, or a political slogan. It is a documented human history and a continuing civic appeal. Readers can respond by learning from primary sources, listening to survivors, correcting misinformation, and examining whether current security policies adequately account for the consequences of nuclear use.
Actionable Next Steps
- Read the Peace Declaration — Review Hiroshima’s official 2026 message in full.
- Study survivor testimony — Use a museum or verified archival source.
- Check casualty context — Confirm the timeframe behind every number.
- Compare policy positions — Examine deterrence, non-proliferation, and prohibition approaches.
- Share responsibly — Add historical context to memorial images and quotations.
- Support preservation — Use and promote trustworthy archives, museums, and education programs.
References
- City of Hiroshima — Announcement Regarding the 2026 Peace Memorial Ceremony — Supports the official date, scheduled time, venue, and seating information.
- City of Hiroshima — Peace Memorial Ceremony — Supports the annual ceremony schedule, sequence of events, Peace Bell, and silent prayer.
- Associated Press — Hiroshima Marks the 81st Atomic Bomb Anniversary — Supports the 2026 attendance estimate, international participation, speeches, and policy context.
- Associated Press — Hiroshima’s 80th-Anniversary Commemoration — Supports comparison with the 2025 ceremony and survivor context.
- City of Hiroshima — Lantern Floating Ceremony — Supports the memorial meaning and peace symbolism of lantern floating.
- United Nations — Provides international context on nuclear disarmament and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
Category: World History