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World War II -- Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was fully intended by the Japanese to be a key to Japanese military domination in the Pacific and a further crippling blow to American naval forces merely six months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. However, Midway ultimately exposed and deepened the weaknesses of the Japanese war effort. More than a mere defeat, the Midway had far broader effects on the Japanese war effort.
The Implications of the Battle of Midway to the Japanese War Effort
The Battle of Midway's destruction of Japan's offensive capability in the Pacific had far-reaching implications for the Japanese war effort. A somewhat surprising result of research is the lack of emphasis on the Japanese Navy's specific losses at Midway. Legend has it that the losses of ships and trained personnel at Midway crippled the Japanese for the duration of the War. However, John Keegan's...
Weinberg's A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II[footnoteRef:3] do not particularly dwell on these losses. Weinberg does mention that the Akagi, Kaga, Sotyo fleet carriers were out of commission as a result of Midway.[footnoteRef:4] However, Weinberg also maintains that according to military construction figures, the Japanese could not have defeated America anyway.[footnoteRef:5] [1: John Keegan, The Battle for History: Re-Fighting World War II (New York, NY: First Vintage Books Edition, 1996).] [2: Richard Overy, Why the Allies Won (New York, NY W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997).] [3: Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995).] [4: Ibid., p. 338.] [5: Ibid., p. 339.]
All three sources agree…
All three sources agree that the Japanese deemed the Battle of Midway a key to domination of the Pacific. According to Weinberg, the Japanese Navy's intended landing on Hawaii required victory at Midway; consequently, the loss of Midway rendered an invasion of Hawaii impossible.[footnoteRef:6] Keegan agrees that Midway was Japan's strategic objective in mid-1942[footnoteRef:7] and Overy calls the Battle of Midway "The most significant fleet engagement of the War."[footnoteRef:8] Weinberg concludes that if Japan had won at Midway, "the course of the War could have proceeded very differently."[footnoteRef:9] [6: Ibid., p. 330.] [7: Keegan, p.88.] [8: Overy, p. 43.] [9: Weinberg, p. 339.]
The assertions about the importance of Midway for Japanese expansion are supported by the authors' explanations of the Japanese adjustments after Midway. After Midway, the Japanese could not expand their domination of the Pacific. Weinberg maintains that the Japanese expansion to the East, South and in the Indian Ocean ended with the loss at Midway.[footnoteRef:10] According to Weinberg, Japanese expansion into the Indian Ocean, which the Japanese had promised to the Germans and wished to pursue, was decisively crippled by the American counterattack on the Solomon Islands that kept the Japanese preoccupied.[footnoteRef:11] Consequently, the Japanese defeat at Midway did not merely result in a stalemate; rather, it forced the halt of Japanese efforts to expand their domination of the Pacific Ocean. [10: Ibid., pp. 329, 339.] [11: Ibid., p. 339.]
Japan's loss at Midway also meant that the U.S. could take an offensive position in the Pacific, forcing the Japanese into a defensive position. As mentioned previously, Japan's initial plans to push further into the Indian Ocean were crippled by preoccupation with the American counter-attack on the Solomon Islands.[footnoteRef:12] According to Weinberg, that very American offensive, that
Battle of Midway, a naval battle fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, was the most important victory for the United States in World War 2. Before this battle Japanese forces were on the offensive, gradually capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. Japan was now the dominant naval force after severely damaging the U.S. Pacific Fleet during the attack of Pearl Harbor six months prior (Newman). Japan
Battle of Midway: Japanese Perspective The Battle of Midway is considered to be the most devastating battle of the World War II fought between 4th and 7th June 1942 in the Pacific Campaign shortly after the Battle of Coral Sea and Japan's attack on the Pearl Harbor. The Japanese operation was aimed to eliminate the United States strategic power in the Pacific. This will enable Japan an easy hold in the
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[footnoteRef:32] This lack of forces for other Pacific struggles generally weakened the Japanese war effort, as the Japanese were forced to fight those battles with insufficient men, weapons, ammunition and other related materiel. [27: Eric Hammel. Guadalcanal: Decision at Sea: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, November 13-15, 1942. Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Military History, 1999, p. 346.] [28: Colin G. Jameson. "Battle of Guadalcanal: 11-15 November, 1942." www.history.navy.mil Web site. 1944.