Midway Turning Point

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At the start of June in 1942, the Japanese launched a naval attack on Midway Atoll in an attempt to eliminate the United States of America as a strategic Pacific power. The attack, if successful, could have forced the US to negotiate, and, at the very least, it would have extended the Japanese defensive perimeter and the length of the war. On the contrary, the US success in defending Midway gave them the morale they needed to take over the Pacific, and it allowed them to further step into the war and the world thereafter as a major power. In short, Midway marked a turning point from Japanese victories to American naval supremacy. While a study of the Battle of Midway reveals that the US won partly because of luck and the Japanese gamble that…show more content…
However, the Battle of Midway is known as the turning point in the Pacific war because the results were even greater than the direct reward of holding the island. The victory gave the US their first taste of success since they entered the war, which gave the Americans a morale boost. This was the first step towards American domination in the Pacific. Inversely, the Battle of Midway was the first Japanese defeat of the war. They lost the bulk of their fleet and did not have the time or resources to rebuild, at least not at the pace of the Americans. This is ironic given that knowledge of the inverse, namely America’s shortage of ships and carrier aircraft following Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Coral Sea, was what inspired Japan to proceed with an attack. The Battle of Midway marked the last time the Japanese had a solid grasp on the Pacific. Admiral Yamamoto remained in command, but, after his defeat at Midway, his reputation was not so grand. This remained appropriate because Yamamoto was less effective after Midway with the Japanese on the defensive. He died in a plane crash in 1943. Admiral Nimtz, for his part, admitted that “had we lacked early information of the Japanese movement, […] it might have ended

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