Battle of Midway
- Date
- 4–7 June 1942
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Pacific (Midway Atoll)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
From 4 to 7 June 1942 the United States Pacific Fleet defeated a Japanese naval force near Midway Atoll in the central Pacific. Forewarned by codebreaking, American carrier aircraft sank four Japanese fleet aircraft carriers — Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu — for the loss of one U.S.
carrier, the Yorktown. The destruction of Japan's first-line carrier strength and many of its most experienced naval aviators ended the period of Japanese offensive expansion in the Pacific. Often described as the turning point of the Pacific war, Midway allowed the Allies to seize the strategic initiative, leading directly to the Guadalcanal campaign and the long Allied advance toward the Japanese home islands.
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Empires active in 4–7 June 1942
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Battle of Stalingrad23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943
- Attack on Pearl Harbor7 December 1941
- Operation Barbarossa: German invasion of the Soviet Union22 June 1941
- D-Day: the Normandy landings6 June 1944
- Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki6 & 9 August 1945
- German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II1 September 1939
Further reading
The wider story
A History of the Pacific Islands
The standard accessible overview of Oceania from settlement to the modern era.
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