Why Was The Battle of Midway Important?

In 1942, on 4th June at 4 am the battle of Midway began and continued for four days consistently. It ended on the 7th of June.

But the question is, why was the battle of Midway such an important event in the theater of WW2?

In simple words, it was important because it completely turned around the flow of the Second World War.

But how?

Read these four points below, you will easily understand why it was such an important battle.

4 Reasons Why Was The Battle of Midway Important

1. Japan’s Military Strength Went Weaker After The Defeat In The Midway Battle

The defeat of Midway’s battle had become a major wound to the imperialist Japanese Empire.

Japanese hoped that they would win the battle of Midway and to make it possible, their leaders Admiral Yamamoto, Nobutake Kondo, Chuichi Nagumo, and Tamon Yamaguchi had an amazing master plan.

Even, as per the plan, in the first phase of the battle, they fought using their full military capability.

But later, as they expected, things didn’t move on their way.

Contrary, the game went against them. Mainly, US intelligence spoiled their entire plan.

The United States intelligence was already aware of their plan for Midway. They captured Japanese messages many days before.

As a result, Japan had to pay a big price.

During that four days of battles, Japan lost the lives of 3057 experienced military personnel; four of their main aircraft carriers, named Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, and Hiryu got destroyed; lost two destroyers named Arashio (in the bombing), Asashio; 292 aircrafts got destroyed and faced many other major casualties. 

After this battle, the military capability of Japan reduced significantly. And therefore, their influence in WW2 also became much weaker.

2. Japan Also Lost The Hope of Controlling The Whole Pacific Region Alone

Japan was always a poor country in the case of natural resources.

For a long time, they had been importing various natural resources including Oil, Coal from other countries; mostly from the Soviet Union, China, and the United States.

Before World War 2, they imported more than 50 percent of the resources from the United States.

But, from the late 1930s, they started taking expansionist policies against other countries, mainly against China.

To counter the Japanese aggression, the United States of America imposed some heavy economic sanctions against them.

Due to these economic sanctions, Japan started facing a lot of difficulties in meeting the shortage of natural resources.

However, they knew that the Pacific Ocean was a massive source of natural resources.

Therefore, now to fulfill the need, they turned their motive to becoming the only emperor in the entire region.

But there was a problem on the road and it was the United States of America.

Japan wanted somehow to end the United States’ influence in the Pacific region.

As an act of its execution, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the USA’s Pearl Harbor Island.

Here, they succeed in causing devastating casualties, however, failed to break the backbone of the US navy.

Hence again, with the same purpose, they also planned to attack Midway; but somehow, this time, American intelligence already got information about that.

Earlier, the Japanese thought that after Midway’s attack, the USA would never be able to interfere in the Pacific region. And using this opportunity, they would bring the US government to the table for peace negotiation.

But when the battle broke out, Japan had to face heavy defeat. The defeat was so intense that it demolished their entire hope of controlling the whole Pacific alone.

Midway’s battle increased the US influence in the Pacific region too much.

3. Allied Nations’ Morale Went Stronger To Win WW2

During World War 2, Japan, Italy, and Germany were fighting together against the Allied nations.

Starting years of the War, there was a time came, when the Axis power was about to dominate the whole world.

Germans defeated France within just six weeks. Only Britain remained left and was fighting against the Axis.

But when Japan lost in the Midway battle and went weaker militarily, Allied nations’ morale went stronger once again.

It raised hope among the Allies that they would win WW2. Because after this, Japan’s role did not remain as powerful as it was before. 

4. The United States of America Became Much Stronger

After the decisive victory in the Midway battle, the United States of America became stronger than ever in WW2.

The US navy, air force, and ground military’s confidence touched the sky.

In 1945, the USA attacked Japan with Nuclear weapons.

The two atom bombs (Littleboy and Fatman), were dropped in two of the main Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Within just three days, the bombs killed more than two hundred thousand Japanese people.

After that, Japan surrendered to the allies and it ended World War 2.