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Unlock This CourseThis lesson is part of the Paper 2 Section B breadth study on the changing nature of warfare, 1919-2011. The war in the Pacific (1941-45) was fought between Japan and the Allies, mainly the USA, across thousands of miles of ocean dotted with small islands. Armies could not simply march towards each other. Whoever controlled the sea and the sky could move troops, and whoever lost control could not.
Key terms:
Japan began the Pacific War with a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Six Japanese carriers launched about 350 aircraft in two waves. Eight American battleships were hit and four were sunk, and more than 2,400 Americans were killed. The USA then entered the war.
The attack showed that aircraft launched from carriers could destroy a fleet from hundreds of miles away, far beyond the range of any gun. The American carriers were not in harbour that day, and they survived. That mistake by Japan came back to hurt it.
Japan sent a force to capture Port Moresby in New Guinea, from where it could threaten Australia. American carriers met it. This was the first naval battle fought entirely by aircraft, and the fleets never saw each other. The USA lost the carrier Lexington, but Japan lost a light carrier and turned its invasion force back. Two more Japanese carriers were damaged or lost many aircraft, so they missed the next battle.
Japan planned to attack Midway island and destroy the American carriers when they came to defend it. But American codebreakers had worked out the target, so three American carriers were waiting. On 4 June 1942 American dive-bombers sank three Japanese carriers within minutes, and a fourth later that day. The USA lost one carrier, Yorktown.
Midway is seen as the turning point of the Pacific War. All four Japanese carriers lost had been at Pearl Harbor, and Japan lost many of its best pilots. It could not replace them quickly, while the USA built carriers and aircraft in vast numbers, including the new Essex class from 1943. After Midway, the USA could go on the attack.
From August 1942 American forces advanced across the Pacific towards Japan. Capturing every island would have taken too long, so they took the ones they needed for airfields and bypassed strong Japanese bases, which were left cut off. Carriers were the key. Their aircraft attacked enemy airfields, protected the troop ships and gave air cover to the marines landing on the beaches.
Carriers mattered for three reasons. They had a long range, so aircraft could strike far beyond the reach of ship guns. They could move, so an air base could go wherever it was needed. And across the Pacific, where land for airfields was scarce, they were often the only way to use air power at all. The carrier took over from the battleship as the navy's most important ship.
What changed: aircraft now affected every kind of fighting, and technology such as radar and codebreaking could decide a battle. What stayed the same: wars were still won by industrial strength and supply, and soldiers still had to take and hold ground.
How far was air power the most significant development in warfare in the years 1939-45?
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own. [16 marks]
Remember: in May 1940 German Stuka dive-bombers helped the tanks to break through at Sedan; in 1943 the Hamburg firestorm killed about 40,000 people; and in the Atlantic, long-range Liberator aircraft helped to close the air gap in 1943.
I agree to a large extent that air power was the most significant development, but it did not work alone.
Air power changed war at sea. The aircraft carrier replaced the battleship as the most important warship. At Pearl Harbor in December 1941 Japanese carrier aircraft crippled the American battleships from hundreds of miles away. At the Coral Sea in May 1942 the fleets fought without seeing each other, and at Midway in June 1942 American dive-bombers sank four Japanese carriers, which turned the tide of the Pacific War. Carriers then gave air cover to the island-hopping advance towards Japan.
Air power also changed the war in Europe. In 1940 Stuka dive-bombers acted as flying artillery for the tanks at Sedan. The bombing of Germany destroyed cities such as Hamburg in 1943, and from 1944 Mustang escort fighters protected the bombers and wore down the Luftwaffe. Air superiority over Normandy then protected the D-Day landings. Air power therefore affected land, sea and the war against whole countries.
However, other developments were also vital. Radar and codebreaking were as important as the aircraft themselves: American codebreakers told Nimitz where to place his carriers at Midway. In the Atlantic, the U-boats were beaten by convoys, sonar and codebreaking as well as aircraft. Bombing also had limits, because German war production kept rising until the autumn of 1944, and armies still had to fight their way into Germany. The failure of the paratroopers at Arnhem showed that air power could not replace ground forces.
Overall, I agree to a large extent. My test is which development changed how many different battles were won, and air power did this on land, at sea and in the air itself. But it depended on radar, codebreaking and industrial output, so it was the most significant development only because it worked alongside these.
What lifts it to the top level: it covers land, sea and air, uses facts not in the bullets, weighs other developments against air power, and reaches a judgement using a stated test.
An answer using only the two bullets cannot reach the top level. In a "how far" question, add a third point of your own and say how you are judging "most significant", for example by how many battles it decided.