
On this day in 1942, the
Battle of Midway--one of the most decisive U.S. victories against
Japan during
World War II--begins.
During the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific
Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while
losing only one of its own, the
Yorktown, to the previously invincible Japanese navy.



In six months of offensives prior to Midway, the Japanese had
triumphed in lands throughout the Pacific, including Malaysia,
Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and numerous island
groups. The
United States,
however, was a growing threat, and Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto
sought to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet before it was large enough to
outmatch his own.


A thousand miles northwest of Honolulu, the strategic island of
Midway became the focus of his scheme to smash U.S. resistance to
Japan's imperial designs. Yamamoto's plan consisted of a feint toward
Alaska
followed by an invasion of Midway by a Japanese strike force. When the
U.S. Pacific Fleet arrived at Midway to respond to the invasion, it
would be destroyed by the superior Japanese fleet waiting unseen to the
west. If successful, the plan would eliminate the U.S. Pacific Fleet and
provide a forward outpost from which the Japanese could eliminate any
future American threat in the Central Pacific. U.S. intelligence broke
the Japanese naval code, however, and the Americans anticipated the
surprise attack.


In the meantime, 200 miles to the northeast, two U.S. attack fleets
caught the Japanese force entirely by surprise and destroyed three heavy
Japanese carriers and one heavy cruiser. The only Japanese carrier that
initially escaped destruction, the
Hiryu, loosed all its aircraft against the American task force and managed to seriously damage the U.S. carrier
Yorktown, forcing its abandonment. At about 5:00 p.m., dive-bombers from the U.S. carrier
Enterprise returned the favor, mortally damaging the
Hiryu. It was scuttled the next morning.
_during_Battle_of_Midway.jpg)
When the Battle of Midway ended, Japan had lost four carriers, a
cruiser and 292 aircraft, and suffered an estimated 2,500 casualties.
The U.S. lost the
Yorktown, the destroyer USS
Hammann, 145 aircraft and suffered approximately 300 casualties.

Japan's losses hobbled its naval might--bringing Japanese and
American sea power to approximate parity--and marked the turning point
in the Pacific theater of World War II. In August 1942, the great U.S.
counteroffensive began at Guadalcanal and did not cease until Japan's
surrender three years later.
============================================
Jun 4, 1989: Tiananmen Square massacre takes place


Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center
of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters.
The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the
West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the
United States.


In
May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into
central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the
resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive.
For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched
and chanted.

Western reporters captured much of the drama for
television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe. On
June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed
through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of
protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students
tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought
back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to
military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene
estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters
had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.


The savagery of the Chinese government's attack shocked both its allies and
Cold War enemies. Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev
declared that he was saddened by the events in China. He said he hoped
that the government would adopt his own domestic reform program and
begin to democratize the Chinese political system. In the United States,
editorialists and members of Congress denounced the Tiananmen Square
massacre and pressed for President
George Bush
to punish the Chinese government. A little more than three weeks later,
the U.S. Congress voted to impose economic sanctions against the
People's Republic of China in response to the brutal violation of human
rights.
Taken from:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ [04.05.2012]
Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
ReplyDeleteYour article is very well done, a good read.