Significance of Battle of Guadalcanal and Midway

1. Guadalcanal

1.1. Introduced island - hopping, a tactic where the U.S would seize islands, avoiding Japanese strongholds instead of invading each island individually.

1.2. Japanese were building a huge air base and would be completed shortly

1.3. U.S won, Japanese lost 24,000 troops

1.4. Basically first battle where the U.S was on the offensive

2. Battle of Midway

2.1. Turned the tide of the war in the Pacific

2.2. American pilots destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers, and one support ship.

2.3. Showed that the Japanese weren't invincible