The Pacific War

Abstract

Abstract The Pacific War that followed Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 differed considerably from the war imagined by the premier naval minds of the twentieth century. While grand and decisive battles took place between massive fleets in places like the Coral Sea and Midway, these engagements featured aircraft carriers rather than the battleships that once ruled the sea. This chapter explores the Pacific War through the lens of anticipation and realization, and how the belligerents failed and succeeded in adapting to the realities of the Pacific battlefield. In particular, it frames the war as a scientific affair that tested how the Japanese and the Allied coalition sought to sustain their military forces in austere and hostile environments across the Pacific. In combating tropical disease, in particular, the Allied powers outpaced their opponents with the introduction of malaria prophylaxis; they decreased malaria cases as Japan’s cases swelled.