Pacific 1941–1942

About and sources

An interactive, narrated globe that follows the Pacific War in 22 events, from the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, to the Battle of Midway in June 1942 and the landing on Guadalcanal. The focus is on decisions: who decided what, with which information, and what it changed.

How to use it

• Play narrates the events in sequence. The map follows the narration, revealing ships, strikes and occupied areas sentence by sentence.
• The ◀ ▶ buttons, the timeline or the ← → keys take you to any event. Drag the globe to rotate it, and scroll or pinch to zoom.
• The Event tab has the account, the numbers and the key decision. Analysis compares the two sides. Overview brings together eight process factors and the decision cycle of June 4.

About the narration

The narration is generated with synthetic voices: there is no human narrator. One voice tells the event and another comments on the key decision. The narrated script adapts the text shown in the panel for listening, with the same facts.

Accuracy and limits

• Positions on the map are approximate and meant for strategic reading, not navigation.
• June 4 times are Midway local time. Numbers are approximate and rounded, as stated in the text.
• This is outreach material. For in-depth study, see the works below.

Sources and further reading

Reference works on the period, for readers who want to go further.

• Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Potomac Books, 2005.
• Gordon W. Prange, with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. McGraw-Hill, 1982.
• Craig L. Symonds. The Battle of Midway. Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Walter Lord. Incredible Victory. Harper & Row, 1967.
• John B. Lundstrom. The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway. Naval Institute Press, 1984.
• Edwin T. Layton, with Roger Pineau and John Costello. “And I Was There”: Pearl Harbor and Midway, Breaking the Secrets. William Morrow, 1985.
• Samuel Eliot Morison. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vols. III and IV. Little, Brown, 1948–1949.
• Naval History and Heritage Command, US Navy: history.navy.mil.

Contact and corrections

Found a historical error, an odd pronunciation or a translation problem? Write to . Every suggestion is read.

Privacy

We measure the audience without cookies and without identifying anyone, using Cloudflare Web Analytics and Umami: number of visits, country, time on the page and how the globe is used (which events are viewed and listened to, button clicks and shares), always in aggregate. If you answer the optional question about who you are (student, teacher, etc.), only that category is recorded. Your language choice is stored only in your browser. Nothing is sold or used for advertising.

Credits

• Map outlines: Natural Earth (public domain), in the world-atlas format.
• Libraries: D3 and TopoJSON.
• Typefaces: Barlow Condensed and Source Serif 4, under the SIL Open Font License.