War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its size,

and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history

through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Music host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to our series on key battles of the Pacific War in World

War II.

We have started one of the most epic battles of the war, one of my favorite battles,

a battle that is really more of a campaign with several smaller battles within it.

And that is, of course, the battle of Guadalcanal.

So last time we set the stage for Guadalcanal and just barely got the Marines onto the island.

But let me go ahead and recap the episode and just kind of refresh your memory on what happened.

So if you haven't listened to that episode at all, episode 10, I would recommend that you

stop this one and go back and do that.

But if you have, I know I can always use a refresher.

So here's what happened in our last episode. We talked about it. but if you have, I know I can always use a refresher.

So here's what happened in our last episode.

We talked about how after the Battle of Midway, which of course was an American victory, a major American victory in which all four Japanese carriers that attacked were destroyed.

And we saw that.

And so then the U.S. decided it wanted to go on the offensive.

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