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. Welcome back to Key Battles of the Pacific War.

James and Scott are here with you again.

And we're, let's recap what we did last time.

We took a little bit of a break, if you remember, from the military narrative.

We talked about how the United States responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor, not militarily, but more industrially, economically, socially.

We talked about how so many people joined the service, how many

more were drafted, how the government really ramped up military production. And we also talked

about what life was like for an average American citizen. And we talked about the sad experience

of Japanese Americans and yet how they overcame their suffering and and how so many Japanese Americans as well as other groups such as African Americans, Mexican Americans, women, all of them served their country very competently and boldly and contributed to the war effort. It was a real team effort. Before that,

you may recall, we actually did talk about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And now we are

going to see what happens right after that on the military front. If you think the Japanese military

is done, if you think they are going to say,

well, we taught the Americans a lesson. We dealt them a good sucker punch. We heard them really bad,

and we're done. That's it. That is far from the truth. I'm here to tell you that the Japanese

army and Navy are not done, not even close.

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