What were the most important battles of the Pacific War?

Among the most important were Pearl Harbor, the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

What was the turning point of the Pacific War?

The Battle of Midway in June 1942, where American carriers sank four Japanese carriers, is widely seen as the turning point.

What was the largest naval battle of the Pacific War?

The Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 is generally considered the largest naval battle in history.

What was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War?

Okinawa in 1945 was the largest and costliest amphibious battle of the Pacific, with enormous military and civilian losses.

How did the Pacific War end?

After Iwo Jima and Okinawa showed the cost of invading Japan, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan surrendered in 1945.

The Greatest Battles of the Pacific War

The war in the Pacific was fought across the greatest distances in military history, a campaign of carriers, islands and amphibious landings that ran from the shock of Pearl Harbor to the doorstep of Japan. This guide gathers its greatest battles, the carrier duels and island assaults that decided the fate of the Pacific.

The battles that decided the Pacific

Pearl Harbor, 1941 · the surprise attack that brought America into the war.

Coral Sea, 1942 · the first carrier battle, fought entirely by aircraft.

Midway, 1942 · the decisive victory that turned the Pacific War.

Military map of the Pacific showing Japanese and American fleet movements to the Coral Sea and Midway — The battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, May and June 1942, a map from the US Military Academy's Department of History atlas. Public domain

Guadalcanal, 1942 to 1943 · the first great Allied offensive of the Pacific.

Tarawa, 1943 · the costly atoll that taught the lessons of amphibious war.

Marines in helmets crouching in the sand behind a log seawall — US Marines take cover behind the seawall on Red Beach 3 at Tarawa in November 1943. US Navy photograph. Public domain

Peleliu, 1944 · a brutal, controversial fight on Bloody Nose Ridge.

Leyte Gulf, 1944 · the largest naval battle in history.

Iwo Jima, 1945 · the flag on Mount Suribachi and weeks of savage fighting.

Okinawa, 1945 · the last great battle, and a grim preview of invading Japan.

Marine aiming a submachine gun across shattered ground while a comrade ducks — A Marine of the 1st Marine Division fires at a Japanese sniper with his Thompson submachine gun near Wana Ridge on Okinawa, May 1945. US Marine Corps photograph by Walter F. Kleine. Public domain

How the Pacific War turned

Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 unleashed months of conquest, until the carrier battles of the Coral Sea and above all Midway in 1942 broke Japan's offensive and turned the war. From then the Allies went on the attack, beginning the long campaign at Guadalcanal.

Island by island, the Allies drove toward Japan, paying a rising price at Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, while the navy destroyed Japan's fleet at Leyte Gulf. The terrible cost of Okinawa helped shape the decision to end the war with the atomic bombs.

Distant carrier making smoke at sea as shell splashes rise around it — The escort carrier USS Gambier Bay straddled by Japanese shellfire in the Battle off Samar, part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, on 25 October 1944. US Navy photograph. Public domain

More from this war on Echoes of Battle: The Doolittle Raid

Why these battles matter

The Pacific War remade the modern world, ending the Japanese empire, confirming the aircraft carrier as the master of the seas, and bringing the atomic age. Its battles remain among the largest and most ferocious ever fought. See also our guide to the greatest battles in American history and the commanders of the Pacific War.

The Greatest Battles of the Pacific War

At a glance

The battles that decided the Pacific

How the Pacific War turned

Why these battles matter

Frequently asked questions

Island-hop across the Pacific