The Battle of Midway was a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It took place from June 4 to June 7, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and six months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that had led to a formal state of war between the United States and Japan. During the battle, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll (located northwest of Hawaii) and destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser while losing a carrier and a destroyer. The battle was a crushing defeat for the Japanese and is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of World War II. The battle permanently weakened the Japanese Navy, particularly through the loss of over 200 naval aviators. Strategically, the U.S. Navy was able to seize the initiative in the Pacific and go on the offensive.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1099: Members of the First Crusade reached Jerusalem and began a five-week siege of the city. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1099))

1494: Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the newly discovered lands of the Americas and Africa between the two countries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas)

1905: The Norwegian parliament dissolved the Union between Sweden and Norway. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_between_Sweden_and_Norway)

1940: King Haakon VII of Norway, Crown Prince Olav, and the Norwegian government left Tromsø for exile in London, following the World War II German invasion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VII_of_Norway)

1948: Rather than sign a Constitution making his nation a Communist state, Edvard Beneš chose to resign as President of Czechoslovakia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Benes)

1981: The Israeli Air Force attacked and disabled Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical guise. -- Gwendolyn Brooks (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks)