In previous classes, your instructor has used a document pertaining to the battle of Midway to look at Word. This term he has used a Charley's Angels document. This is really some change

However, as to his past experience with the famous battle of Midway, your instructor is somewhat surprised by the lack of knowldge of this battle by students in his classes. In his 4 classes of Fall'09, only several veterans had an idea that such a battle even occurred and even less to its significance. This web site is not by an instructor in history and is certainly not an attempt to be chauvenistic about the US and its place in society. But, you as a student should understand the if the US had lost at Midway, probably peace would have been restored by a peace treaty agreeing to recognize Japan's conquests in Asia. Even more importantly is what would have happened as far as US interest in Europe.

World War II and who came out on top is very dicey. It is indicated by historians that peace feelers were put out by both the Soviet Union and England during 1942 to stop the war with Nazi Germany. Winter/Spring 1942 was the nadir as far as the Allies (US, England, USSR and a few others) were concerned. Japan controlled Asia from the waters of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) through Burma across to New Guinea. Australia was threatened. A loss at Midway would have almost assuredly have seen a Japanese invasion of Australia in addition to the threatening of Hawaii and the US Pacific coast. In the case of Australia, a successful Japanese invasion surely would have had some consumer consequences. Think about this the next time you are eating at Outback or thinking about putting another shrimp on the barbie

In Europe it might have even been worse. The link between the US and Britain was tenuous due to Uboat activity. All Europe from the Spanish border (Spain was neutral but heavily German influenced) to the Russian Caucusses was in Nazi Germany control. British influence was constrained to Gibralter (Which would have been invaded by the Spanish if things had gotten any worse in terms of Britain's position versus Germany), Malta (similarly threatened with invasion) and Egypt. Most of Northern Africa were axis dominated (Germany and Italy) except for Egypt and as far south as today's Niger, Chad and Ethiopia (again except for Egupt and Sudan then under British influence). It wouldn't have taken much for the AXIS powers to deliver a knockout blow and a loss of the American fleet at Midway could have pushed everything over the edge.

This is old news as far as history is concerned. For student's, how would things have been different if the US and Britain had lost the war and were forced to make peace. Besides that the boundaries of nations would have been different, the philosophy of the victorious Nazi and Imperial Japanese regimes were very different than what ultimately became the world model. Their ideas did not favor individual accomplishment and enterprise as we know it today. This antitype to our country's philosophy would have been the standard in the World. Just on this basis, how does this affect you. Individual empowerments like free commercial TV broadcasts would have been highly curtailed and this would extend into other things such as phone (and cell phone) use. The Internet would never have the reach it does now even if the technology would have moved the world toward it.

Further, would the technology even be there. During the war, a technological transfer of equipment and ideas was required between the allies, England, the US and to some degree the USSR. The US got the better of the deal although the production of these ideas (and equipment) saved Britain. Things like Radar - which is the basis of microwave technology, what is today designated as computer technology and nuclear technology were moved from Britain to the US. This transfer did not commence the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked. This developed over the next year and a half. If the US had been forced to sue for peace with Japan in 1942, much of this technology would have gone to Canada or just stayed in England.

But, even more importantly, the German loss and the subsequent occupation of Germany made a tremendous amount of technology created by a non democratic state available to all the Allies. This includes electronics, jet technology and missile technology.

To you, what this means is, you would not be able to hop on a jet to fly somewhere on your vacation, space technology probably wouldn't exist so you would not be able to use your GPS device, Computer technology - especially in the need for an Internet - would be 40 yerars behind what it is today (so forget these facebook and Internet dating accounts) and cell phone technology, based on an open radio spectrum would be frowned upon. It would not be the consumer driven world that you find yourself in today.

Even, further, the US would not have been in the lead as far a technological break throughs were concerned. Since 1973, much of these break throughs center around the microchip developed by Intel in 1973. The story goes that an Intel salesman was given the idea of such a chip during a visit to Japan to sell computer memory. Would such a trip have occurred if Japan had been victorious in WWII. Keep in mind that Japanese industry and capacity was severely affected during the last stages of WWII. American occupation after the war severely cut the capacity for military capability even further. It is not surprising therefore that a Japanese industry had to ask an American company to manufacture one of their ideas. In doing this, you have been the beneficiary of this Japanese idea created by a US company. Do you think it would have been the same if this technology was monopolized by a militant Japanese society (what Japan would have been after the war if they would have won) without American influence?