Things would probably be different now.
I’m thinking that Crocodile Dundee would have ended up speaking Japanese. We would have won eventually, but the process would have been longer and less pleasant.
Then at least 5 million Americans, men and women with guns and the knowledge to use them would be behind every rock, tree, building, sand dune, and would have killed Japanese soliders.
Japs take Hawaii (after heck of a fight), and cripple themselves doing it. It goes down in history as "an island too far". USN builds carriers and Montana class BBs ... Manhattan project carried out more or less on schedule ... Japan gets nuked more than twice in 1948 ...
IMO
Then the war would have taken an extra 2-3 years, but the result would have been the same.
Japan perhaps could have taken Midway, and threatened Hawaii. Nimitz would have been under pressure to back off on confronting the Japanese until carrier strength was re-built. Japanese perhaps would become more entrenched in Philippines and SE Asia, perhaps also buying them more time in Burma and China.
The USA would still have had massive industrial capacity, the Japanese would still have had massively overstretched supply lines, and the A-bomb development would not have changed.
VJ Day gets bumped the spring of ‘46.
If you’re really interested in Midway and its effects on the war, read “Shattered Sword”.
For what it’s worth, the author of the book maintains that the overall outcome of the war with Japan would not have changed; once the sleeping industrial giant was awakened, Japan’s defeat — sooner or later — was all but guaranteed.
It would still have ended in 1945. Maybe in Oct instead of Aug,’cause we might have had to use more nukes.
The Japanese were planning an invasion of Hawaii for September 1942. They would have had Hawaii within land based bomber range from Midway.
I read an anthology of alternative history and the author of one piece argued the US would of attacked Japan via Aleutians and Northern Pacific. As others have posted a Japanese victory at Midway would of just delayed the inevitable.
It would have taken us another year. No matter what victories the Japanese won at that stage, they simply did not have the ability to project invading power into our mainland.
They could not interdict our oil, our steel, our factories. If they won Midway, then it would have taken us about 6 months to replace the losses, and we would have been probably more angry, more focused, and less likely to waste time on the MacArthur approach.
Also,, the Bomb was on the way.
The Japanese had no chance to ultimately prevail. Yamamoto himself knew that.
I doubt the Japs could have invaded Hawaii. The distances are just too vast for the Jap Navy to accomplish and then resupply. Just look at the failure (on a much smaller scale) of the Aleutians Islands.
However, it probably would have allowed the Japs to push south again hard. And if the Japs were smart - they would have made iron rings of outer islands that would have been tough to crack. And then sue for peace.
After a bad route at Midway - we might have taken it.
http://www.amazon.com/Halseys-Bluff-Larry-Schweikart/dp/1605301299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238619567&sr=1-1
BTW, I had the book vetted and endorsed by the "Battle of Midway Rountable" of Midway vets.
From what I have read, both American and Japanese war games outcomes defined Japan’s defeat sooner rather than later.
Admiral Yamamoto did not believe Japan could defeat the U.S. and said he only believed he could mount effective offenses for six months—a prediction that proved accurate. And the Japanese Army command determined what has been stated elsewhere here, once they found out Americans owned guns—any Japanese offensive across the continent would have been a disaster because American civilians would have shot their army to pieces. Besides, not only would we have had a mounted American military presence of the Word War II army, Marines and Navy, we would have had the veteran survivors of WWI on the ground. The WWI guys were not all old men. Many or even most were middle age. In short, by the time the Japanese Imperial army got to Dallas, they would have been surrounded by hundreds of thousands of thoroughly urinated Americans. (Except I really think they would have been in real trouble by the time they got to Yuma.)
Not much different. Just would have taken longer, that’s all.
Our submariners would have suffered through a longer, even more intensive unrestricted submarine warfare campaign while we replaced our carriers and trained up some new naval aviators. Might have lost New Guinea and had a land campaign in Australia.
But we would have swept them from sea, any darn way.
We’d have started island-hopping in Hawaii, and we’d have started using nukes instead of Marines in any of the invasions after 1944.
What if your aunt had a p***s?
She’d be your uncle, I suppose, but in the end the question is pointless along with all possible answers.
Unless you’re Harry Turtledove, in which case you write another book and give your wife the kitchen makeover she’s been pestering you for.
But they didn't. And, if they had, the US would have doubled down and defeated the Japanese somewhere else in the Pacific. The Japanese supply lines were stretched too far by the time they got to Midway and Navy successes against their shipping were having a significant impact on the Japanese ability to re-supply their troops at the farthest points.
However, in light of current events upon which the very future of America as the beacon of freedom in an increasing oppressive world depends, discussing "what-if" questions about events that ocurred ~70 years ago is pretty pointless. Why not pose the question "What would the world be like today had Napoleon NOT have been defeated at Waterloo??" It's the same pointless exercise.
Japan was working on the Atom bomb as well and was very close, if not already successful in 1945. What would a delay of six more months have brought? Could you imagine first Pearl Harbor being nuked, then San Francisco, Seatle, and LA? Japan had already developed a sub that carried a plane. They had no shortage of suicide pilots and submariners either. If they couldn’t fly a bomb in, they could submarine one in. Japan was working on a lot of nasty stuff besides the Atom bomb too. I say it was close.