page_title: Guadalcanal Campaign
section_title: Strategic
hierarchical_section_title: Guadalcanal Campaign / Significance / Strategic
context_page_description: The Guadalcanal Campaign was fought between August 7, 1942, and February 9, 1943, in the Pacific theatre of World War II. This campaign, which was a decisive and strategically important campaign of World War II, was fought on the ground, at sea, and in the air between Allied forces against Imperial Japanese forces. The fighting took place on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands, and was the first major offensive launched by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
  On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, mainly from the United States, started landings on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomons with the aim to make supply routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand safer.
  The Battle of Guadalcanal was one of the first long campaigns in the Pacific.
context_section_description: After the victory at the Battle of Midway America was able to have naval strength in the Pacific equal to Japan's. It was only after the Allied victories in Guadalcanal and New Guinea that the Japanese attacks ended. The Guadalcanal Campaign ended all Japanese expansion attempts and placed the Allies in a position of power. This Allied victory was the first step in a winning other battles that eventually led to the surrender of Japan and the occupation of the Japanese home islands.
  The "Europe first" policy of the United States had at first meant they only defended against Japanese expansion,  to focus resources on defeating Germany. However, Admiral King's argument for the Guadalcanal invasion, convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the Pacific War could be won as well. By the end of 1942, it was clear that Japan had lost the Guadalcanal campaign. This was very bad for Japan's plans for defending their empire.
  The military victory for the Allies was important. The psychological victory was also important. The Allies had beaten Japan's best land, air, and warship forces. After Guadalcanal, Allied personnel regarded the Japanese military with much less fear than previously. In addition, the Allies began to think they could win the Pacific War.
  Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal.
  —Major General Alexander Patch, USA
  Commander, U.S. Forces on Guadalcanal
   
  Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history.  It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army.
  —Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, IJA
  Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade at Guadalcanal
   
  Beyond Kawaguchi, several Japanese 
  political and military leaders, including Naoki Hoshino, Osami Nagano, and Torashirō Kawabe, stated after the war that Guadalcanal was the turning point in the conflict.
caption: A dead Japanese soldier on Guadalcanal in January 1943.
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