ABSTRACT
Japan's enemies had a vested interest in cooperating with one another, but a coalition among equals was unrealistic. With British capacity already stretched thin, other European nations under German occupation, and China barely holding on, the United States assumed leadership of the Allied war effort in the Pacific. The Japanese decided not to try to conquer Australia because the army objected to the necessary commitment of men and materials. The Japanese assumed the United States would send naval forces to defend Port Moresby, but they did not know how strong those forces might be. Midway Island was valuable property. If it remained in American hands, it could become, at some future date, a stepping-stone along the way to the Japanese home islands. No blueprint guided the Japanese in their conduct of the war. The Japanese soon found the Americans waiting for them over Midway.
