Hardcore History teaches the value of patience. While I miss the old days when it consisted of shorter but regular episodes the quality has never dropped. Now it feels like an event when Dan Carlin uploads the latest episode. A quality of its own perhaps.
The Doolittle Raid had a huge and critical impact on the war: Yamamoto's grand plan to finally crush the American carrier forces in a decisive battle was an operation to take place in the Central Pacific. His superiors denied the plan repeatedly, and the Japanese army officials also vetoed it. But when Doolittle's bombers hit Tokyo, all opposition to the plan vanished--suddenly, destroying those carriers became a matter of securing the Emperor's physical safety. Thus, Yamamoto got the support he needed to carry out his decisive battle at Midway. It was also Yamamoto's worst operational plan ever, full of arrogance, denial of the possibility of danger, refusing to consider contingencies and the impact of unexpected developments. Even his wargaming session was half-hearted and obviously a rubber-stamp. Furthermore, Yamamoto settled for compromises with other high-ranking officers in the navy to divert other naval assets for simultaneous actions in other parts of the Pacific, diluting his navy's strength at the time of his decisive battle. Between that and American code-breaking (and a brilliant gambit on the part of Nimitz to subtly force King's hand to allow him to get all of his carriers out of the South Pacific and towards Hawaii, where he believed but did not yet have firm confirmation that the operation would take place), the US Navy was able to set up a trap for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Since their intelligence told them that the Japanese would be able to bring only four (or five at maximum) of its carriers to the battle, it meant that the US could field enough aircraft between three carriers and the planes on a reinforced Midway Atoll to have relatively equal numbers (if not necessarily equal quality in terms of planes and pilots). Thus, for the first time in the war, the US (or even the Allies in general) could fight a direct and decisive naval battle with the main Japanese force by choice rather than as an act of desperation. And so, the US Navy destroyed four of Japan's critical fleet carriers and ALL of its accompanying carrier planes (which were not being produced in large enough numbers to quite meet demand at the time) and a decent number of its elite airmen, along with some of Japan's best carrier specialists (damage control, engineering, flight operations, etc). The sunk heavy cruiser and another heavy cruiser heavily damaged was just icing on the cake. Thus, the Doolittle Raid had a tremendous military impact that was only discovered after the war, and it was an impact that the Allies could not have expected to result from it. The intent behind the raid had been for morale--mainly to bolster Allied morale rather than hurt Japanese morale, which was certainly successful--but it ended up being far more successful than anyone had imagined. Also, the notion that the US Navy was seriously risking two of its carriers for this operation is really overblown. The entire plan revolved around keeping the carriers safe; that's why they launched so early--they would not risk the carriers by continuing to sail closer after they'd potentially been detected. The real cost was that it took two fleet carriers away from other operations at a critical time, which was problematic, but it was deemed worth the cost. Lastly, even though the bombers had to be launched far earlier and farther than had been planned, most of the bomber crews survived the war, and many of them avoided capture altogether; I don't think any of them were shot down--they just ran out of fuel and had to crash-land where they could in China.
Words I can't wait to hear: "what you're about to hear is the final episode of our 11 part series on the Japanese empire in world war two. Its our longest episode ever at just under nine hours, but we wanted to be thorough. And now without further ado, Supernova in the East part 11."
I understand you're enthusiasm and feel the same in part, but I'm with the others who warn careful what you wish for because an 11 part series would likely take another 2 to 3 years to complete and that's a best case scenario, more realistically it could be four years or more and though I've throughly enjoyed the subject matter I am always just as excited to see what the next episode or series will cover. I hope we as a species have unlocked the secret of greatly extending our lifespans long before Mr Carlin departs our world because there isn't anyone who can replace him. The time I spend listening to Dan dive into history the way he does is absolutely bliss.
I knew that the Japanese Army was vicious at times, but when you hear the specific details listed towards the end of this episode it really leaves me in awe. I completely understand why a serviceman in the Pacific would come to loath them.
My grandfather was a marine in the pacific to say he hated the Japanese would be a understatement. In some ways I get it from listening to these or at least a kind of understand it
My grandparents truly hated the Japanese. My grandfather was an aircraft mechanic on P-38's. I could get him to talk about the planes for hours, but he would never talk about the combat he was forced to do at times when the airfields came under attack. Rest well Pappaw, I love you and granny and miss you every day.
I guess my grandfather was kind of an enigma he was very proud of the fact that he never killed a single person in the Pacific as a teenager my reaction was meh whatever. As an adult in my reaction was wow that's impressive. Listening to the series my reaction is now holy s*** that's a miracle.
Don't lie...you can listen infinitely...and catch new shit each time...inflections in tone, random odd details, shit your brain just glazed over after hour number 3 on lap number 5...i.e. my Death Throes of the Republic
I don't know how your school system was, but I never had the option to take a History class. Instead we had Social Studies, which is a bit of History, a bit of Civics, and a lot of telling us what to think about the world, instead of teaching us HOW to think about it.
My son is a history teacher in high school here in Washington state. He uses Dan's material regularly for his classes. And his classes are ALWAYS full. He gets interesting veterans to come and give presentations, along with historical reenactment groups. I kinda wish I had a history teacher like him when I was in school.
@@briangarrow448 Your kid's doing it right. People like him are desperately needed in education in general, for they're the ones who actually get kids interested and invested.
School history teachers wouldn't have the luxury of being able to spen five hours uninterrupted on one topic when you have a year's curriculum to cover.
You are a worldwide treasure I am Jester Moon The Wizard of Silly here in Calgary Untruedaux Land 9:51 Or Utube 🎉 I'm a veteran of the RAF for 28yrs, PTSD is my constant companion. Hard to listen sometimes. Keep on Writing ✍️ Stay Stay Safe Free
I've been waiting almost TWO YEARS to find out how this story ends edit: and I'm still left hanging. I dunno I think the japanese might still have a chance.
I am in the exact same boat. I thought part 3 was going to deal with the Coral Sea and Midway. I was so sad when it ended with Pearl Harbor. My heart about stopped when I saw this pop up.
Shouts out to everyone all over the world, doin they thang and stuff like that ... You're the highest and tightest mommy I've ever seen, jeans. Thanks Hitler!
@@possiblepilotdeviation5791 man... i don't no what your talking bout... me an Topdog are just here glassin man.... I'm the water champ not you man!!! Free food. Free rent and everything else man. Here's the deal man. Men from jail; homeless- or Um... if your a thug, you wanna come move in. Your friend can move in too man.
Dude its 4.50 am in Perth , Western Australia, i just got home from a 14hr shift at work, and need to be back in that hell hole in 10hrs... looks like 4 hrs of that is going to be spent with Dan!!!! fuck yeah!!!! Hardcore History!!!!
I’m a soldier in the army but I don’t consider navy to be weak. I’d much rather take my chances on the ground. Then be trapped in a fucking ship on the open ocean fuck that. I’ll stick with my saw and a hole in the ground.
@@Anomaly-uz9pr fucking exactly my thoughts... I'm terrified of drowning in deep ass water, which is weird because I'm a decent swimmer and always have been but uhh yeah, I feel like I would constantly be freaked out if I had to stay on a boat in the middle of the ocean all day. Hell I didn't much like going out on my grandfather's boat in the middle of a lake without the potential to get shot at/torpedoed/or sunk in some other way. I watched Dunkirk the other day, the movie, and there are multiple scenes in that movie of big ships getting sunk and guys getting trapped underwater as it does down and shit.... that shit makes my skin crawl lol
I mean can’t both be true? I don’t see how each is mutually exclusive. I could see banditos being the only people willing to fight for their beliefs because clearly they don’t respect authority
Only 700 views in 17 hours????? What the hell RU-vid. Considering he usually gets hundreds of thousands per video, it seems hard to believe this one is doing so poorly especially during quarantine
When a child swings hands and tell you that if you happen to be in his way, it's your fault if he hits you. We all know it's still a responsibility of that kid swinging hands. But when president ordered an attack on Japan it wasn't his responsibility, that Japan then killed tens of thousands of Chinese people. It was Japan's responsibility and fault. Even if you knew they would do it - beforehand. The causal decision is still on the Japan. It's really weird how even smart people still can't resolve the logic of this.
@@possiblepilotdeviation5791 tired of police ignoring the constitutional rights of the people and having no avenue to redress grievances. Also killing thousands of pets a year doesn't help. You must be a communist to love the tyrants boot so much.
@@abrahamlincoln1889 says the guy who named himself after a president who suspended constitutional rights and invaded a sovereign country that succeeded from a despotic federal government. You are an ignorant authoritarian.
My father worked with a Japanese American that was a teenager in the concentration camps, he would often talk to my dad about his time there and according to my dad everytime he would round his way to talk about this one lieutenant that singled him out to ridicule him. As the conversation would change to this one man, his anger would become so visible that my dad says the air in the breakroom would get hot. Supposedly this guy marked down the lieutenants name and after the war would hunt him down several times to threaten him at his business about how he would explicitly kill him. That's what I appreciate about this broadcast is the history according to the first hand accounts, hearing what the people that were there felt and saw provides something so much more than any textbook in school could teach
"the rhythm I feel now is like the Americans are trying to strike a match and the Japanese are trying to blow the match out..." It sounds cartoonish and funny but this is so accurate when you see that timeline of "arrival" of American planes -- incredible!
Amazingly well researched and presented, didn’t know hardcore history had uploaded this until today. and... and I just noticed that ONE day ago an even NEWER episode has been uploaded... this is honest to god one of the best days of my life.
King turned out to be right in many, many ways. Arnold was an idiot who had no idea what he was doing; he got his vast bomber fleets slaughtered over and over again for little gain *even when he was told that he needed to allow drop tanks to be given to the P-47 escort fighters to protect the bombers*. When he got replaced by Doolittle, things turned around quickly; Doolittle threw out Arnold's nonsense and explicitly recognized that the strategic bombing was totally ineffective at actually crippling the enemy's war effort, and that the primary goal was to use the bombers to lure out the enemy's air force so that your own fighters could destroy them. Doolittle achieved lasting air supremacy remarkably quickly and with far fewer losses. Arnold was either an idiot or a butcher of his own men, or both. Likewise, in the Pacific, it was patently absurd that an Army general would be in command in a theater that was an enormous ocean dotted with islands in places, against a huge naval power, where the keys to victory would be the navy and the marines. The army was not well-suited for most of the Pacific theater's fighting. And the Army Air Corps conducting strategic bombing was, if anything, merely the result of successful efforts by the navy and marines to secure and construct airbases in the Pacific. Nowhere is this reality more apparent than when MacArthur's grand plan to start counterattacking in the Pacific an idiotic plan to try to capture an enemy naval fortress using the bulk of the naval power and marine forces available in that hemisphere, with precious little in the way of Army forces contributing.
I remember Westpac 1987 onboard the USS Constellation. I was a 21 year old Airman Apprentice. I remember flight deck training and the speed and precision of the crew to launch, recover, and launch again. I was in a tomcat squadron, VF-21 freelancers. In the Reagan years the Navy had all the aviation fuel they could burn. It was battle flex deck almost daily. We were a finely honed machine. The tip of the spear. God bless my shipmates that took it to the Japanese at Midway.
This series, among Dan's numerous others, should be considered a national treasure. My personal favorite is "Celtic Holocaust" If you've made it this far, you'll love this, or your money back
“What the allies are about to do here is ambush a surprise attack. They’re launching a surprise-attack against a surprise-attack, it’s a counter surprise attack…” I spit out my coffee belly laughing
Damn the art work for this is one is awesome. Excellent storytelling. Ran through the last three episodes and now I'm here. Listening to Homer tell a story must've been a bit like listening to Dan tell a story. Thank you for making this.
I have been waiting for this for so long! I am still in shock that this is free! Just letting you know Dan. If you had a pateron page, I would support it in a heart beat. Keep up the great work! Small question, and I understand you are super duper ultra busy. Where's that Cleopatra podcast? :D
You can paypal him on www.dancarlin.com/dc-donate/ . He already has 20 bucks from me :D. Though it was time to give something back for all the hours of entertainment. Or buy his book, the audio version he reads himself but much of that already covered in HH shows. Still i have listened to the book and the shows multiple times :D
@@dramtoet1809 I have bought all the ones on his website, ~$30 so far. Almost feel like $30 for 100+ hours of content is too little. I'll checkout his Paypal! Thanks. I am currently relistening to all his podcasts too :D! Starting from Punic Nightmare and then going to end with Ghosts of the Ostfront. Going cronologically in time is such a thrilling expereince. Getting goosebumps just thinking about it.
As a child I was glued to the history channel watching documentaries and many series on ww2 and Vietnam. But no matter how great those shows were, nothing compares to dans content. And his voice works well for me because not only does he share the same last name as my favorite comedian but he kind of sounds like George Carlin as well. Brilliant content, keep up the great work. We are all pleased.
Roflmfao your part about the Marines descriptions was awesome I laughed so damn hard. My great Uncle was in China then Corregidor then Surrvied Batten and was one of longest serving POWS of WwII He was One of the Old Breed. The God Box Jerked Goat too funny. Then I became a Marine kin the 80s.
This particular Japanese military self proclaimed infallibility complex going into the maelstrom of what so many had to have known it was a place of no return, even from the upmost echelons of medallions that jingled when his feet planted with each step, down to the only , male only child of fighting age, in the smallest most remote village high in a foggy mountainous rural tiny prefecture leaving his home for the first, and last time. As his mother father, and every other member of their town waved goodbye to him. Holding onto the dichotomy of ‘how can we let our only son go?” And “our Holy Emperor will protect him, because he is our only son, and he sees him, his eyes see him, and he will guide his path.” It sounds a lot like other people who live in my own country, sending their own children off to fight other people’s wars, under similar beliefs, but with different, yet equivalent hopes in their own divine. But no less of a white knuckle grip onto that good ole my country right or wrong.
Your experience with wargaming shaped how well you told this story, I can tell. Great content, I only wish there was more. I would really like you to do a show , as through as this one, on Korea & Vietnam.
Soooo good. And loving the inserts of actual radio broadcasts, etc... A couple have actually brought me to tears thinking about what Americans were experiencing sitting next to their radios, and taking the President’s word as EVERYTHING.
Makes you realize that almost the entirety of history and what we call "historical accuracy" depends solely on witness testimony. If witness testimony doesn't hold up in court, why do we let it inform our view of history?
Actually there was examples of Japanese Americans sympathizing for Japan there’s a famous instance where a Japanese pilot crash landed at a Hawaiian island and a family took him in and protected him until other people in the island found out and basically the small island town was split between helping him or Turning him in and it got so heated that at one point the family shot someone who was trying to turn him in and since mail took so long to get off the island it took authorities a lil while to actually get to the island and capture the pilot that scared the government into thinking what if Japanese civilians keep doing this or help the Japanese suns and planes by directing and pinning out points of attack, I’m not defending the camps just giving a lil more background
you had me at midway... checking if the power went out we are all tied for your number one fans... i truly appreciate your way of describing how culture influences outcomes and our hindsight interpretations wow Dan, always worth the wait
As a newcomer to the series, I'd like to say thank you to Dan Carlin and the production team behind him. These podcasts are marathon listening sessions, but they are incredibly valuable, both for the in-depth and even-handed treatment of the subject matter (some of it heartbreaking or horrifying), and for asking the hard questions that come from these events. As I listen, I hear echoes of the past coming up again and again, questions we think of as long since settled returning in the global politics of the world today.
Dan Carlin has a special gift fir bringing history alive. Especially in this episode of the crucial 15 minutes at Midway. He documents in cruel reality, the tick of time, the edge of pain, the what of sane. An unforgettable narration.
Does this go over 5 or 6 parts? At this rate with so much still to cover, I would not be surprised or mind beyond having to wait longer for the completion of this masterpiece series. Sheer brilliance Dan. Kudos
Wow a fourth one! (I'm still only in the early stages of the third) My Father was a Japanese prisoner of war, so I've taken a particular interest in this series. Dan's pretty long-winded, but his compelling style makes me bemoan my lack of time (and poor attention span) rather than his own presentation.
I so much enjoy you podcast! You remind me to my Professor Philip Zelikow and you make me miss him so much. 😅 but he’s not done another Coursera course. So, I’ll have to wait 🙄 Anyways! I enjoy your show so much.. so cool and at times scary. Why don’t you work on Chernobyl .. I couldn’t finish seeing the tv series but God was scary! 🤭 The good thing about your podcast is that I don’t have to answer questions or have tests at the end of the lectures 😅😅😅 Anyways, thanks so much! You’re saving my life! 🤗🤗🤗🤗💕💕💕💕😎😎😎😎🌸🌸🌸🌸
