1942: Crux of War with Jonathan Parshall, Keynote Speaker of the 35th Admiral Nimitz Symposium

1942 was truly the hinge point of all of WWII, in that during this one year, both the Axis and Allies had the ability to create the long-term conditions for ultimate victory. It represented the point of maximum danger for the Allied alliance. Jonathan Parshall describes the totality of the war situation in the first half of the year from both the Allied and Axis perspectives, so as to create a broader context for understanding the issues in the Pacific.

Speaker bio:

Jonathan Parshall is an independent WWII scholar. He is co-author of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, which is widely acclaimed as the definitive account of that crucial battle. He is also co-author of the shortly forthcoming In the Dark: Naval Combat at Night, 1904-1944. Parshall has been widely published in the Naval War College Review, Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval History magazine, WWII magazine, Wartime (the journal of the Australian War Memorial), and others. He established “The Imperial Japanese Navy Homepage” (www.combinedfleet.com) at the dawn of the internet in 1995 and has been its curator since. Parshall has also been a long-time lecturer for the U.S. Naval War College, and a frequent speaker at the National WWII Museum, the National Museum of the Pacific War, the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, and others. He has appeared on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, Smithsonian, the BBC, and most recently on NetFlix’s “Road to Victory” series. He was a technical advisor to the remake of the movie “Midway,” as well as other TV shows. His research for the past twelve years has focused on a forthcoming new history of the year 1942.

Special Thanks to Symposium Donors and Sponsors:

Humanities for Texas

Fischer and Weiser

Hilmy Cellars

and several private donors.

This is a recording from the 35th Annual Admiral Nimitz Symposium: 2022.