Metal Gear Events That Are Based on Real Life

Metal Gear is a strange series. It has a convoluted plot with many issues and retcons, and plays fast and loose with history. Yet, it also has a keen attention to detail that even die-hard fans may be unaware of. Those floating platforms the Soviets had in Metal Gear Solid 3 were real, as was the Arsenal Ship project mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 2’s backstory.

Real people from history played their part in the series, albeit largely off-screen. The games also use real historical events to either drive the plot forward, or flesh out a character’s role in the story. Obviously, the World Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc., are part of the series, but less famous events played a part in Metal Gear’s history as well.

10 The Bykivnia Graves, Kurapaty Graves, & Katyn Forest Massacre

1937-1943, Soviet Union

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Using real atrocities as dressing for a cackling villain’s backstory feels gauche, but since MGS3’s Colonel Volgin was a part of the NKVD, it’s inescapable. The NKVD was responsible for Josef Stalin’s great purge, and killing off suspected anti-communist parties for the USSR.

The Bykivnia Graves in Ukraine commemorate the 30,000 killed in its nearby woods. Meanwhile, the Kurapaty Graves are a memorial for the 250,000+ killed in the Belarusian forest from 1937 to 1941. The most infamous is the Katyn Forest Massacre, when the Nazis discovered 22,000 bodies in mass graves when pressing through Polish territory in 1943. The Metal Gear series doesn’t go in depth on the horror, beyond mentioning that a young Volgin developed his sadism by taking part in the killings.

9 The Kyshtym Disaster

1957, Soviet Union

• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Before Chernobyl, the Kyshtym Disaster was the worst radioactive disaster in history. The area around Ozersk (now Ozyorsk) was already heavily irradiated thanks to pollution from the Mayak plutonium plant. But an explosion at the plant in 1957 covered the whole city in radioactive elements. Most of Ozersk’s population was evacuated in the next two years.

Even after the evacuation, people suffered from radiation sickness, birth defects, and more. In MGS: Portable Ops, this disaster was the reason Elisa developed psychic powers as her family evacuated. However, it was further experimentation in East Germany that produced ‘Ursula,’ her second personality that has stronger powers at the cost of her emotions.

8 Yukio Mishima’s Failed Coup D’Etat

1970, Japan

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Famous for writing The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and the Sea of Fertility tetralogy, and for being a right-wing reactionary, Yukio Mishima is one of Japan’s most iconic literary geniuses. Yet, he’s more infamous for attempting to overthrow the Japanese government by taking the commandant of Camp Ichigaya hostage and attempting to rally its troops to his side. When they heckled him instead, he committed seppuku.

According to MGS: Peace Walker, one of the troopers in the crowd was Kazuhira Miller. Already disillusioned with the Japanese Self-Defense Force, Mishima’s remarks about the troop’s loss of their ‘samurai spirit’ were the last straw. He left the JSDF and became a mercenary, where he’d meet Big Boss 2 years later.

7 The Sandinistas

1961-Present, Nicaragua

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

The Sandinistas National Liberation Front, or Sandinistas for short, were far-left, eventually successful revolutionaries. Named after August Sandino, who rebelled against the US occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s, they did the same with the US-backed conservative Somoza regime. Amanda led a group of them in PW, where they were hounded by the US Peace Sentinels and supported by the KGB until they met Big Boss.

In both history and MGS, the Sandinistas overthrew the last Somoza president, Anastasio Somoza Debayle. They spent the following years fighting off the Iran-Contras, working against (and committing) electoral interference, and killing suspected dissidents. Whether Amanda took part in that isn’t known.

6 Angolan Civil War

1975-2002, Angola (Southern Africa)

• Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Some wars in history aren’t continual states of conflict. They can be a series of skirmishes that get lumped together because the ‘peace time’ between them was too short and too tense. The Angolan Civil War had the occasional truce before its end. The two sides, the MPLA and UNITA, had fought together for Angola’s independence, but had different views on how to run the nation afterward.

The MPLA government had Marxist-Leninist views and were backed by the USSR and Cuba. UNITA became anti-communist conservatives backed by the US and Apartheid South Africa. It wasn’t until after the fall of the Soviet Union that the war incorporated PMCs (private military companies), but Metal Gear Solid 5 sees its own fictional PMCs popping up to support one side or another in 1984.

5 Soviet-Afghan War

1979-1989, Soviet Union & Afghanistan

• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
• Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

Fans will be familiar with the Soviet-Afghan War, since it’s where MGS5 truly starts. Initially meant to back the country’s DRA regime, the Soviets’ war against the Mujahideen rebels essentially became their equivalent of Vietnam. They spent over a decade in the country fighting to back a government friendly to their interests, only to be beaten by guerrillas who knew the terrain better. Only here, the Mujahideen were backed by the CIA, with even Hollywood movies like The Living Daylights and Rambo 3 promoting their cause.

This would bite the US back though. Many rebels would eventually become part of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, leading to America’s own campaign in the War on Terror. MGS5 isn’t any different, as the Diamond Dogs’ missions frequently aid the rebels against the Russians. Before that game’s release, it was where Revolver Ocelot gained his ‘Shalashaska’ nickname, and where Metal Gear 2’s Holly White began her reporting career.

4 The Anfal Campaign

1988, Iraq

Indigenous to Eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Western Iran, and parts of Syria, the Kurds have often found themselves at odds with their neighbors. They’re still at odds with the Iraqi regime, as they’ve clashed over different issues since 1919, be it for their independence, for aid, or over resources.

The most infamous flare-up in the conflict was the Anfal Campaign. Saddam Hussein’s forces targeted Kurds with artillery and air strikes, followed by chemical gas attacks. It was said to be a counter-measure against rebel groups, but it was also meant to reduce the Kurdish population in order to ‘Arabize’ the area. It was this campaign where Sniper Wolf, a Kurd herself, lost her parents, and in the aftermath was rescued by ‘Saladin’ (Big Boss).

3 The First Liberian Civil War

1989-1997, Liberia

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Big Boss rescuing Sniper Wolf as a child seems like altruism. But given that she grew up to be a deadly sharpshooter (and an annoying boss fight), he was being pragmatic. His goal in MG2 was to produce perpetual war by raising child soldiers as the next generation of fighters. Solidus, his perfect clone, did something similar to Raiden in the First Liberian Civil War.

Born out of the totalitarian control of President Samuel Doe, this conflict saw four rebel movements fight for control of the country. By the mid-1990s, the main contenders were the NPFL and the Armed Forces of Liberia. Both sides were notorious for conscripting civilians and children to fight, but the latter was backed by the US. Solidus’ ‘Army of the Devil’ and its ‘Small Boy Unit’ turned the orphaned Raiden into ‘Jack the Ripper.’ If fought for anyone, it was likely the AFL.

2 Force 21 Trials

1997, United States

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Even after he was extracted from battle by an NGO, Raiden had trouble coming to terms with his past. This difficulty caught the Patriots’ attention. With cerebral implants and nanomachines, they suppressed his memories and groom him back into the military, notably by putting him through MGS’s VR Missions and the Force 21 Trials. The latter is actually a real Linux-based communication platform that, as Pliskin says, is about tactical IT deployment.

Known fully as Force 21 Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), it allowed commanders to keep track of their troops with virtual maps (overhead and from the ground) in real-time. In other words, Raiden proved his worth in the army by making himself easy to track and receive orders via a computer program.

1 9/11 and the War on Terror

2001, United States

• Metal Gear Rising (officially)
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (unofficially)

9/11 is unique, as it’s perhaps the only event (thus far) to affect MGS in both lore and real life. In lore, it set off a protracted campaign against Iraq and Afghanistan, mirroring what happened in the real world. This produced a pro-military mood that Metal Gear Rising’s Sundowner wanted to go back to. In real life, the disaster happened shortly before MGS2 was due to release in North America.

Considering that the game also ended with New York getting wrecked by a terrorist attack, Konami had to remove the most damaging parts of its finale. Some scenes, like a report on the Statue of Liberty, have resurfaced online over the years. However, the cutscene of Arsenal Gear plowing into Manhattan has yet to turn up. All that remains of it is an unused aerial model of Arsenal Gear in Manhattan post-crash.