Metal Gear Series/Early History

This is a timeline of fictional events that took place in the Metal Gear series, as well as fictional and non-fictional events that are referred to in the series. This timeline only covers canonical games and does not include side-stories or unofficial sequels. An X in this timeline represents an unknown year, while an XX represents an unknown decade.

1765
The original Sons of Liberty formed in the United States.

1789
April 30: George Washington takes office as the first President of the United States at Wall Street's City Hall in Manhattan, New York.
 * Wall Street's City Hall is renovated and renamed Federal Hall.
 * The Sons of Liberty as an active movement are disbanded.

18XX
It is claimed by the Patriots that in this period a kind of consciousness (the censorship and manipulation of information) formed layer by layer in the crucible of the White House.

1860s
The End is born.

1880s-1890s
McDonnel Benedict Miller's grandparents migrate from Japan to the US.

1904
A Japanese man called Jin-emon Natakama goes missing while exploring a stalactite cave.

1909
Major Zero (David Oh) born in Exeter, England, United Kingdom.

1914
Jin-emon Natakama walks out of a stalactite cave, a full ten years after he had gone missing while exploring the same cave. His family are doubly astonished to discover that he has apparently not aged a day since they last saw him (possibly the result of genetic experiments).

1922
December 30: The Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics / USSR) is formed.

1923
The "12 Wisemen" of the United States, the Republic of China, and the Soviet Union, gather together in a secret meeting that would later be known as the Wisemen's Committee. The secret pact they form there marks the beginning of the Philosophers. They begin controlling all the key decisions for the political, financial, economical and military affairs that take place in the US, USSR and China.

1924
The Joy (The Boss) born as a daughter of one of the United States' "Wisemen" Her name is an State's Ultra-Secret since her born, only her Father and the Higher Ranked Officials knowns her true name. Mother unknown.

1936
Jack (John / Naked Snake / Big Boss) born in Hawaii.

1936
May 15: EVA (Tatyana/Tanya/Big Mama) born in Meridian, Idaho, USA on May 15th 1936.

June 22: Para-Medic (Jane Doe / Quack/ Dr. Clarke) born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

1938
The Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" fighter plane is built in Japan.

1939

 * Sigint born in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

August: Albert Einstein writes a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt urging the development of an atomic bomb.

September: German army invades Poland, setting off World War II.

November: Soviet army invades Finland (the Winter War).


 * The Joy's father becomes the last remaining member of the original Wisemen's Committee. He reveals the truth of the Philosophers to her but as a result, he is killed by the Philosophers.

194X

 * The Philosophers form a secret pact, a blueprint for defeating the Axis Powers and creating a new world order. To secure victory in the war, USA, USSR and China pool their resources to conduct the most covert types of operations and research, including the atomic bomb, rocket technology, and the Cobra unit. The Philosophers amass an enormous sum of money to fund these projects, enough to fight the war five times over. That wealth is known as the Philosopher's Legacy. Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin's father is one of the men in charge of managing the Philosopher's Legacy and hence, in charge of the Philosophers' money laundering activities.
 * Jack loses the entire American side of his family in an Imperial Japanese Navy's attack during World War II. The Japanese side of his family are placed in internment camps.

1941
June: German army launches a surprise attack against the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa).

July: British army's SAS (Special Air Service) formed.

December 7: Imperial Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbour. US army participates in World War II as a result.

1942
August: US army's research division begins development of the atomic bomb (the Manhattan Project). Hal Emmerich's grandfather participates.

September: Siege of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) begins. * The Fear * The Pain * The End * The Fury * The Sorrow * The Boss / The Joy their names are State's Ultra-Secret.
 * In the midst of World War II, The Joy forms the Cobra Unit; the unit is formed by:
 * Mitsubishi J2M Raiden interceptors are used against the US in World War II. The code name the US Armed Forces used to refer to the Raiden fighter plane is "Jack".

December: Physicist Enrico Fermi succeeds in splitting an atom inside a nuclear reactor.

1943
January: Soviet army emerges victorious in the battle of Stalingrad.


 * The Joy becomes pregnant with The Sorrow's child.

1944
June 6: The D-Day incident: Allies land at Normandy, France. The Cobra unit take part in the landing at Normandy and are given a top secret mission to locate and destroy enemy V-2 rocket installations. Revolver Ocelot (Adamska) is born during the battle, when The Joy gives birth to him via a caesarian operation, after being shot in the gut. The Joy is left with a scar resembling the shape of a snake.

June: Adamska is taken away from The Joy by the Philosophers. He begins being raised as an agent of the Philosophers.


 * V-1 rockets fall on London.

1944-1945
Jack joins the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a Japanese-American infantry unit, in his teens. He gains his first combat experience fighting against Nazis in France, his unit contributing to freeing towns from invading Nazi units.

1945
July 16: The first atomic test in history takes place at Los Alamos, New Mexico in the United States.

August: Hal Emmerich's father born in the US.

August 6 - August 9: Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

August 15: World War II ends when Japan surrenders.

1945-1946

 * The Joy is given the title of "The Boss", and also becomes known as "Voyevoda" in the USSR.
 * After the end of World War II, the world is split into two - East and West. This marks the beginning of the era called the Cold War.
 * After the war, Jack returns back to the US, but suffers from prejudice against him due to his mixed ethnicity. This stunts his patriotism, and he turns his attention to fighting for himself and his own ideals.
 * In the confusion that ensues after World War II ends, Volgin's father devises a series of ingenious plots to ensure that the Soviet Union would have total control over the Philosopher's Legacy. The money amassed by the Philosophers, $100 billion, is divided up and laundered through banks all over the world, including Switzerland, Australia and Hong Kong. A microfilm contains a record of all those transactions, and hence the microfilm itself comes to be known as the Philosopher's Legacy.

1946
February: ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator), claimed to be the world's first computer, completed.

1947
September: CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency) established.

October: Pilot Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1.


 * The Boss disbands the Cobra unit.

1949
April: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) established.

May: Germany split into East and West.

June: British author George Orwell publishes 1984.

August: USSR tests its first atomic bomb at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, becoming the world's second nuclear power.

October: People's Republic of China founded.

1950
June:
 * Outbreak of Korean War (lasts until July 1953).
 * Jack becomes The Boss's disciple. She begins giving him combat training as a mentor and also starts teaching him Russian.

1951
November 1: "Buster Dog" atomic test conducted at Area 7 in Nevada, with Army troops participating. The Boss (formerly The Joy) is in the Nevada desert participating in this atomic test. (she is exposed to atomic radiation for research purposes of The Patriots, she became sterile after that).

1952

 * When a Roland Grace's grave is relocated, there are deep gouge marks discovered on the inside of the Hungarian farmer's casket lid. It appears the dying man had tried to claw his way out of the coffin.

November: US establishes the NSA (National Security Agency).

1953
April: James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double helix structure of DNA based on work performed by Rosalind Franklin.

July: Korean War ends.

August: Nikita Khrushchev becomes First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

1954
January:
 * US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces the New Look policy (the so-called "massive retaliation strategy").
 * US Navy launches the world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus.



February: The Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb tested on Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Jack (late known as Naked Snake) is used as an atomic test subject there (he was rendered sterile due the radiation expose). He is involved in the testing of the first airborne detonation of a hydrogen bomb. After noticing Jack as an atomic test subject on Bikini Atoll, The Boss becomes more drawn to him due to their similar situations.

March: KGB (Soviet Commission for State Security) formed.

May: French garrison of Dien Bien Phu falls, signaling the victory of the Viet Minh. France pulls out of Indochina.



November: Japanese movie Godzilla released in Japan.

1955
April: Albert Einstein dies, pleading for an end to nuclear weapons.


 * Jack and The Boss devise the CQC (Close Quarters Combat) style of combat.
 * Johan Jacobsen (Yozev Norden) becomes acquainted with Drago Pettrovich Madnar after they become college graduates.
 * Roy Campbell (Colonel Campbell / Chicken Fox) born in the US.

1957

 * Vietnam War begins.

August: USSR successfully launches an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).



October: Soviet Union succeeds in launching the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit (the Sputnik Shock).

1958
January: US launches its first artificial satellite, Explorer I.

October: NASA (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) begins operation.

1959
January: Cuban Revolution.

June 12: The Boss leaves Jack behind for a top-secret mission and does not see him again for 5 years, 72 days, and 18 hours.

1960

 * Francis Crick discovers that each gene in an individual produces a particular protein (and a particular characteristic).
 * Undercover Mafia sting operations begin in Chicago.

May:
 * American Lockheed U-2 spy plane violates Soviet airspace and is shot down over the Ural Mountains.
 * Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announces missile aid to Cuba.
 * South Vietnamese National Liberation Front (NLF) forms.

1961
January: John Fitzgerald Kennedy assumes office as the 35th President of the United States.

February: US conducts first test of Minutemen intercontinental ballistic missile.



April 12: USSR launches Vostok 1, the first manned spacecraft in history, piloted by Yuri Gagarin. The rocket that carries Gagarin into orbit is the A1, known as the Vostok rocket. Nikolai Stephanovich Sokolov, a famous Soviet rocket scientist, is said to be the man most responsible for the multi-engine cluster used in that rocket.

April: After Gagarin's flight, Sokolov leaves rocket development to become the head of the newly established OKB-754 Design Bureau, one of the Soviet's top-secret weapon research facilities, and the East's foremost expert on weapons development.

May: Alan Shepard becomes first American in rocket flight aboard the Redstone Rocket.

August: Construction begins on the Berlin Wall in Germany.

September: US 5th Special Forces Group, the "Green Berets" activated. Jack joins this group and stays until the Virtuous Mission.

October: USSR conducts the first atomic test in space above Russia.

December: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces increase in military assistance to South Vietnam.


 * Acting as a mercenary for the French, Jack participates in the Congo Crisis.

1962
January: US Navy SEALS formed.

February: US achieves its first manned space flight with the launch of Friendship 7.


 * Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov requests asylum in the West. Major Zero conducts the operation to sneak him out of the USSR. He uses a mole to get Sokolov's family out first and succeeds in sneaking Sokolov over the Berlin Wall shortly afterwards.


 * The Boss is assigned a mission to kill The Sorrow (her lover and Ocelot / Revolver Ocelot father) and she successfully completes it after The Sorrow allows her to kill him.

July: Kyle Cooper born in Fallowfield, Washington, USA.

October 16: American U2 spy planes confirm presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, precipitating the Cuban Missile Crisis. The President of the United States receives word that the Soviet Union has deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba. The world trembles in fear as the prospect of nuclear war looms ever closer.

October:
 * There is a secret condition in the deal that would put an end to the crisis. Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, who recently defected to the West, is to be sent back to the Soviet Union. The US government agrees to this stipulation, and returns Sokolov to his native land, the USSR.
 * After days of tense negotiations, the Soviets finally agree on the 28th to withdraw their missiles from Cuban soil. This event would later be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis

December: US Mars rocket Mariner 2 approaches Mars and begins sending back survey data.


 * US begins producing "Davy Crockett" portable nuclear missiles.

1963
February: US and USSR sign Hotline Agreement, establishing a direct telephone hotline between America and Soviet leaders.

June: British spy James Bond makes his first movie appearance in Doctor No. Major Zero becomes a big fan of James Bond.

August:
 * US, UK, and USSR sign the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) in the Kremlin (banning atmospheric, space-based, and underwater testing of nuclear weapons).
 * Movie The Great Escape released.

August 24: Hideo Kojima born in Stagaya, Tokyo, Japan.

October: James Bond movie From Russia with Love released in the UK.

November: US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassinated. Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes President.


 * John le Carré publishes The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.
 * Deaths from Vietnam War in 1963: South Vietnamese army: 8,100. NLF: 20,600. US military: 78.
 * 10,000 US military advisors stationed in Vietnam. 100,000 South Vietnamese civilians serving US military.

1963-1964

 * Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, the foremost weapons scientist in the Soviet Union and the head of the Granin Design Bureau, creates prototype designs for the development of a "Metal Gear". Yevgheny Borisovich Volgin, after his father's death, learns of the Philosopher's Legacy and obtains the microfilm. With this money and the support of Brezhnev and his allies, Volgin builds the fortress of Groznyj Grad and Granin's research facility in Tselinoyarsk, USSR. Colonel Volgin later cancels the funding for Granin's project, in order to continue research on Sokolov's "Shagohod" as a result of Granin failing to produce results.
 * McDonnel Benedict Miller (Master Miller / Hell Master) born in the US, 60 years after his grandparents migrated there.
 * Frank Jaeger (Frank Hunter / Gray Fox / Ashen Tod / Cyborg Ninja / Deepthroat / Null) born in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, as a half-German, half-Vietnamese.
 * Para-medic becomes a big fan of Godzilla.
 * The CIA's FOX (Force Operations X) unit is formed by Major Zero, but is not yet officially organized into a unit. Jack joins the FOX unit.
 * Adamska becomes the leader of the GRU Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces) Ocelot unit, and becomes known as Major Ocelot.