00:00Did you know that in 1951, the US came this close to starting World War III?
00:07It's not a story your teachers will tell you, but it's true.
00:11Oh, and by the way, if you've ever wanted to support our humble little channel, we finally
00:16have merch.
00:18Check out the Stars and Stripes pin set, it's very lovely.
00:22But I digress.
00:23Here is the man who almost dragged America into nuclear war.
00:27Douglas MacArthur, arguably the most controversial US general of the 20th century.
00:35In case you don't know him, a fact which would totally bewilder him, Douglas MacArthur was
00:40one of America's most decorated military leaders.
00:44He was a strong yet paradoxical figure.
00:47He came from an influential family, a sort of military aristocrat destined from birth for
00:53the armed forces.
00:54He went to the most elite army school in America and, of course, graduated at the top
01:01of his class.
01:02He rose rapidly through the ranks during the First World War, earning seven silver stars,
01:08two purple hearts and a bunch of other awards, both domestic and foreign.
01:14By 1919, he was occupying Germany and, in the years between the two world wars, he rose to
01:21become the US Army Chief of Staff.
01:24Yet, despite his elite background and his position at the very top of the US military, he breathed
01:31an aura of populism and presented himself as a bastion against the corrupt Washington establishment.
01:37He had an almost Trumpian ego and built himself a cult of personality in the military, which,
01:44of course, led to frequent clashes with his superiors.
01:48It should, therefore, come as no surprise that MacArthur's later career saw him commanding
01:54places as far away from the US as possible, like the Philippines during World War II.
02:00When the Japanese Empire conquered the Philippines, MacArthur swore that he would return.
02:07And when he did return, victoriously, the whole of America celebrated him as a national hero.
02:15MacArthur was the one who received Japan's surrender after the two atomic bombings, and
02:21it was he who oversaw America's occupation of the islands.
02:25His ego and grandeur grew over the next four years, as he brought democracy to the islands,
02:34instituted Japan's new constitution, and basically reshaped Japan to his liking.
02:40During this time, MacArthur was also in charge of South Korea, though he didn't pay it much
02:47attention.
02:48Korea, as we all know, was divided along the 38th parallel when Japan surrendered.
02:54It was divided, with Communists in the North and ostensible Democrats in the South.
02:59This division was supposed to be temporary, but like many Cold War arrangements, it turned
03:05into a permanent crisis.
03:06Much like Communist China and Taiwan, which we covered in another side quest.
03:12In any case, Kim Il-sung decided to take matters into his own hands and to unify the
03:18North Korean peninsula by force.
03:21And so, in June 1950, North Korea invaded the South, with weapons generously provided
03:28by Mao and Stalin.
03:31By the time General MacArthur had drank his morning coffee, the North Koreans were well
03:36on their way to Seoul.
03:38The South Korean army was badly outnumbered and lacked planes and tanks, so it began collapsing
03:44within days.
03:46In the eyes of the Americans, this was very much looking like the first steps towards World
03:51War III.
03:53Lest we forget, just within the last year, the Soviet Union had tested its first nuclear
03:58bomb and Mao had completed the Communist takeover of mainland China.
04:04President Truman pushed for an emergency session of the United Nations and, within two weeks,
04:10an American Expeditionary Force was assembled to save South Korea.
04:14The man entrusted to lead this force was, of course, General MacArthur.
04:20He took up this position with great enthusiasm and saw it as a call from destiny to finally
04:27wage proper war on Communism.
04:29Unfortunately for him, by the time America's forces could actually be mustered, South Korea
04:35had almost entirely been conquered.
04:38Only a sliver of territory in the south-east remained, the so-called Busan perimeter.
04:45For MacArthur, the war seemed over before it had even begun, and so a radical strategy
04:51was needed.
04:53Against the advice of almost everyone else in the US military, MacArthur planned a daring
04:59naval invasion deep behind enemy lines to cut off the North Koreans.
05:04The plan was bold and had a very high risk of going wrong, which is exactly why the North
05:12Koreans didn't expect it and why it worked.
05:16The Americans cut off the North Korean army's supply lines and routed it in short order, pushing
05:22it out of South Korea entirely in mere weeks.
05:26MacArthur was praised as a genius and was awarded another bunch of medals.
05:31At this point, MacArthur did what any other military genius would do – he pushed his luck.
05:37And speaking of pushing your luck with bold tactical decisions, I think you'll enjoy playing Warhammer
05:4540,000 Tacticus.
05:47It's a fast-paced tactical strategy game set in the eternal conflict of the Warhammer 40,000
05:54universe, where you build a roster of champions from over 22 playable factions and send them
06:01into skirmishes.
06:02I've always had a soft spot for games where you can out-think your enemy rather than just
06:07out-click them and Tacticus very much scratches that itch.
06:12You have to figure out when to strike, when to hold back and when to do the MacArthur thing
06:17– and massively overextend because of your ego.
06:22There's PvE campaigns, PvP live events, Guild Wars and regular updates with new champions
06:30and limited time content.
06:32Just a few weeks ago, we got the Blood Angels Assault Terminator Cesare.
06:37And on the 9th of August, to celebrate the game's fourth anniversary, we're getting the
06:43new Crusade mode, bringing all-out PvP on a galactic scale.
06:49It unlocks at level 20, so make sure to get started now so you're strong enough in time.
06:56And for a limited time, you'll also receive a special goodie bag with resources, tickets
07:02and shards if you use the promo code Questacticus.
07:06Just click the link in the description or scan this QR code to assemble your army and
07:12wage galactic war.
07:14But back to our story, MacArthur did push his luck pretty soon after his successful invasion.
07:20Rather than stopping at the former border, as was the operation's original goal, he
07:26pushed deeper into North Korea to reunify the peninsula under the South.
07:31President Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were worried that China would intervene.
07:36But MacArthur's popularity outweighed their concerns.
07:41When intelligence came in that 400,000 Chinese troops were amassing in Manchuria, MacArthur
07:48brushed it off as a bluff by Mao.
07:50In his eyes, the Chinese were a weak army.
07:54So, even if they did intervene, they'd just be slaughtered.
07:58And they'd also be giving him a convenient excuse to expand the war into China.
08:03When China did attack, supposedly with a volunteer army so that it wouldn't really be a war, MacArthur
08:11got a big, fat reality check.
08:13In just over two months, the Americans were pushed back to the 38th parallel, with thousands
08:20dying in the retreat.
08:21By this point, President Truman was looking for a diplomatic way out of the conflict, which
08:27was becoming increasingly unpopular back home.
08:31He was also deathly afraid of the Soviet Union joining the party.
08:36MacArthur was furious and was pushing for the opposite.
08:40More forces and escalation against China.
08:44Initially, he proposed dropping nuclear bombs in Manchuria to create an impassable radioactive
08:50belt between China and Korea.
08:53Truman naturally rejected that plan.
08:56But MacArthur persisted.
08:58He called for a naval blockade and aerial bombing of China, followed up by an amphibious
09:04invasion from Taiwan so that Chiang Kai-shek could finally get his revenge.
09:10All these unhinged proposals were almost certain to cause World War III, not least because the
09:16Soviet Union had just signed a mutual defence treaty with China.
09:21MacArthur's pride, however, was too great.
09:25So instead of submitting to the President's orders of limiting the Korean War, he tried to
09:30escalate it outside the chain of command.
09:32He reached out to foreign diplomats to assure them that America was committed to waging
09:39war with China.
09:40He also sent a letter directly to Congress, advocating for a wider war and publicly criticising
09:47President Truman.
09:48Worse yet, he sabotaged the peace talks between the US and China right when they were starting,
09:55by publicly demanding China's surrender and threatening a blockade.
10:00For President Truman, this was the last straw.
10:04He took the big political risk of firing the extremely popular war hero general in the
10:11middle of a war.
10:13Ironically, news of his dismissal reached MacArthur right when he was executing his most brazen
10:20scheme yet for expanding the war.
10:23On the very same day of his firing, MacArthur had commanded 18 ships from the 7th Fleet to
10:29the coast of China near Taiwan.
10:32He had previously received approval to retaliate against Chinese provocations and apparently,
10:39he was trying to fabricate one from scratch.
10:42MacArthur had one of the ships move to within three miles of mainland China as bait, then had
10:49planes do mock bombing dives over the nearby city of Shantou, hoping to provoke a response.
10:55The Chinese did respond, by surrounding the lone American ship in a tense standoff that
11:02lasted five hours.
11:04Luckily, nobody was trigger-happy and no shots were fired, so escalation was averted.
11:11MacArthur was officially relieved of his post, but his ambitions were far from over.
11:18He returned to US soil for the first time in over a decade and was greeted as a war hero
11:24with triumphant fanfare.
11:26In Washington DC, he drew a quarter of a million people along Pennsylvania Avenue as he made
11:32his way towards the capital with Air Force jets racing above.
11:36Reporters at the time noted the surreal fear they felt that if MacArthur had tried to seize
11:44the White House, he may very well have succeeded with the crowd's support.
11:49Thankfully, he didn't try to take power by force, and by the 1952 election next year,
11:56his name had faded from the headlines.
12:00President Truman, however, never recovered politically from firing MacArthur, and in 1952,
12:06he didn't even try to run for re-election.
12:10History did vindicate Truman's actions in the decades since, but he only lived until 1972,
12:17so he didn't get to see most of that.
12:20In any case, if you enjoyed this brief march through hypothetical Armageddon, consider supporting
12:26us on Patreon.
12:28Also consider getting our first ever merch, the Stars and Stripes Pinset, linked in the description.
12:34Let us know in the comments what other topics you'd like us to cover, and stay tuned for
12:40the next delusionally grandomanic episode of SideQuest.
12:46What was MacArthur's favourite fast food?
12:50The Big Mac.
12:51No note.
12:521 Any note.
12:522 Any note.
