Episode 18: Headlong Into War

In the aftermath of the disaster off Taiwan’s coast involving both the US and China, a storm of fury, misinformation and disinformation propels both nations toward fateful decisions.

Background:

This is the bridging episode that takes us from China’s gamble regarding the quarantine, the US’s attempt to break it, and what comes next: open war. In this episode, I wanted to show how the momentum of events are affecting both sides and a behind-the-curtain look at how decisions were made. Within that, I was also looking to highlight how both sides misread the other while being influenced by their own agendas (personally and politically), as well by misinformation, disinformation and missteps. Definitely on my mind while writing this were events of late spring and summer of 1914 in the weeks leading to World War 1, where once Serbia and Austria-Hungary began to mobilize, momentum took over, spiraling Europe into war. Finally, I wanted to introduce the US Marines unit to the story, who we will revisit in much further detail later in the season! I know this one was a slower-paced episode, but it was really necessary to make that connection to all the episodes coming. In episode 19… things begin to cook.

Access the FCH War Room

To access a commercial-free private version of this episode, as well behind-the-scenes documents, map locations, sources, scripts, shot-sheet and all the things that went into creating the episode, join the Flat Circle History War Room.