European Commonwealth

The European Commonwealth is the Fallout universe's equivalent of the real-world European Union, which has integrated into a single state-like entity; this was probably a federal union. (It is, however, not known which European states were members; the only confirmed member was the United Kingdom).

In 2052, Europe was heavily dependent on oil imports from the petroleum-rich states of the Middle East and responded with military action to rapidly rising oil prices that were damaging its economy, starting the terrible global conflicts that later historians simply lumped together as the Resource Wars.

The outcome of this conflict suggests that unlike today's EU (European Union), the European Commonwealth possessed a unified military. It is unknown whether the Commonwealth took steps to ensure its survival like the United States did.

When the Euro-Middle Eastern War came to an end in 2060, the Commonwealth began to dissolve, and many countries withdrew from the Commonwealth.

Real world European treaties
Real world counterparts to the European Commonwealth that originated during the Cold War era are the various European economic communities:
 * the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), established by the Treaty of Paris of 1951, was declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe"; the founding member states of the ECSC included Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and West Germany.
 * The European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, established by the Treaty of Rome of 1957 (in the real world the United Kingdom joined these communities only in 1973 alongside Denmark and Ireland).
 * The Western European Union (WEU), a pan-European military organization established on the basis of the Treaty of Brussels of 1948 (since the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 a transfer of the WEU's competences to the European Union was introduced, however, officially, the WEU still existed until 2010).

European weapon manufacturers

 * Glock, Austria.
 * Fabrique Nationale, Belgium.
 * Beretta and Franchi, Italy.
 * The Royal Small Arms Factory, UK.
 * Rheinmetall AG, Germany
 * Heckler & Koch, Germany
 * Sig Sauer, Switzerland

Beretta

 * 9mm M9FS Beretta (Fallout Tactics, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel)
 * Beretta 470 Silverhawk (Fallout Tactics)

Birmingham Small Arms

 * Lewis MKII (Fallout Tactics)

British Royal Armoured Corps

 * Boudicca-78/S (Van Buren)
 * .303 British (Fallout Tactics)

Franchi

 * SPAS-12 (Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel)

FN

 * FN FAL (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * FN FAL HPFA (Fallout 2)
 * FN P90c (Fallout Tactics)
 * M249 SAW (Fallout Tactics)

German Army

 * PPK12 Gauss pistol (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * M72 Gauss rifle (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * 2mm electron charge pack (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * MP38 (Fallout Tactics)
 * Vindicator minigun (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * Rheinmetall 9mm machine pistol (Van Buren)
 * H&K MP9 10mm SMG (Fallout, Fallout 2)
 * H&K CAWS (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * H&K P90c (Fallout 2)
 * H&K G11 (Fallout 2)
 * H&K G11E (Fallout 2)
 * MP5 H&K (Fallout Tactics)
 * Glock 86 plasma pistol (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)

Glock

 * Glock 86 plasma pistol (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * Plasma Defender (Fallout: New Vegas)

H&K

 * H&K MP9 10mm SMG (Fallout, Fallout 2)
 * H&K CAWS (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * H&K P90c (Fallout 2)
 * H&K G11 (Fallout 2)
 * H&K G11E (Fallout 2)
 * MP5 H&K (Fallout Tactics)

Mauser

 * 9mm Mauser (Fallout, Fallout 2)

Rheinmetall AG

 * Vindicator minigun (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * Rheinmetall 9mm machine pistol (Van Buren)

Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield

 * XL70E3 (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * Light support weapon (Fallout 2)
 * Bren gun (Fallout Tactics)
 * Sten gun (Fallout Tactics)

Sig Sauer

 * 14mm pistol (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas)
 * P220 Sig Sauer (Fallout Tactics)
 * 14mm armor-piercing bullet (Fallout, Fallout 2)

Countries mentioned

 * United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 * Germany
 * Switzerland
 * Italy
 * Austria

Appearances
The European Commonwealth is mentioned only in the Fallout intro, the Fallout Bible and a Capitol Post article in Fallout 3. Products from European manufacturers appear in nearly all Fallout games.

A prequel to the Fallout series, Fallout: Resource Wars, set in a collapsing Europe (during the European Commonwealth's invasion of the Middle East), is one of the games that J.E. Sawyer would like to make if he could do any game, regardless of money and development time.