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, the European Commonwealth possessed a unified military. The European Commonwealth, like all other world governments, ceased to exist after the Great War. It is unknown whether the European Commonwealth took steps to ensure its survival like the United States did.

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

 * German weapons manufacturers seen in the Fallout universe include Heckler & Koch and Rheinmetall AG. Gauss weapons were of German design also.


 * Glock, which originated in Austria.


 * Fabrique Nationale originated in Belgium.


 * Beretta, in Italy.


 * The XL70E3 was developed by the British arms manufacturer Enfield.

Beretta

 * 9mm M9FS Beretta (Fallout Tactics)
 * Beretta 470 Silverhawk (Fallout Tactics)

British Royal Army Corps

 * Boudicca-78/S (Van Buren)
 * Bren gun (Fallout Tactics)

Enfield

 * XL70E3 (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)

FN

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

German Army

 * PPK12 Gauss Pistol (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * M72 Gauss Rifle (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * 2mm Electron Charged bullet (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)

Glock

 * Glock 86 Plasma Pistol (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)

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)

Rheinmetall AG

 * Vindicator Minigun (Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
 * Rheinmetall 9mm Machine Pistol (Van Buren)

Sig Sauer

 * 14mm Pistol (Fallout, Fallout 2)
 * P220 Sig Sauer (Fallout Tactics)
 * 14mm Armor-Piercing bullet (Fallout, Fallout 2)

Appearances
The European Commonwealth is mentioned only in the Fallout intro and the Fallout Bible. Products from European manufacturers appear in nearly all Fallout games except Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

The concept for a pre-Fallout "Resource Wars" game is set in a collapsing Europe (during the European Commonwealth's invasion of the Middle East) and is one of the games that J.E. Sawyer would like to make if he could do any game, regardless of money and developing time.