European Commonwealth

The European Commonwealth is the Fallout equivalent of the real-world European Union integrated into one state-like entity (although it is not known which European states were its members; the only confirmed member was the United Kingdom). In 2052 Europe was dependent on oil exports from the Middle East and responded to rising oil prices with military action, starting the Resource Wars. It suggests that unlike today's EU, the EC had a military power. Some time after the war ended, as the Middle Eastern oil fields went dry in 2060, the European Commonwealth dissolved into quarreling nation states fighting for the remaining resources.

Possible origins
After the Second World War, and the 'iron curtain' descending over Eastern Europe, Western European nations, fearing a Soviet invasion formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but due to the alternate timeline, the European commonwealth was instead formed from Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Belguim, Greece, Turkey, West Germany and Norway, countries like Switzerland, Finland and Sweden may have stayed Neutral. However, it is not mentioned in the game what Europe is like after World War 2, and whether Germany was divided between East and West or that the Communist bloc expanded further into Western Europe, so it could be that the European Commonwealth is made up of more countries than this, but it could not be known.

Real world European treaties
Real world counterparts to the European Commonwealth originating from "cold war" times are European economic communities: as well as
 * the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), established by Treaty of Paris of 1951, declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe"; the founding members of the ECSC were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany
 * the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, established by Treaty of Rome of 1957 (in real world the United Kingdom joined these communities in 1973 (together with Denmark and Ireland)
 * Western European Union (WEU), European military organization established on the basis of the Treaty of Brussels of 1948 (since the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 a transfer of competences to the European Union was introduced, however officially WEU still exists).

Borders with the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union should have its sphere of international influence, which could be the same as Warsaw Pact (of 1955) and Comecon (1949) and could limit eastern borders of the European Commonwealth (members of the Pact were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union).

European weapons manufacturers present in Fallout world

 * German weapons manufacturers were Heckler & Koch (Heckler & Koch are effectively co-owned by British counterpartners) and Rheinmetall AG. Gauss weapons were of German design also.
 * Glock originated from Austria.
 * FN originated from Belgium.
 * The Light Support Weapon is currently in use with the British Army.

Appearances in games
The European Commonwealth is mentioned only in the Fallout intro and the Fallout Bible. A pre-Fallout "Resource Wars" game set in 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 developing time.