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 (although it is not known which European states were its members; the only confirmed member was the United Kingdom).

In 2052 Europe was heavily dependent on oil exports from the petroleum-rich states of the Middle East and responded to rapidly rising oil prices that were damaging its economy with military action, 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. Some time after the war ended, as the Middle Eastern oil fields went dry in 2060, the European Commonwealth dissolved into quarreling, bickering nation-states fighting over the last remaining resources on earth.

Real World European Treaties
Real world counterparts to the European Commonwealth that originated during the Cold War era are the various European economic communities: as well as
 * 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, 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 exists at present).

Borders with the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union in the Fallout universe probably had its own sphere of international influence, which very likely was the same as the Warsaw Pact (of 1955) and Comecon (1949) which led to Soviet domination of Eastern and Central Europe. If this domination was replicated in the Fallout world, it could effectively limit the eastern borders of the European Commonwealth (members of the Warsaw Pact included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union). However, though it appears that the Soviet Union did not collapse in 1991 in the Fallout world as it did in our own reality, neither did it seem to still present the same danger to the interests of the United States by the late twenty-first century. Instead, the Communist power that was Washington's primary rival for world influence by the year 2077 was the People's Republic of China. As such, the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe may also have collapsed or voluntarily been relinquished by Moscow long before the Resource Wars began. While the Soviet Union may still have existed under a Communist government in 2077, it probably was no longer a government that intended or was capable of threatening the United States and its democratic allies, perhaps because China represented a common enemy.

European Weapons Manufacturers Present in the Fallout Universe

 * German weapons manufacturers seen in the Fallout universe include Heckler & Koch (Heckler & Koch are effectively co-owned by British counterpartners) and Rheinmetall AG. Gauss weapons were of German design also.
 * Glock, which originated in Austria.
 * FN originated in Belgium.
 * The Light Support Weapon is currently in use with the British Army.
 * The XL70E3 was developed by the British arms manufacturer Enfield.

European Equipment and Weaponry appearing in the Fallout Universe

 * The Heckler & Koch MP9 10mm SMG (FO1, FO2)
 * The Boudicca-78/S (VB}

Appearances in Games
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 for Fallout 3 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

A pre-Fallout "Resource Wars" game 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 developing time.