United Republic of Europia

The European Union (ユーロ・ユニバース, Yūro Yunibāsu) is one of the three major superpowers in the world in which Code Geass takes place. Its creation is estimated to be in the 19th century a.t.b., around the time of the Industrial Revolution, following Napoleon Bonaparte's successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles. This caused the royal family to be exiled to their American colonies, which had recently been neutralized following Washington's Rebellion, and ultimately brought about the foundation of Britannia. However, Napoleon suffered a major defeat at Waterloo in 1870 a.t.b. (1815 A.D.), destroying his hopes of invading and subjugating Russia. Russia would eventually join the E.U. anyway, though the reasons for this are unknown as events between 1870 and 2010 a.t.b. are never explicitly explained. It may be that events similar to the World Wars of our timeline occurred (evidence of trench warfare and WWI-era tanks can be seen in flashbacks concerning C.C.), and some kind of bond was formed between Russia and the rest of Europe. Europe also seems to have undergone a Scramble for Africa similar to our own, as the entirety of Africa is part of the European Union (most likely colonial as the series seems to have pitted the 3 super powers in the same scramble for colonies that occured in the late 1800's, these areas probably are of little relevance)

Though geographically the largest of the three superpowers at the beginning of the series, the European Union (often abbreviated to E.U., a clear reference to the real world European Union) receives little attention in the show. In 2018, Schneizel led Britannian forces against the E.U. and successfully conquered almost half of its territory in an unknown amount of Areas. Following this defeat, some members of the E.U. joined the United Federation of Nations, and Britannian forces were pulled away from the fronts in the E.U. as the Emperor of Britannia no longer considered the country a threat. By the time Lelouch ascended to the throne, all members of the E.U. were neutral or had ratified the United Federation of Nations' charter.

Light Novels
The EU is referred to as the 'European Ultra-Union' in the 'Stage -0- Entrance' Light Novel (p. 27).

Geography
In the first season, maps showed the European Union controls not only Europe (including the regions of Russia officially considered part of Asia), but also all of Africa and parts of the Middle East. After Britannian forces pulled out of the E.U., they had lost much of North and West Africa, southern Africa, France, the Low Countries, the Iberian Peninsula, and Russia. While many E.U. member-states ratified the UFN's charter, the British Isles, Germany, Denmark, Scandinavia (and the Kola Peninsula), and parts of Central Africa and the Middle East remained independent.The fact that all of Africa was part of the E.U. would seem unlikely, but it may be that those territories were colonies of European powers.

Government
The European Union is probably the most democratic of the three superpowers, but is also very divided. Beyond this, little is known about the E.U.'s government, though it is likely some kind of council with representatives from each member-state present. This council has, in some sources, been referred to as the Central Hemicycle. The capital was Paris in France.

Military
The European Union's collective military forces are divided into individual national forces referred to as "state armies," though the exact nature of these armed forces is not clear. From what is shown, the only Knightmare Frame that the E.U. uses is the Panzer-Hummel, which appears to be somewhere between the technological level of the Chinese Gun-Ru and standard Britannian knightmares, though they are shown to be quite effective against Sutherlands and Gloucesters at range. These E.U. ground forces only make one significant appearance, in R2 Stage 03, Imprisoned in Campus. The E.U. pilots displayed enormous courage, attacking Suzaku with little hesitation in spite of his reputation as "Britannia's White Death."

European Union officers and personnel are shown to wear gray uniforms with a gold diamond logo, which may be an emblem of the E.U. But, since the E.U. Armed Forces is actually several armies band together, it could be that the golden diamond logo is the logo of a "state army" rather than the emblem of the E.U. Military as a whole. The E.U. is described as having once enforced a blockade upon Britannia in cooperation with the Chinese Federation during the "Indochina Incident," which implies significant naval capability. However, the same source indicates that Britannian vessels were shut out of the waters of developing countries, which may imply diplomatic efforts rather than military might.

The existance of Akito Hyuga suggests that the E.U. may have employed Japanese exiles as soldiers (possibly as conscripts or volunteers). They wore noticeably different uniforms to those shown in R2. Their uniforms seem to have been based on actual German WWII uniforms such as that of Klaus Warwick. It is likely that these Japanese soldiers are part of some kind of E.U. "Foreign Legion", akin to the real life French Foreign Legion.

Overall
Britannia once took the E.U. seriously as an opponent, at least before the establishment of the UFN; Cornelia, in the ninth episode of the first season, Refrain, wanted to return to the battlefield after she heard of an E.U. advance on the El-Alamein Front (presumably in Egypt), and Odysseus at another time warned against attacking the Chinese Federation while still being at war with the E.U.. The battle portrayed in Imprisoned in Campus showed that the E.U.'s military capability is a broad match for Britannia's, though the reason for its defeat seems to be as a result of Schneizel's outside-the-box thinking, conducting negotiations with individual members of the E.U. rather than with the union as a whole, and persuading them to surrender willingly rather than being destroyed. This fits with Schneizel's oft-stated belief that conquered nations should be treated with dignity and allowed some hope.

Akito Worldview Columns
These columns are internet articles posted on the Akito website, and give in-depth information on the E.U. and related groups within Code Geass: Akito the Exiled.

Column 1: The Country known as the European Union (E.U.)
The calendar used in the European Union used the Revolution Year as a dating system. In "Akito the Exiled", the story takes placed in the Revolution Year 228.

This new dating system originated from the French Revolution in 1789. In that year, the people of France rose up against the existing Ancien Régime system, and in 1790 they reset the calendar as Revolution Year 1.

The wave of revolution started in France spread like a storm throughout all of Europe. But just before it crossed over the strait of Dover, the British imperial family decided to move their capital to a new continent. This resulted in the birth of the Holy Britannian Empire.

Due to the export of revolution and war throughout Europe, a man named Napoleon managed to seize much power and authority. Alas, the people feared that he would become another tyrant, and they put him to death. This was the turning point of Europe's history, and with this the E.U became a democratic region. Unlike the aristocratic values of the Holy Britannian Empire and the Chinese Federation, the E.U. would no longer value birth right in governance, and no one would be born with a claim to authority.

After this radical social change, some nobles in Britannia who disagreed with the dated system of rule in their own empire would defect to the E.U., seeking refuge as exiles. Reila Malkal is a daughter of one such noble family living in exile.

Furthermore, there is Euro Britannia. Made up of groups of nobles within the Holy Britannian Empire who have roots in old Europe, this group seeks to reclaim their ancestral territories within the E.U. by means of force. Since Emperor Charles is occupied with the events in Area 11, the conflict in the E.U. is left largely to this Euro Britannia group to take charge of.

The capital of E.U. is Paris, led by three presidents, and managed by the Council of Forty - all democratically elected by the people. The Council of Forty is based on a system established after the Revolution, and currently has over 200 members. With a declaration of war from the Holy Britannian Empire, the Council of Forty has to take charge of national defense and military matters as well.

Unfortunately, the problems of a democratic government has reached a terminal stage in the E.U., and within the Council of Forty, populism is spreading and becoming a serious issue.

Column 2: The European Union and the W-0 Unit
The government of the European Union (EU) is exhibiting signs of decadent democratic principles, and the elected members of the Council of Forty have become very sensitive to their election results and have become unable to choose policies that will invite the rebellion of the citizens. Therefore, the postponement of problems and bureaucracy has become rampant.

And the most extreme of these public-ingratiating policies is the establishment of the secret unit “W-0”.

The war with the Holy Britannian Empire, which had started several years earlier, seemed to be prolonging, and the EU army couldn’t manage a decisive counterattack against the Euro Britannians, who are steadily attacking from Asia, and so their territory is steadily being reduced.

In order to stop the spread of war-weary looks due to the prolongation of the war and the increase in dead among the citizens, the EU government thought of using the Elevens (Japanese) who are gathered in the ghettos of “Île de la Cité” in the war. After Area 11 was annexed into the Holy Britannian Empire, the non-Japanese within the EU started to treat the Elevens in the EU as hostile foreigners.

With the condition that they would be given some freedom if they displayed distinguished service in the war, candidates from among the young generation of Elevens within the ghettos were recruited. And so the W-0 Unit was founded.

The W-0 are sent out to front lines where the loss rate of soldiers is high and their duty is to go into the jaws of death so that the EU army’s regular soldiers can return home alive. In other words, the EU government is effectively saying “please die in place of EU citizens”. The W-0 unit’s first substantial campaign is the rescue operation of the EU army’s 132nd Regiment who failed in the St. Petersburg rescue and are surrounded by the Britannian army in Narva.

But in the capital city of Paris, the battle of these people who fight at their utmost limits isn’t known. The government VIPS and the wealthy people only pursue immediate prosperity and peace.

(Note: “Île de la Cité” is an island in Paris.)

Trivia

 * The borders of many, if not all, member-states of the E.U. are identical to those of our world, which is pretty interesting since many of the modern-day European borders were drawn as a result of events that probably didn't occur such as WWII (ie. Germany's Eastern border with Poland at the Oder-Neisse Line), and the collapse of the USSR (ie. existence of independent Ukraine).
 * Geographically speaking, the E.U. is quite similar to Eurasia from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four; this country was locked in a perpetual war with Oceania (which is similar to Britannia) and Eastasia (most similar to the Chinese Federation) and would occasionally ally with one or the other for its own benefit. Occasionally, Eurasia would take over northern Africa and parts of the Middle East, much like the E.U. in Code Geass, before once more losing them to either Oceania or Eastasia. The major difference is that Eurasia was created by the Soviet Union and was a totalitarian state much like Oceania; in fact, Britannia is more comparable to Oceania than the E.U. or Chinese Federation is to Eurasia or Eastasia in that their political setup is much more similar.
 * The fact that Britain remains separate from both the UFN and Britannia (following France's capitulation) shows that Britain retained its independence after being conquered by Napoleon, most like as an ally or client state. If Napoleon followed his usual policy by that point, Britain may have recieved a new monarchy, the most likely candidate being a blood relation of Elizabeth III (willing or otherwise), a relative of Napoleon himself, or one of his Marshals. It is interesting to note that Britain refuses the UFN alongside Germany and the Scandinavian countries, suggesting some connection with them. It may also be possible that the monarchy of Britain is from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or commonly known as the House of Windsor, which is a possible candidate since it originates from Central Europe and that the House of Tudor possibly is moved to the Britannian mainland.
 * On the other hand, considering the anti-monarchist idealogy of the EU, it is possible that Napoleon would have simply removed the monarchy completely and established a new executive branch of the government, if not expand the power and duties of the Prime Minister to encompass them (similar to what eventually happened in OTL). Another possibility would be his reestablishing the Commonwealth, alongside a new Council of State or a Lord Protector to act as the head of state. Overall, there are many possibilities.
 * Considering its size and implied resources, precisely why the EU is losing to Britannia throughout the timeline remains unclear. Britannia's ruthlessness and overwhelming military power offer convenient explanations, though the EU should have been able to assemble substantial forces themselves for the reasons stated above. Despite what some fans have concluded, the EU troops are evidently neither cowards nor weaklings. Pre-release information for the 'Akito' gaiden mentions the conflict between Britannia and the EU as being long-standing when Britannia conquered Japan. This could be interpreted as meaning that they were already fighting even then, meaning that by 2017 atb they had been fighting for seven years or more. This adds sheer attrition to the list of possible reasons.
 * There is a possibilty, that the main reason that the EU was losing to Britannia was due to internal unrest. It is stated that the EU has "state armies" and not a single, unified, standing army. This means that each member state of the EU has it's own army and must work together with other state armies to achieve victory. It could be that the individual state armies prefer to work alone due to pride or patriotism rather than work as a team to defeat Britannia. The lack of cooperation between the state armies means that they were less efective than they could have if they had worked together. The commanders and soldiers of the state armies could have had stronger local allegiances (the member state(s) where they come from) than their loyalty to the Central Hemicycle or the European Union as a whole. It is also stated that the EU was very divided. The representatives at the EU Central Hemicycle could have each had their own ideas about what is best for or how is the best the way to run the EU. They could have been fighting each other and preoccupied with political debates while the EU state armies were losing. The EU's size could also be a factor to it's downfall. It controls all of Europe, Russia, Africa, and parts of the middle east. It is likely that there were separatist movements everywhere in the EU. The member states could have been tempted to succeed form the European Union due to nationalism or the fact the EU was losing to Britannia and the Central Hemicycle sent the state armies to put down rebellions. Africa was likely made up of colonies of the member states and it is most likely where the separatist group were operating. The unwillingness of the individual member states and their armies to work together seemed to reason of the downfall and defeat of the European Union at the hands of Britannia. Schneizel exploited this weakness by negotiating with individual member states of the EU and one-by-one they succeeded form the EU. In short, the European Union was divided and they fall because of it.
 * In previous print materials, the EU was indicated to stand for "Euro-Universe". However, this name has since been officially changed to "European Union", according to trailers and websites for the Akito the Exiled OVA series.