The United Republic of Europia also referred to as the E.U., Europia United, or simply Europia (1821 a.t.b.-2018 a.t.b.), is one of the three major superpowers.
A republican region laden with decadence and bureaucracy, the Europia United is at war with the Holy Britannian Empire at the beginning of the series. At the latter end of the war, Britannian forces successfully conquered almost half of Europe's territory. This prompted members of the Union to join with the United Federation of Nations.
General Information[]
Though geographically the largest of the three superpowers, the Europia United (often abbreviated to E.U.) is the dominant superpower in the European and African continent as their sphere of influence has reached to South Africa.
In a.t.b. 2018, the EU has waged war against the Holy Britannian Empire from the aftermath of the Black Rebellion started by Zero. With the invulnerability status of Britannia now shattered, the Britannians focus their effort in claiming the E.U for their own as they have already established a dominion called the Euro Britannia, fighting the EU on two fronts.
When Schneizel led Britannian forces against the E.U. and successfully conquered almost half of its territory into an unknown amount of Areas, the E.U was losing its military power. Following this defeat, some members of the E.U. joined the United Federation of Nations, dissolving all their independent military forces to devote their support to the Black Knights, giving the former countries of the E.U a military power that rivals that of Britannia.
By the time Lelouch ascended to the throne, all members of the E.U. were either neutral or had ratified the United Federation of Nations' charter.
Government[]
Europia United Council.
The capital of Europia United is Paris. It is the most democratic of the three superpowers but has many internal problems concerning public unrest and the government. It is a federation style republic with presumably representatives from each country in the council of forty, also known as the Central Hemicycle. It is alluded to in AtE that the E.U. government has corruption and bureaucratic issues and is unstable. Beyond this, little is known about the E.U.'s government.
A man named Gandolfi performs the functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the E.U.[1]
History[]
Its creation is estimated to be the French Revolution of 1789, the starting point of the revolutionary calendar. 1790, when the civil revolution broke out in France and wiped out the old system of aristocracy (Ancien Regime), was regarded as the first year of the revolution. The storm of civil revolution that started in France quickly swept across Europe. Napoléon I of France, still consul of the French Revolutionary Republic, successfully invaded and occupied the British Isles, forcing the British monarch Elizabeth III to flee to the New World. This led to the establishment of the Holy Britannian Empire.
Shortly after the revolution, Napoléon attempt to become emperor and form an empire, leading to him being beheaded by the very revolutionaries he was leading via Guillotine. With the aristocracy system ending in Europe, republicanism rose to take its place, and the formation of the E.U. was born as democratic state, different from the monach system in the Holy Britannian Empire and the Chinese Federation. A small number of aristocrats defect to the E.U. for reasons such as the aristocratic system of the Holy Britannian Empire being old-fashioned politics.
Europe did have a Scramble for Africa similar to our own, as the entirety of Africa is part of the Europia United.
Euro Britannia is composed of aristocrats who have their roots in the former Europe, which is a branch stream of the Holy Britannian Empire, and wages wars with the aim of reclaiming their ancestral lands. Emperor Charles's interest is mainly in Area 11, and the anti-E.U. front is largely entrusted to Euro Britannia.
The war with Britannia started several years earlier, and the EU army could not manage a decisive counterattack against the Euro Britannians from the east and Britannia at the west, 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 Japan 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 Elevens within the ghettos were recruited.
Britannia once took the E.U. seriously as an opponent, at least before the establishment of the UFN. 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 el Britannia leading the war effort and his 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.
With many territories seceding to Britannia or becoming independent due to the political infighting within the EU, the superpower was no more, and EU collapsed after subsequent losses. Many European nations who weren't conquered by Britannia chose to formed an alliance with Zero and join the UFN to better counter against Britannian military forces.
By the time peace comes in the new Kowa Period calander, after the Zero Requiem, the EU has reformed and it is now a member nation of the UFN under its new president, Margaret Walpole.
Society[]
EU citizens Rallying for Assemblyman Breisgau
The Europian Republic came to being from the ideals of the French Revolution that originally started to overthrow the Ancien Régime of Europe that espouses the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood in truth The United Republic of Europia was far from it. While the Republic can technically still be called a democracy. In reality however, the true power of the Republic came from the moneyed interest or the so called "New Aristocracy". This means that the revolution did not bring change to the system but merely replaced the nobility with the capitalist class. Of course the citizens of Europia know the hypocrisy of their government and still believe in the ideals of the revolution like supporting Assemblyman Breisgau that also supports the ideals for which the Republic stands, but unfortunately an explosion took Breisgau's life and cut the movement short. But it doesn't mean the people suddenly forgot.
By the start of Code Geass: Akito the Exiled the E.U. is essentially split into two factions: the populist, that demanded what was promised to them during the revolution, which is Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood, and those that want to continue the status quo. Smilas seeing the division saw this as an opening for him to seize power by siding with the populist for the purpose of declaring himself as Emperor of Europia.
The E.U. appears to be green society much like Britannia however, it makes use of wind power instead of solar as evidenced by the large number of wind turbines throughout it's territories and wide spread use of electric vehicles. Holographic displays and interfaces appear to also be more prevalent in Europia as opposed to Britannia which saw a more limited use of the technology.
Geography[]
The capitals of several states in the EU. Notably, the capital of the Turkish region is Constantinople instead of Istanbul.
In the first season, maps showed the Europia United 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 Europian powers.
Major Cities[]
The French city of Paris serves as the capital of Europia United. It is the seat of the Europian Army General HQ and the Council of Forty. Many Japanese refugees who fled Britannian persecution are detained in ghettos on the Île de la Cité.
Amsterdam is a Dutch city that has a Japanese/Elevens ghetto.
Berlin is a German city that experiences heavy rioting and unrest during the Ark Fleet incident.
Cologne is a German city that is attacked by the LOKI.
Constantinople is a Turkish city under Euro Britannian occupation that serves as the headquarters for the Holy Order of Michael.
Geneva is a Swiss city that experiences heavy rioting and unrest during the Ark Fleet incident.
London is a British city that formerly was the capitol of the British Empire, the predecessor state of the Holy Britannian Empire. It has a military base and secretly is the location of a Thought Elevator.
Marseilles is a French city on the Mediterranean. The Malcal Family own a factory in the city.
Warsaw is a Polish city that serves as a base of operations and supply depot for the EU Military fighting the Euro Britannians in the East. It also has a busy marketplace that attracts many vendors.
Military[]
EU Military[]
The Europia United'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 most used Knightmare Frame 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. While the Chinese Gun-Ru is an inferior but mass-produced model used in swarm attacks, both the E.U. and Britannia have a quality-over-quantity approach to their mech designs: a relatively small number of elite and powerful (albeit more expensive) armored units are supposed to dominate the battlefield out of proportion to their numbers. The main difference between Britannian and E.U. design philosophy is that Britannian Knightmares have more close-range weapons meant specifically for hand-to-hand combat against other Knightmares. In contrast, the E.U.'s philosophy is that they don't have to fight Britannian Knightmares in close quarters combat if they can not get close enough to engage. Thus E.U. Panzer Hummels don't have hands to wield close-range swords with, but instead, their arms have integrated long-range guns. The E.U. forces have generally been able to hold their own on the battlefield against Britannia, and the strength of these different design philosophies really comes down to individual pilots and commanders.
The Panzer Hummel, mainstay of the E.U. ground forces.
These E.U. ground forces only make one significant appearance in the original series, 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."
The role of the E.U. ground forces is greatly expanded in Code Geass: Akito the Exiled OVA, as the main characters belong to the special ops unit W-0.
Members of the E.U. armed forces
Europia United officers and personnel are shown to wear grey uniforms with a gold diamond logo, which may be an emblem of the E.U. But, since the E.U. Armed Forces are 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. Another example would be the regular soldiers of France who have blue uniforms, blue helmets, and black armors.
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 existence 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 Claus 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.
Flag[]
The flag of the Europia United is dark blue with a silver eagle-like bird emblem and a small white marking in the middle. A trident appears in the middle and the initials "EU" are on both sides of the bird.
Trivia[]
- Being a Europian superstate abbreviated as E.U., it is a clear reference to the real-world European Union.
- 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 did not 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 an independent Ukraine). Though the capitalist system and democracy does mirror to real life USA's democratic system and capitalism.
- 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.
- In previous print materials, the EU was indicated to stand for "Euro-Universe". However, this name has since been officially changed to "Europia United", according to trailers and websites for the Akito the Exiled OVA series.
- The EU is referred to as the 'European Ultra-Union' in the 'Stage -0- Entrance' Light Novel (p. 27).
References[]
- ↑ Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Anime — Episode 20, Gandolfi is briefly mentioned by Schneizel.