Antarctic Treaty (Gundam)
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In the fictional Universal Century of the sci-fi mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam the Antarctic Treaty states that:
- all uses of Nuclear weapons are prohibited
- all uses of Biological weapons are prohibited
- all uses of Chemical weapons are prohibited
- dropping space colonies or large asteroids onto Earth is prohibited
- all P.O.W. must be treated humanely
- all neutral territories must be respected, the neutrality at Side 6, was recognized and respected
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[edit] Events leading to the Treaty
The Principality of Zeon declared war on the Earth Federation government on January 3rd U.C. 0079, and attacked and gassed entire colonies, killing millions of people. Both sides used nuclear warheads to attack one another.
The Zeon forces attacked with their nuclear-powered MS-05B Zaku I mobile suit units in a Blitzkrieg-style war during their Operation British, but had only 1/30th of the Federation's resources.
The Zeon Forces then attempted to drop an empty Island Three colony onto the Federal Force's General HQ Jaburo in South America. However, the Earth Federal Force routed the colony away and broke it in several pieces. The largest chunk hit Sydney, Australia and wiped out 16% of the continent and created a 300 mile crater.
During the first few weeks of the One Year War, known as the One Week War, 3 billion people were dead. On January 31st, U.C. 0079, both sides agreed on the treaty.
[edit] Motivations
The Federation needed the treaty to be signed because:
- they had no effective way of defending themselves from colony drops
- they knew the Principality's main weakness was the scarcity of mineral resources, and prolonging the war meant taking the lead in mass-production of ships and weapons
- they needed time to catch-up with the mobile suit development.
The Principality of Zeon agreed to the treaty in light of the following factors:
- the continual use of weapons of mass-destruction were also potentially dangerous to Zeon, as the Federation could retaliate back with NBC strikes.
- the banning of weapons of mass-destruction meant that conventional warfare would be the norm; with their new mobile suits, Zeon would have the advantage.
- the Principality already had a wide advantage in MS development, having successfully deployed their MS-06C Zaku II mobile suit units in real combat, whilst the federation had yet to start MS development
- the treaty allowed the Principality to take the battle front down on the surface of Earth; surface access was considered paramount because in a prolonged war scenario their raw material resources were insufficient, and they soon after started various mining operations on Earth (the biggest being the M'Quve mining operations near Odessa).
[edit] Violations of the treaty
The Antarctic Treaty remained in effect after the end of the war (in UC0080), but was effectively broken many times:
- U.C. 0079: Operation Odessa: Zeon CO M'Quve, after realizing the Eastern and western European theater was lost, launched a nuclear missile at the Federation forces as he retreated. The missile was successfully intercepted by Amuro Ray in the RX-78-2 Gundam. (This only happens in the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series storyline)
- U.C. 0079: In the waning days of the war, Zeon covert ops forces under the command of Zeon CMDR Killing plan a nuclear strike against the Side 6 colony where the RX-78NT1 Gundam 'Alex' is under development. Patrolling Federation vessels intercept Killing's forces before the strike can be executed, however.
- U.C. 0083: Operation Stardust: the Federation secretly developed the RX-78GP02A Physalis Gundam unit; the unit was designed to attack with nuclear warheads, and was capable of sustaining the shock resulting from such explosions; for this reason all official records of it were subsequently deleted.
- U.C. 0083: Operation Stardust: the Delaz Fleet violated the Treaty firing a nuclear warhead on the Federation Naval Review, destroying two thirds of the ships taking part.
- U.C. 0083: Operation Stardust: the Delaz Fleet violated the treaty by dropping a colony on the North American continent to drastically reduce food production.
- U.C. 0085: the Titans repeatedly used chemical weapons to commit genocide by gassing entire colonies that were actively protesting Federation policies, the most notable being the 30 Bunch Incident in which the Titans gassed Side 1's 30th colony and killing all 3 million of it's inhabitants. This inspired the first organized resistance to the Titans.
- U.C. 0087: Neo Zeon dropped a colony on the city of Dublin.
- U.C. 0093: Char Aznable dropped an asteroid on the city of Lhasa.
- U.C. 0093: Char Aznable attempted to drop the asteroid Axis on Earth, to force the whole human race to Space Colonize.
- U.C. 0093: The Earth Federal Space Forces used nuclear warheads during the space battle to stop asteroid Axis dropping on Earth, but failed.
- U.C. 0100: With the reabsorption of the Republic of Zeon into the Earth Federation, the Antarctic Treaty technically becomes defunct.
[edit] Outcome
Even though the Treaty was broken many times, it somehow remained in effect, and subsequent MS development never again contemplated nuclear weapons.
