Gundam World Index
UC Timeline
AC Timeline
Space Colonization
The Earth Federation
Zeon and Neo Zeon
Minovsky Physics
Beam Weapons
Mobile Suit Basics
The One Year War
Mobile Suit Classics
Ace Pilot Gallery
Mobile Suit Gundam, Z Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, Gundam F91, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon, Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Gundam W: Endless Waltz are copyright Sotsu Agency and Sunrise. V Gundam, G Gundam, Gundam W, and Gundam X are copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi. Turn A Gundam is copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and Fuji TV.
Zeon and Neo Zeon
Two generations after the start of the space colonization program, the hegemony of the Earth Federation is first challenged by rebellious space colonies. The first revolt against the Federation is begun by a man named Zeon Daikun, and many subsequent rebellions are launched in Zeon's name... though not always in accordance with the famous revolutionary's ideals.
Zeon Zum Daikun
Fifty years after the space colonization program had begun, 80% of the human race has migrated to space, and the colonists have begun to develop their own national identities and ideologies. The philosophies of ere-ism and Side-ism emerge - the former a near-religious reverence for the mother planet Earth, the latter a nationalist belief that the space colonies should be independent from the planet-bound Earth Federation. In UC 0052, a rabble-rousing activist named Zeon Zum Daikun arrives at Side 3, the furthest space colony cluster from Earth, and begins propagating his own synthesis of these two theories.
According to Daikun's ideology, known as contolism, it is humanity's destiny and obligation to move into space. Earth will thus be allowed to return to its natural state, while the human race will experience an evolutionary and spiritual leap in adapting to its new home. Daikun predicts that the spacenoids will evolve into what he called "newtypes," a new breed of space-born human, and that the political independence of the space colonies is a necessary step in the progress of the species as a whole.
In UC 0058, Daikun - now the political leader of Side 3 - declares the colony cluster an independent republic, in open defiance of the Federation. A national guard is formed; in UC 0062, after years of increasing tension between Side 3 and the Federation, this national guard becomes into a full-fledged standing army. Then, in UC 0068, Daikun is suddenly taken ill and dies. Amid accusations of conspiracy and assassination, Daikun's right-hand man takes the reins of power.
Duchy of Zeon
The best-known of the governments and organizations that have appropriated Zeon Zum Daikun's name, the Duchy of Zeon is the creation of Daikun's successor, the cunning and ambitious Degin Sodo Zabi. In August of UC 0069 - just a year after the death of the republic's founder - Degin proclaims Side 3 the Duchy of Zeon and installs himself as archduke, ruthlessly purging the Daikun loyalists. Note that the Sunrise animation studio has belatedly settled on the translation "Principality of Zeon," giving Degin the vague title of "sovereign," but so far all U.S. adaptations have used the term "duchy."
With Degin in power, the Duchy of Zeon begins preparing itself for a military confrontation with the Federation. Degin's children become the commanders of the Zeon military, supervising the development and deployment of advanced new weapons such as mobile suits. In October of UC 0078, the Zeon military is split into two branches, both reporting to General Giren Zabi.
The Space Attack Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Dozul Zabi, is made up of six space fleets and emphasizes traditional tactics over newfangled gimmicks like mobile suits. The Mobile Assault Force, led by Major General Kishiria Zabi, specializes in unconventional activities such as intelligence-gathering, resource mining, and newtype research; its subdivisions include the 7th Division, the 1st Mobile Infantry Division, and the Zeon imperial guard. In February of UC 0079 a third branch, the Earth Attack Force, is created to carry out the upcoming Earth invasion. Kishiria's 1st Mobile Infantry Division is reorganized into this independent force, commanded by Colonel Garma Zabi, and its ranks expanded into five Terrestrial Mobile Divisions.
By April of UC 0079, the Earth Attack Force has overrun much of Earth's surface. Its principal strongholds include the captured California Base, Zeon's main terrestrial production facility; Odessa, where Colonel Ma Kube supervises an immense mining operation; and New York, from where Garma commands the Earth Attack Force. In May, the asteroid fortress Solomon is completed; located near the rubble of Side 1, this base serves as the frontline headquarters of the Space Attack Force. The Mobile Assault Force is based at the lunar city of Granada, where most of Zeon's space mobile suits are produced. The asteroid fortress A Bao A Qu, completed in June, completes the Duchy of Zeon's last line of defense. Located near Side 3 behind the "dark side" of the moon, A Bao A Qu not only hosts a couple of Space Attack Force fleets, but also houses its own factories.
Republic of Zeon
With the fall of A Bao A Qu and the death of Giren Zabi on December 31, UC 0079, a new civilian government is hastily formed at Side 3. The newly-constituted Republic of Zeon immediately begins peace negotiations with the Earth Federation, and on January 1, UC 0080, a treaty is signed at the lunar city of Granada. Though the postwar republic is permitted to retain its independence, retaining control of the asteroid fortress A Bao A Qu and even a defensive military force, it is widely considered a puppet of the Federation.
In UC 0087, the republic's government - which has a vested interest in suppressing Duchy loyalists - forms an alliance with the fearsome Titans, donating the asteroid base A Bao A Qu and occasionally loaning out its fleet for major military operations. In November of UC 0088, the Republic is sold out by the Federation government, who sign Side 3 over to Haman Khan and her Axis forces. The Side reverts to civilian control with Haman's defeat in January, UC 0089, but its days of independence are clearly numbered. In UC 0100, the Republic of Zeon is formally dissolved and Side 3 is reabsorbed into the Earth Federation.
Delaz Fleet
The first of the many movements that attempt to resurrect the defeated Duchy of Zeon is the Delaz Fleet. This ragtag armada is born on December 31, UC 0079, when Colonel Aiguille Delaz of the Space Attack Force receives word of Giren Zabi's death and withdraws his forces from the Battle of A Bao A Qu. In March of UC 0080, Delaz gathers like-minded renegades and relocates to the shoal area where Side 5 was once located. Here he uses space colony debris to construct a makeshift base, the Garden of Thorns, and begins waging a low-level guerilla war against the Federation. In UC 0083, Delaz draws up an elaborate scheme called Operation Stardust, in which he will turn the entire might of his renegade fleet against the Federal Forces and demonstrate that the spirit of resistance has survived the fall of the Duchy of Zeon.
As Operation Stardust commences in October of UC 0083, the Delaz Fleet consists of the Gwajin-class battleship Gwaden, 13 Musai-class cruisers, about 18 Papua- and Pazock-class support ships, and roughly 70 mobile suits. Once the operation is underway, the fleet is joined by the pirate forces of Lieutenant Colonel Cima Garahau, adding the Zanzibar-class mobile cruiser Lili Marlene, another seven Musai-class cruisers, and 30 state-of-the-art Gelgoog mobile suits to its numbers. By the time the operation concludes on November 13, all of Delaz's forces have either been wiped out or have fled to Axis, but Delaz has accomplished his primary objective: to cripple the Earth Federal Forces and inspire others to continue waging his war of resistance. (And thus concludes the story of Gundam 0083.)
Axis and the First Neo Zeon
The Delaz Fleet is not the only group of renegade Duchy loyalists. Many of the Zeon forces who survived the Battle of A Bao A Qu, or who ended the war at Side 3 or Granada, opted to flee to the asteroid belt. In March of UC 0081, these exiles arrive at the asteroid base Axis. Established in UC 0072 as a way station for Zeon's energy fleet, Axis is hardly equipped to house the thousands of refugees, and the renegades are forced to spend the next couple of years making the asteroid moderately habitable. One of their modifications is the attachment of a smaller asteroid, called Mowsa, which houses a centrifuge-style artificial gravity block.
Conditions at Axis are poor. Zena Zabi, widow of Space Attack Force commander Dozul Zabi, dies of an illness little more than a month after arriving at the asteroid. Her daughter Mineva, heir to the Duchy, becomes the ward of Axis commander Maharaja Khan. When Khan in turn dies in August of UC 0083, his sixteen-year-old daughter Haman succeeds him as both Axis commander and Mineva's regent. As Haman Khan takes charge, an Axis Advance Fleet is already en route to the Earth sphere, where it plays a supporting role in Operation Stardust and retrieves survivors of the Delaz Fleet (as shown in Gundam 0083).
Over the next few years, the Axis Zeons prepare for their long-anticipated return to the Earth sphere, building an arsenal of new mobile suits and fitting the asteroid with thermonuclear pulse engines. From February of UC 0086 to October of UC 0087, Axis and its inhabitants make the slow journey towards Earth. They arrive to find the Federation embroiled in an internal struggle between the Titans and AEUG factions, and Haman decides to play the two forces against each other. She aids first one and then the other, all the while lobbying them to return Side 3 to the control of the Zabi family and its enterprising young regent.
After the Titans and AEUG effectively annihilate each other in February of UC 0088 (at the conclusion of Z Gundam), the Axis Zeons take a more proactive approach. Haman proclaims the establishment of Neo Zeon, inviting other Duchy loyalists to join forces with the Axis returnees. The Neo Zeon proceed to occupy the Federation capital of Dakar, then drop a space colony on Ireland, and in November of UC 0088 the Federation at last gives in and grants Neo Zeon control of Side 3. Haman withdraws her forces from Earth and relocates to Side 3, where she finds herself challenged by rival Neo Zeon officer Gremmi Toto. Riven by civil war, the Neo Zeon manage to wipe themselves out, and in January of UC 0089, the AEUG and Federal Forces arrive at Side 3 to claim victory (and wrap up the story of Gundam ZZ).
The Second Neo Zeon
A second organization bearing the name Neo Zeon is established in UC 0092, under the leadership of Colonel Char Aznable. Thrice reknowned as an ace pilot of the Duchy of Zeon, a major leader of the AEUG, and the son of Zeon Zum Daikun, Char sets out to complete his father's vision by forcing the population of Earth to abandon the mother planet. His plan is to bombard Earth with asteroids, bringing about a "nuclear winter" and rendering the planet uninhabitable - a plan he puts into practice in March of UC 0093 (as shown in the movie Char's Counterattack).
Char's Neo Zeon is based in the refugee colony of Sweetwater, an overcrowded hybrid structure made up of fragments of wrecked space colonies. His fleet is made up of the battleship Reyullura and 13 Musaka-class cruisers, which carry 82 Geara Doga mobile suits, two Jagd Dogas, and Char's personal mobile suit Sazabi. Also at Char's disposal is the immense mobile armor Alpha Aziel, which he deploys during his final attempt to drop the asteroid Axis onto Earth.
Oldsmobile Army
The last spinoff of the Duchy of Zeon, this oddball guerilla army is made up of Zeon renegades who holed up on the planet Mars at the end of the One Year War. Calling themselves the Oldsmobile Army, due to their preference for using overhauled vintage mobile suits, these Martian exiles have spent forty years planning their triumphant conquest of Earth. To this end they've constructed the Olympus Cannon, a giant electromagnetic accelerator within the mountain peak of Mons Olympus - in short, an immense railgun - with which they can take potshots at Earth.
The first grand escapade of the Oldsmobile Army is recounted in the Gundam F90 comic. It begins with the theft of a prototype Gundam in October of UC 0120, and ends in March of the following year when the Olympus Cannon blows up after its first and only firing. A second operation, replayed in the Formula Wars 0122 video game, proves somewhat more successful; this time the Oldsmobile Army, acting in concert with the Crossbone Vanguard, actually makes it as far as landing an invasion force on Earth before being wiped out.
