Antarctic Treaty

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The Antarctic Treaty was a wartime treaty signed between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon on January 31, U.C. 0079, amid the One Year War. In particular, the treaty restricted the use of weapons of mass destruction, which had been deployed so extensively by that point in the conflict that the total human population had been reduced by half.

Following the Battle of Loum, during which Zeon forces destroyed much of the Federation Fleet and captured General Johann Abraham Revil, Zeon expected to sign a peace treaty that was effectively a Federation instrument of surrender. However, a Federation special forces team was able to rescue Revil, who promptly gave a speech asserting that Zeon was exhausted from the war, which galvanized the Federation. Consequently, the final terms of the Antarctic Treaty were drastically altered.

Terms

1. The use of NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) weapons, as well as large mass weapons such as colony bombs, is prohibited. The use of certain other types of weapons is restricted.^[1]

• The blueprints of nuclear weapons are made public.^[2]

2. Attacking the Jupiter Energy Fleet, permanent lunar cities, and other neutral zones is prohibited.^[1]

• Combat in neutral zones, such as Side 6 airspace, is prohibited.^[3]
• Granada, which had been occupied by Zeon, is not protected by the treaty.^[4]

3. Prisoners of war must be treated humanely.^[1]

• Soldiers captured out of uniform are considered unlawful combatants and are not protected by the treaty.^[4]

History

Prelude

During the Battle of Loum, the Federation Fleet was devastated and Federation General Johann Abraham Revil was captured. On January 17, Zeon launched a propaganda speech directed at Earth which showed footage of the captured General Revil, boosting Zeon morale and demoralizing the Federation. According to Zeon's plans from before the war, they would sign a peace treaty with the Federation that favors them. In case this fails, they also prepared for an invasion of Earth.^[1]

In response, the Federation launched an operation to rescue Revil on January 22. A small special forces team entered Side 3 in a vessel disguised as a refugee ship. However, communication with the team was lost immediately after. The Federation leadership assumed the operation was a failure.^[1]

On January 28, through the neutral Side 6, the Zeon government offered to sign a peace treaty with the Federation government. With Revil's rescue operation failed and reports of a large Zeon fleet gathering at Solomon, the Federation government decided to accept the offer. The signing was to take place on January 31, in the permanent neutral zone of Antarctica.^[1]

Signing

On January 31, the Federation and Zeon representatives met at a special meeting place at an Antarctic research station. As most people had anticipated, the terms of the treaty included not only recognition of the Principality of Zeon's autonomy, but also restrictions on the size of the Earth Federation Forces. It was a peace treaty in name and an instrument of surrender in fact.^[1]

However, at 13:15, an unexpected development occurred: news of Revil's successful rescue had reached the meeting place. From Luna II, Revil immediately broadcast a speech to all of Earth on all available frequencies.^[1]

Emboldened by Revil's speech, the Federation leadership at the Antarctica Base were determined to continue the war. Embarrassed, the Zeon representatives were forced to renegotiate the terms of the treaty, foiling Zeon's plans to end the war early. The final version of the treaty was a wartime treaty that prohibited the use of weapons of mass destruction and attacks on neutral zones, and required humane treatment for prisoners of war. On February 7, Zeon would launch the First Landing Operation, marking the beginning of their invasion of Earth, moving the war to a new phase.^[1]

Violations

According to one account, during Operation Odessa, Colonel M'Quve launched a nuclear missile at Federation Forces. However, the missile was disarmed by Amuro Ray in the RX-78-2 Gundam.^[2] By another account, however, M'Quve only threatened to launch a nuclear missile.^[5]

During the Zeon retreat from Odessa, General Yuri Kellerne used what appeared to be a nuclear missile to cover the retreat of his forces. Though he claimed it was actually a fuel air bomb, the truth is unclear.^[6]

Shortly before the Battle of Jaburo, Zeon initiated Operation Stork, a plan to locate the Federation military headquarters of Jaburo using infiltrators and destroy it with the nuclear detonation from a self-destructing mobile suit. The attack was designed so that Zeon could plausibly deny any involvement in the explosion and claim it was an accident caused by the Federation itself. Griffon Corps was tasked with carrying out the mission. However, the infiltrators penetrated Jaburo only days before the White Base arrival on November 27, which would have allowed Char Aznable to uncover the facility's location. Operation Stork was officially aborted to make way for a frontal assault, but Captain Maximilian Shell decided to ignore the abort order and see the mission through to the end in case the frontal assault fails. Using a map of Jaburo obtained by the infiltrators at the cost of their own lives, Maximilian located a lightly-defended gate and breached it with a MSM-08 Zogok, then triggered the mobile suit's self-destruct sequence. Jaburo and its inhabitants were spared at the last minute thanks to the efforts of Aggressor Squadron and the sacrifice of Zeon defector Heinz Highway, who used a RX-75 Guntank to push the Zogok outside and into a river to dampen the explosion. Both the Federation and Zeon scrubbed all records of the incident, the former to cover up the embarrassing security breach and close shave with disaster, and the latter to hide its deliberate violation of the Antarctic Treaty.^[7]

Following the failure of Operation Rubicon, Colonel Killing of Granada ordered a nuclear attack on the Side 6 colony of Ribo in order to destroy the RX-78NT-1 Gundam NT-1. He justified the attack by saying that Side 6 was not a signatory of the Antarctic Treaty, ignoring the fact that attacking a neutral zone was also a violation of the Antarctic Treaty. Ultimately, the nuclear attack fleet was intercepted by the Earth Federation Space Force and forced to surrender before the attack could take place.^[8]

Legacy

Following the end of the One Year War and the collapse of the Principality of Zeon, the Antarctic Treaty became defunct.^[4] However, Aiguille Delaz, the leader of the Zeon remnant group Delaz Fleet, did not recognize the legitimacy of the Republic of Zeon nor the peace treaty they signed with the Earth Federation, believing that the "Zeon War of Independence" was still ongoing. On October 31, U.C. 0083, Delaz presented the stolen RX-78GP02A Gundam "Physalis" - a Gundam with nuclear attack capability - as evidence that the Federation had violated the Antarctic Treaty and used it as justification to declare war against the Earth Federation. However, his own plan, Operation Stardust, would involve a nuclear attack on the Federation naval review at Confeito and a colony drop on Earth.

The treaty became ingrained in the Federation mindset. In U.C. 0133, more than 50 years after the One Year War, a Federation general attempted to invoke the Antarctic Treaty to Jupiter Empire Supreme Leader Crux Dogatie when the latter launched nuclear attacks against Earth's power and defense satellites.

Gallery

Notes & Trivia

Appearances

References

Antarctic Treaty File 01 (Official Gundam Fact File, Issue 47, Pg 21)

Antarctic Treaty File 02 (Official Gundam Fact File, Issue 47, Pg 22)