Mobile Suit Gundam
Prologue
The year is 2114 AD. A century has passed since humanity began its transition to the stars. The nations of the world, as different as they may be, united for the first time in an effort to relieve the Earth from the problems of overpopulation, terrorism, disease and war. It was the beginning of what is commonly known as the "Universal Century".
By the year 2065, mankind had managed to build about one-thousand O'Neill-type space colonies around the Earth-Moon space. Billions moved out here, hoping to escape the countless conflicts overrunning the Earth; the massive poverty; and hoping to start anew.
However, they were wrong.
In 2079, a man known as Zeon von Deikun declared that the colonies at the opposite orbit of the Moon, the "CROSSs", were independent, and introduced a new ideology called "Contolism", declaring that the people of space should be given the right to govern themselves, and that all colony clusters should be regarded as independent nations.
This ideology, however, was quickly rejected by most nations of the Earth. Despite the inevitable recognition by the United Nations' members of its sovereignty, the spacenoid nation soon found itself being effectively blockaded by the United States and its allies.
In 2082, the United Earth Alliance was created by the United States, with the intention to counter the Contolist movement, which was now spreading to Side 3 and Sweetwater. That same year, Zeon von Deikun died of a heart attack. His successor, Degwin Zabi, declared himself regent of the CROSSs and declared them as the "Federal Principality of Zeon". Expanding what was at first a mere militia force, the Zeon military secluded itself very effectively, hiding its secrets from Allied intelligence agencies.
By the beginning of the 22nd Century, tensions between the Allied nations and Zeon were at a peak. The United Nations, concerned that a massive war would erupt, began hosting negotiations around the world, with the last meeting between Alliance and Zeon representatives culminating at the very headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. However, when unknown terrorists destroyed the United Nations (eliminating its existence in the process) in November 2112, relations between Zeon and the Allied nations were shattered, and each faction blamed each other for the incident.
The war began almost immediately after. At first a series of short and small skirmishes between the Alliance and the Zeon, the war escalated when the United States attacked Zeon with nuclear weapons, killing 20 million of its citizens.
In the next three months of war, almost 5 billion people died due to the excessive use of weapons of mass destruction. People were horrified by the atrocities committed by both sides.
Almost two years have passed since the conflict began, with no end in sight…