Europe

Europe is the second smallest continent out of seven on the planet Earth. It is known for its varied nature.
== History ==
=== Before 20th Century ===
==== Battle of Tønsberg ====
: "From around the cold and darkness came the Frost Giants, threatening to plunge the mortal world into a new ice age. But humanity would not face this threat alone."
: ―Odin[src]
In 965 A.D., the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, led by their king Laufey, arrived in Tønsberg, Norway planning to freeze everything in their path using the Casket of Ancient Winters to plunge the world into a new ice age. However, the Asgardian army, led by King Odin, arrived and engaged in a battle against the Frost Giants, forcing them to abandon Earth and retreat to their own world.
==== Cosmic Cube ====
Sometime in the distant past, the Cosmic Cube, a weapon of unlimited energy, was buried in a church in the village of Tønsberg, Norway. Eventually, it became the subject of many legends of Norse mythology.
=== World War II ===
: "War continues to ravage Europe. But help is on the way. Every able-bodied young man is lining up to serve his country."
: ―Commercial Announcer[src]
In September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler led a German invasion of Poland. Two days later, France and England declared war on Germany, beginning World War II.
In late 1940, Peggy Carter, a member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, went to the Castle Kaufmann in Germany and freed the captive scientist, Abraham Erskine. Erskine was then recruited to help in Project Rebirth.
==== Destruction of Castle Rock Tower ====
: "The Cosmic Cube was the jewel of Odin's treasure room. It's not something one buries. But I think it is close, yes?""I cannot help you.""No. But maybe you can help your village."
: ―Johann Schmidt and Church Keeper[src]
In March 1942, Johann Schmidt led his organization, HYDRA, to Tønsberg, Norway in order to retrieve the Cosmic Cube. As his agents destroyed Tønsberg, Schmidt went to Castle Rock Tower, where he killed the Church Keeper, and took the Cube.
==== Battle of Azzano ====
: "Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him and less than fifty returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."
: ―Peggy Carter to Steve Rogers[src]
In October 1943, Bucky Barnes, Gabe Jones, Dum Dum Dugan, and other members of the 107th Infantry Regiment went to Azzano, Italy to battle Wehrmacht soldiers. During the battle, a battalion of HYDRA soldiers arrived and killed the Wehrmacht, before taking the surviving members of the 107th Infantry prisoner.
==== HYDRA Facilities ====
: "Hitler speaks of a thousand-year Reich, but he cannot feed his armies for a month. His troops spill their blood across every field in Europe."
: ―Red Skull[src]
During World War II, HYDRA seized control of many facilities following the occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany, Johann Schmidt established one of his many weapons facilities under command of Colonel Lohmer. 
==== Uprising at HYDRA Base Camp C3 ====
Colonel Lohmer, officer in charge of one of the HYDRA weapons facilities built in Austria after its invasion by German forces, devised a strategy to reduce the potential number of mutinies among the prisoners of war captured and enslaved inside the factory, based on his beliefs that the Third Reich would win World War II because its members were unified, while the enemies of the Reich were of different nationalities and ethnicities, and that would cause conflict among them. As such, Lohmer split the prisoners by nationality, locking up members of different factions and brigades within the Allied Forces, hoping that they would be too busy fighting each other to try to fight their jailors. 
Barnes contracted pneumonia while on the battlefield and received a brutal beating for being unable to satisfy the quotas of production, letting munitions fall while moving a cart. Jones tended to Barnes when they returned to the cell, assuring that, given his sickness, contusions and broken ribs, if Lohmer made him work the following day, Barnes wouldn't survive. His cellmates, knowing that Lieutenant Kleiber was a reasonable man, tried to think of a way to avoid Lohmer forcing Barnes into hard labor. Falsworth, being a strategy expert, devised a plan to get rid of Lohmer that required Dugan, Jones and Dernier to work as a team using their respective expertise.
The following day, Falsworth's plan was carried out, with Dugan, Jones, and Falsworth smuggling components for Dernier so he could make a substance to melt the chain of a crane carrying scrap. Lohmer appeared, demanding to incorporate Barnes into labor, though Kleiber considered him too sick. Just as Lohmer was shouting that Barnes would die working if necessary, Kleiber ordered the crane to be activated. The melted chain broke, dropping the crane's load on Lohmer as he passed, crushing him.
The soldiers made every prisoner return to their cell. Dugan informed Barnes that Lohmer wouldn't cause any harm again, while their role in his death couldn't be proven and the punishment would just be reducing their food rations for a week. Barnes only response was, however, to ask Dugan to stop calling him "Jimmy", as his full name was James Buchanan Barnes and he preferred being called Bucky.
==== Liberation of Allied Prisoners of War ====
: "They're thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe."
: ―Chester Phillips[src]
In November 1943, Steve Rogers, hearing about the events in Azzano and the imprisonment of the soldiers that battled HYDRA, decided to rescue the prisoners alone. Agent Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve supported his decision and offered to fly him from Italy to Austria in a plane piloted by Howard Stark. Discussing the details of Rogers' extraction, the plane went under attack, so Rogers decided to jump off the plane, ordering them to abandon enemy airspace, as now he was a captain, and therefore able to give orders.
Arnim Zola was transferred from HYDRA Headquarters and put in charge of the weapons facility, with the Cosmic Cube contained inside the factory to harness its energy to fuel production and power the weapons. Zola took Johann Schmidt on a tour of the production floor, with Zola being very pleased that they where ahead of schedule considering the large size of many of the parts. Schmidt was not all that impressed and order Zola to increase the output in this and the rest of facilities. When Zola informed him that the request was not possible given the condition of the prisoners, Schmidt casually replied for Zola to use what remaining strength they had left and that new workers were easy to come by.
Rogers successfully infiltrated the facility boarding a truck, and made his way through the production floors to the prison, acquiring a Tesseract fuel cell along the way. Rogers freed the prisoners, asking for the whereabouts of his friend, Sergeant James "Bucky" Barnes, and told them to exit the facility heading to a nearby forest, battling HYDRA soldiers along the way, while Rogers went to look for Barnes.
The freed prisoners battled HYDRA forces, seizing many weapons and vehicles to clear their way out. Schmidt observed the ensuing chaos on the security monitors and activated an alarm signal in the whole facility, before realizing that Steve Rogers also infiltrated the base. In order to avoid the facility being captured, Schmidt activated the self-destruct sequence to the shock of Arnim Zola, who rushed to his office, in order to save important documents, coming across Rogers but fleeing before being reached.
Rogers eventually found Barnes in a laboratory, where a map showing other HYDRA facilities was displayed. Rogers memorized the map and began searching an exit with Barnes just before the self-destruct mechanisms started to explode. As the two tried to find a way out, they came across Schmidt and Zola, where Schmidt taunted Rogers about their no longer human nature after being subjected to Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum.
Rogers and Schmidt two exchanged blows, but Zola pulled a nearby lever causing the walkway the two were standing on to separate. Before making their getaway, Schmidt revealed his true face to Rogers, the result of have the Erskine's imperfect serum, being that the reason of his nickname, the Red Skull. Schmidt boarded a single manned aircraft to escape the facility, while giving Zola the keys of his personal car to escape.
As the explosions continued, Rogers and Barnes made their way up the factory to a beam they needed to cross to get to safety. Barnes managed to get across before the beam broke. Without the beam, Rogers was left with no other option then to jump across in order to make it to safety. Despite the danger, Rogers successfully made the jump across the void through the erupting flames.
Rogers and Barnes successfully escaped the facility, and met up with the rest of the freed prisoners. They then made their way back to the camp in Italy.
==== Destruction of HYDRA Facilities ====
Back at the base, Steve Rogers recruited the freed prisoners to join the Howling Commandos, which was a unit comprised of the United States Armed Forces 107th Infantry Regiment, British military, and French resistance. After having witnessed a map showing the location of HYDRA facilities in Europe while liberating the prisoners, Rogers was tasked to destroy all those facilities with a team while MI6 focused on locating the central HYDRA Headquarters. Rogers enlisted the help of Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, and Bucky Barnes.
Steve Rogers and his unit traveled to Belgium in order to destroy the HYDRA Facility located there. Once they arrived, they set the facility to explode, and escaped before the detonations went off.
Rogers and the Howling Commandos attacked facilities in France, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Russia, and Portugal, leaving them all demolished.
Red Skull arrived at one of his destroyed facilities and angrily yelled at Arnim Zola for failing to stop the attacks. Zola was then ordered to finish the mission and went on the Schnellzug EB912 travelling through the Danube River to HYDRA Headquarters.
==== Capture of Arnim Zola ====
Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos followed closely behind, and after Gabe Jones confirmed Arnim Zola was a passenger, they went forward with their plan. They set up a zip-line from the cliff to the mountainside on which the tracks ran, allowing them to travel safely over the deep valley. Jones went forwards to get to Zola, while Rogers and Bucky Barnes worked as a distraction team to draw out Zola's guards.
The plan worked as Rogers and Barnes engaged the HYDRA soldiers in firefight, trading shots from behind cover. However, the two were separated by mechanical doors. Rogers killed one soldier, who had been wielding a HYDRA Cannon, and used it to blast open one of the doors. Rogers then tossed a M19111 pistol to Barnes, who had run dry of ammunition, and the two worked side by side to defeat the soldiers.
After another solider with a Cannon attacked, Rogers deflected an energy pulse. The blast ripped open the side, exposing the interior to the cold winter air outside. Barnes grabbed Rogers' shield and used it to fight the soldier. However, the soldier shot another blast, which caused Barnes to fall out of the train. Although, he managed to grab onto part of the destroyed hull. Rogers recovered and killed the soldier and then ran to save Barnes. Rogers urged Barnes to grab his hand, but the railing snapped, and Barnes fell off into the deep valley below.
Jones managed to find Zola and held him and the train's conductor at gunpoint. Afterwards, the Howling Commandos were able to be extracted with Zola as the prisoner.
== Layout ==
=== Countries ===
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Ireland
* Italy
* Latvia
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Russia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
** England
==== Former Countries ====
* Czechoslovakia
* Soviet Union
* Yugoslavia
== Trivia ==
* Europe is the second smallest continent by area.
* Europe is the third largest continent by population.
Category:Continents
Category:Thor Locations
Category:The Avengers Locations
Category:Captain America Locations
Category:Comics Locations