At the beginning of this episode, ambitious young nitwit Glemy Toto is wandering through the Sahara desert, muttering to himself about the legacy of Degwin Zabi. (Although the nature of Glemy's relationship to the Zabi family is never explained in the animation, the ZZ novels claim he's actually Degwin's illegitimate son.) Glemy's recap begins something like this...
You know, if we hold to Sunrise's dictum that only filmed works are official, then this should actually supersede the published claims that the Principality was founded in U.C. 0069! Let's think about that for a minute.The teachings of Zeon Zum Deikun were put into practice by Degwin Zabi. In the year U.C. 0065, the Principality of Zeon was born.
The current official timeline goes as follows...
U.C. 0052: Zeon Deikun moves to Side 3.
U.C. 0058: Side 3 declares independence. Republic of Zeon and National Guard established.
U.C. 0059: Casval Deikun born.
U.C. 0062: Zeon National Guard becomes a full-fledged military. Artesia Deikun born.
U.C. 0068: Zeon Deikun dies. Degwin Zabi succeeds him as leader.
U.C. 0069: Degwin Zabi establishes Principality of Zeon. Casval and Artesia escape.
This is more or less as per the original setting notes. In Gundam The Origin, Yas likewise puts Deikun's death in U.C. 0068. Tomino's Gundam novels, however, laid out a different chronology that goes roughly thus...
U.C. 0056: Zeon Deikun's opponents purged from Side 3.
U.C. 0058: Side 3 declares independence. Republic of Zeon established.
U.C. 0062: Zeon Deikun dies. Degwin Zabi succeeds him as leader.
U.C. 0065: Degwin Zabi establishes Principality of Zeon. Deikun faction purged.
Part of what makes this work is that the characters generally seem to be older than in the animation. Sayla, for example, is 20 years old in the novels; Char seems to be roughly 24; Garma Zabi is about 22. Still, these dates were also cited in the novel-inspired background essay in Roman Album Extra 42, and in the MSV series. For example, as per the Zaku Marine Type kit manual and the MSV Handbook series:
In U.C. 0058, a national guard was established when Zeon Zum Deikun formed a republic at Side 3. However, this could not be called a real military. When Degwin Sodo Zabi seized power in U.C. 0062, he quickly raised the national guard to the status of a national military.
In other words, this reference in the Gundam ZZ script is actually vouching for the chronology of Tomino's novels. This would mean that Sayla was born the same year her father died, and Char would have been about 3 years old. Presumably they'd have left Side 3 no more than three years afterward, at ages 3 and 6 respectively.
-- Mark