Historical nations hockey project

[JetsLuvver]

Russia and Zaire are my favorites so far.

Both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan competed in hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics.

[IceCap]

First of all, thanks to everyone who's given C&C. It's very much appreciated.

Onto specifics...

Glad to see it's back. This was one of my favorite concept threads.

Best one of the new batch is Macedonia. Far and away. The striping clinches it.

There's something about the Texas one I don't agree with. Maybe the blue should be a little darker. I don't know how to make red/white/blue look more "Texas" than "United States", but the (Lone) Star and the colors make it look more like an American concept than a Texas one.

Russian Empire is nice, but I always associate black and gold with Germany; the eagle crest makes the line between the two even blurrier. [NITPICK ALERT!!] And you sorta-kinda misspelled Россия; the accent over the "и" is not written, and only appears in dictionaries and encyclopedias to show which syllable is accented. It would not appear on a uniform.

German Empire is nice, but going with a plain font leaves it a little bland. There are so many "Germanic" or "Gothic" blackletter fonts to choose from that would really make this look more German. Also... DEUTSCHLAND.

And maz... Fascist Italy? Nazi Germany? Are you serious? You really think a sweater with a giant swastika across the front is something that needs to be put up here - especially in Icecap's thread? C'mon, think some of these thoughts through, my man.

Yeah, I had a lot more in mind for Texas, but nothing I put down seemed to work. I was thinking about using a state of Texas logo, similar to the Dallas Stars' alternate logo, but It wouldn't have worked, seeing as the Republic of Texas' borders were different from that of the current state of Texas. In the end I decided to tone down the flag tie-in with the striping (originally the flag would have extended all the way to wrists). To compensate for the toned-down flag striping I added a flag patch. It's still a decent-looking sweater, IMO, but I had much more in mind.

Good eye on the Russian sweater having a German feel. The flag I based it off of, the Russian imperial flag from 1858-1883, was designed by Tsarina Catherine the Great, who was German by birth. Still, I didn't want to use the last flag of the Russian Empire, since it was exactly the same as the current Russian flag, and I wanted to distance the concept from modern-day Russia. Also, thanks for the spelling tip. The "Россия" has been fixed.

Germany has also been fixed. I used a Gothic font. I agree, it really brings the concept full circle.

Well, you spelled Deutschland wrong, but other than that these are pretty much perfect. They're old-school, and they are te perfect balance between looking like the flag of the country, and looking like a damn good hockey jersey.

Great work. I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

Fixed the "Deutschland" spelling. That's what I get for working on a Germany concept after watching Beerfest

Thanks for the complements though. I plan on keeping this project going.

[DDR]

Let's go Byzantine!

Cha-cha-chachacha!

[IceCap]

These are great!

I'm loving the Kingdom of France and Zaire ones

I like the Prussian one as well but the white numbers seem off but I can't think of what other colour to make them without them bleeding into the horizontal stripe.

Keep up the good work!

I was in a goofy mood when I designed the Prussian one, and white numbers seemed like a good idea

These are pretty nice. It's a unique concept and the execution is great.

How about Vietnam? I guess you could use the star flag as the main logo and use the red and yellow stripes of the old flag as, well, striping.

And didn't North Vietnam have blue on the bottom half of their flag?

You mean the Viet Cong? Yes.

Well I won't be doing a North Vietnam or a Vietnam concept, because technically it's the same regime, and their flag as remained the same; gold star in the centre of a red flag. Designing a concept that incorporates South Vietnamese elements (red bars on yellow) with North Vietnamese elements (gold star on red) would make as much sense as designing a Team USA concept with a Confederate flag incorporated into it.

Also, the flag of North Vietnam was the same as the current Vietnamese flag, seeing as they won the war. The flag of South Vietnam for most of war was the yellow flag with red bars that FlyersHockey was alluding to.

The half red/half blue flag with the gold star in the centre was the flag of of the Viet Cong, Communist guerrillas working for the North Vietnamese government in South Vietnam. It was never an official flag of NV at any time though. All though after the Americans withdrew from SV the red/blue/star flag of the Viet Cong became the flag of the provisional government of SV until NV officially annexed it.

[IceCap]

And maz... Fascist Italy? Nazi Germany? Are you serious? You really think a sweater with a giant swastika across the front is something that needs to be put up here - especially in Icecap's thread? C'mon, think some of these thoughts through, my man.

He wanted former countries I gave him ideas. I hate nazis as much as the next guy but a jersey with them doesnt mean that the one who made it agrees with them. And facist Italy was only a little idea I threw out there. Actually, id personally perfer to see a concept of before facist italy when they were a monarchy.

No worries.

I still won't do a Nazi Germany or a Fascist Italy concept though.

Also, technically Fascist Italy was still a monarchy. Mussolini's Fascist Party never overthrew the existing monarchy, the King of Italy simply requested Mussolini to form a new government within the existing government framework. Mussolini was officially the Prime Minister of Italy during it's Fascist years, but the King was still the head of state (which bugged Mussolini when Hitler came to visit. Only being the PM and not the head of state meant that when Hitler visited Italy the King and Hitler would always be side by side with Mussolini looking like a third wheel).

[LMU]

I still call for Austria-Hungary, regardless of the claim that it was the HRE's successor state. The striping would be quite fascinating, I must say.

[IceCap]

I still call for Austria-Hungary, regardless of the claim that it was the HRE's successor state. The striping would be quite fascinating, I must say.

And your call has been answered

Austro-Hungarian Empire

Historical info

On August 6, 1806 Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire signed the Treaty of Pressburg after the HRE was crushed militarily by Napoleon. The treaty forced Francis II to dissolve the HRE, which had stood since the year 800. Napoleon took the remaining German states under the HRE (sans Austria) and united them with Prussia (who he had also defeated) to form the Confederation of the Rhine.

Francis II reorganized the territories still under his control (Austria and much of central Europe) into the Austrian Empire.

By the mid-1800's the Austrian Empire was collapsing under its own weight. The many ethnic groups within the empire were calling for either greater representation in the imperial government or complete independence.

A compromise was reached in 1867; the empire would be split into two administrative regions, Austria and Hungary. The Austrian parliament would govern the Austrian half, and the Hungarian parliament would govern the Hungarian half. The emperor would be crowned both King of Austria and King of Hungary. The two sides would work in conjunction in matter of national defence. So by the Compromise of 1867 the Austrian Empire was transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Empire fell during WWI; the lack of a unifying force throughout the nation's many ethnic groups, as well as a lack of a significant industrial base, brought the Empire to it's knees (ironic, since they started the war to begin with).

The victorious Allied powers split up the empire into Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Habsburg dynasty came to an end, but more importantly an empire that had stood for almost 1,120 years was no more.

Flag

Concept

As LMU predicted, this produced some interesting striping patterns. This is mostly due to the A-HE's flag, a mixture of the Austrian flag and the Hungarian flag. I kept the name and number fonts from my HRE concept, seeing as Austria-Hungary is an evolution (or perhaps devolution) of the HRE.

The crest includes the coat of arms of both Austria and Hungary, with the black and gold flag of the Habsburg dynasty in between them.

[maz]

And maz... Fascist Italy? Nazi Germany? Are you serious? You really think a sweater with a giant swastika across the front is something that needs to be put up here - especially in Icecap's thread? C'mon, think some of these thoughts through, my man.

He wanted former countries I gave him ideas. I hate nazis as much as the next guy but a jersey with them doesnt mean that the one who made it agrees with them. And facist Italy was only a little idea I threw out there. Actually, id personally perfer to see a concept of before facist italy when they were a monarchy.

No worries.

I still won't do a Nazi Germany or a Fascist Italy concept though.

Also, technically Fascist Italy was still a monarchy. Mussolini's Fascist Party never overthrew the existing monarchy, the King of Italy simply requested Mussolini to form a new government within the existing government framework. Mussolini was officially the Prime Minister of Italy during it's Fascist years, but the King was still the head of state (which bugged Mussolini when Hitler came to visit. Only being the PM and not the head of state meant that when Hitler visited Italy the King and Hitler would always be side by side with Mussolini looking like a third wheel).

I dont even know the history of my own ethnicity.

Well, anyways, its all good. I dont blame you for not doing those anyways.

Nice Austro-Hungarian concept. very interesing stripes indeed.

[VitaminD]

Germany: UPGRADE!

Austria/Hungary: About what I would have expected. Good stuff.

Was there an ancient Persian Empire concept done yet? There aren't many left which have flags and insignias that don't look like symbols being used by present-day nations.

[IceCap]

Germany: UPGRADE!

Austria/Hungary: About what I would have expected. Good stuff.

Was there an ancient Persian Empire concept done yet? There aren't many left which have flags and insignias that don't look like symbols being used by present-day nations.

No, I never did a Persian Empire flag, mostly due to the reason you pointed out. It's the same reason I'm hesitant to do an Aztec Empire concept. The ancient empires didn't have flags, at least not in the sense that modern-day states do. So it's harder to get a solid grasp of colours, striping, etc. I was only able to do the Roman Empire because JQK, who's an expert on Roman History, was able to design a mock-up of what a Roman flag might have looked like.

I was able to do the Macedonian Empire because the actual flag of the Macedonian region in Greece is very close to any flag that the Macedonian Empire may have used.

That said I could do a modern Persian Empire/pre-Islamic Revolution Iran concept, but it wouldn't be based on the ancient Persian Empire.

[IceCap]

Let's go Byzantine!

Cha-cha-chachacha!

Here ya go!

*Sorry for the lack of recent updates, I thought I would be able to post a concept or two over spring break, but hey, oh well.

Byzantine Empire

Historical info

In the year 212 CE the Roman Emperor Caracalla introduced the "Constitutio Antoniniana" which extended Roman citizenship to all adult males throughout the Empire. This effectively gave the provinces of the Empire equal status to Rome itself. It also marked the beginning of a tend which would see the provincial capitals gain more and more authority for themselves at the expense of authority in Rome.

Finally by the late third century (late 200's) the Emperor Diocletian split the Empire into two; an eastern half and a western half. An Emperor in Rome would administer the western half, and an Emperor in Greece would administer the eastern half. After Diocletian voluntarily abdicated the thrown of the western half this system began to crumble. By 324 the general Constantine had defeated his last of his rivals and was crowned sole Emperor of Rome. Constantine I founded a new capital city for the Empire, Constantinople. They city was built on the site of the old Greek city of Byzantium. The city was at a junction of both eastern and western trade routes, allowing Constantine I to maintain control over both halves of the Empire.

By moving the capital to the east Constantine I also highlighted the strengths the eastern half had over the western half; it was wealthier and more culturally homogeneous then the west.

In 392 Theodosius I abdicated, giving the western half the empire to his son Honorius and the eastern half to his son Arcadius. Arcadius set up his capital in Constantinople while Honorius decided to move the west's capital from Rome to Ravenna. This marked the end of the unified Roman Empire, as Theodosius I was the last Emperor to rule both halves.

As time went on the Greek east consolidated its wealth and culture. The west on the other hand was unable to suppress the various ethic minorities, and its emperors went bankrupt waisting money trying to hold onto authority.

In 476 the Germanic chief Odoacer lead a revolt against the western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus. Romulus Augustus was disposed as Emperor, and Rome was sacked. The surviving Roman senators sent word to the eastern Emperor Zeno that he was now emperor of the west as well. Zeno however ignored this, never making any effort to stop Odoacer from consolidating his power in the west. The situation was clear; the eastern Empire had survived, and the western Roman Empire had fell, with the Ostrogothic Kingdom, a Germanic state, now ruling all of Italy, including Rome.

While the west crumbled the east stabilized itself, and later flourished. In the west it was known as the either the Byzantine Empire or the Empire of the Greeks, given its Greek language and culture. In the Empire itself, however, it was simply referred to as the Roman Empire, a continuation of the Empire founded by Caesar Augustus back in 27 BCE.

The Byzantine Empire reached its zenith in 550 under the rule of Emperor Justinian I. He was able to capture northern Africa, Italy, and a small part of Spain, causing the Byzantine Empire to slightly resemble the old Roman Empire.

A series of disastrous campaigns raged against both the Arabs and latter the Turks cost the Empire almost all of its territory. By 1400 the Byzantine Empire comprised only of southern Greece and the areas around the cities of Constantinople and Thessalonica.

As the Ottoman armies of Sultan Mehmet II closed in on Constantinople, Emperor Constantine XI appealed to the only state that could save them, the Holy Roman Empire, a Germanic (Austrian) empire that the Pope had declared to be the true successor to the ancient Roman Empire.

Both the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor agreed to send forces to Constantinople under the condition that the Eastern Orthodox Church reunite with the Catholic Church. Constantine XI agreed and officially declared the churches unified, but the Eastern Orthodox priests blocked the move. This lead to the Holy Roman Emperor and Pope turning their back on the crumbling Byzantine Empire. In March of 1453 the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II laid siege to the city. After two months the city collapsed.

As the city fell Constantine XI, the last true Roman Emperor, cast off his Imperial armour and lunged into battle. Legend has it that after the Ottomans took the city an angel carried Constantine XI's body to a marble slab outside the Golden Gates under the earth where he waits to come back to life.

On Tuesday May 29, 1453 the last remnants of the Roman Empire had been wiped away.

Flag

Concept

Essentially I took the pattern of the flag and went nuts with it on the jersey. Yes, it's weird, but it was fun to make. The name and number fonts were carried over from my Roman Empire concept, seeing as the Byzantine Empire is considered (probably rightly) the successor of the Roman Empire.

[IceCap]

French Empire (First and Second)

Historical info

Following the French Revolution France was declared a Republic by the National Assembly on September 21, 1792. This was a huge deal back then, because at the time France was just the third major European nation to declare itself a republic, the other two being the Roman Republic and the Commonwealth of Great Britain, both of which were long gone by 1792.

From 1792-1795 the National Assembly ruled the Republic of France, lead by Maximilien Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre, however, became corrupted by power like so many revolutionary leaders do, and he used the Committee of Public Safety to hunt down political enemies, real or imagined. The most famous technique used to execute those dubbed "enemies of the Republic" was death by guillotine.

The "Reign of Terror", as Robespierre's purges came to be called, ended on July 27, 1795 when the National Assembly declared him a tyrant in the middle of a speech he was giving that called for more arrests and executions. Robespierre and his allies were arrested and put to death by the guillotine.

The National Assembly, to protect the state from an other tyrant, adopted a constitution that would usher in the era of French history known as the Directory.

Executive power was taken from the National Assembly, giving it to a council of five men known as the Directory. All five men would have equal powers. Essentially the Directory form of government was much like the current American system, only with five men sharing the powers of the executive branch equally.

French military success was scarce under the Directory, with the one exception being Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Syria.

Hearing of the Directory's weakness, and the growing threat of a royalist counter-revolution, Napoleon lead his army back home to France to "save the revolution." Napoleon entered Paris, crushed all royalist sects, and overthrew the Directory, much to the approval of the French people. Napoleon would go on to replace the Directory with the Consulate, a government modelled after that of the old Roman Republic.

The National Assembly was reformed into the French Senate, and the executive branch was made up of three consuls, each who would supposedly serve ten year terms.

The first three consuls were Napoleon Bonaparte, Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, and Charles-Fran*ois Lebrun, duc de Plaisance. Over the years of the ten year term, Napoleon consolidated his power to the point in which the Senate elected him First Consul for life. On May 18, 1804 the Senate elected him Emperor, which was ratified but a referendum on the same day.

Napoleon as emperor is an interesting case study. All though he wielded great power, he was by no means a dictator with unlimited power like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. The two remaining positions of Consul were still second only to Napoleon in terms of power, and they along with the Senate, produced an interesting mix of monarchy and democracy.

Napoleon also lacked any kind of single ideology. He ruled in the tradition of the enlightened monarch in most cases; strengthened public education, he liberalized the French legal system (his legal code is still in use today) and he granted Jews full French citizenship, as well as the right to worship as they pleased. Yet at the same time he also rejected enlightened ideals such as freedom of the press.

Militarily he was and is considered a genius. He crushed the armies of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Holy Roman Empire, sometimes all at once. He also dissolved the Holy Roman Empire completely, ending a tradition that had lasted since the year 800. He would continue to defeat and humiliate the HRE's successor state, the Austrian Empire.

Napoleon's downfall occurred on two fronts; in the west his forces were word down in Spain by Spanish guerrillas and British forces lead by the Duke of Wellington. In the east his Russian invasion was doomed by Russian nationalism and the Russian winter.

The Russian counter-offencive, the loss of Spain, and a renewed Austrian offencive ate away all the territorial gain he had made. On March 30, 1814 Russian armies entered Paris, and Napoleon was forced to abdicate his crown at Fontainebleau.

France was returned to the Bourbon dynasty when Louis XVIII was crowned King of France.

The victorious allies of Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia decided to exile Napoleon to the island of Elba. The allies decided that the best way to stop him from escaping was to make it so he would want to stay.

He was made Emperor of Elba and allowed to keep an "army" of 600 men.

For nine months it seems like Napoleon was content to rule over Elba. He instituted many social and economic reforms designed to improve the quality of life for the island's inhabitants.

Upon hearing rumours that the British were going to exile him to a remote island in the Atlantic Napoleon escaped and returned to France. He amassed an army of veterans, drove Louis XVIII into hiding, and was again declared emperor. The following Hundred Days marked a period where he first consolidated power in France, and latter went about attempting to rebuild his empire. This campaign was short lived, however, as a combined force of Prussian and British armies defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo.

Napoleon fled to Paris, where he clung to hope that he could lead a national resistance against the closing allied armies.

Finally realizing he was through he abdicated the thrown. He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he died on May 5, 1821.

France would continue to be ruled by the Bourbons though the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. Charles X was removed following the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in Louis-Phillipe of the Orleans family being crowned king. He would rule as a constitutional monarch.

In 1848 an other revolution broke out that replaced the liberal monarchy with the Second French Republic. Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's nephew, was elected president. In 1852 he declared himself Emperor Napoleon III of the Second French Empire.

Unlike the First French Empire, the SFE wasn't driven by military conquest. It fell in 1871 when a newly formed German Empire lead by Kaiser William I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck successfully laid siege to Paris and captured Napoleon III. Napoleon III was removed from the thrown, and the Third French Republic was proclaimed.

Flag

Concept

I used Napoleon's Imperial Shied as the main crest. The shoulder yoke was obviously coloured to reflect the pattern of the French flag, which also served as Napoleon's national flag. The bees seen under the shoulder yoke as well as on the pants were used because bees were often used by Napoleon as an imperial symbol, as seen in Napoleon's Imperial Standard. I placed two "N"s on either side of the collar to reflect the tread of Napoleon using an "N" as a national symbol on the same level as his imperial eagle or the French tri-colour.

[Squeaks4]

This is my favorite so far. This one doesn't seem as "over the top" as some of the others ones and I would actually love to see France do something like this for the Olympics or another World tournament. Although I am not quite sure how it would look in reality, I think the crest looks great as the logo. I dont have much criticism because to be honest, I suck at design and in no position to give any critiques. But I do like this one especially. Great job.

[Fyrwulf]

How about the Império do Brasil?

[charger77]

An Aztec on would be sweet!

Dan

[kewp80]

I love the french one, that is definably my favorite of all of them. Great Job!

[IceCap]

Thanks for the c&c everyone, more to come latter.

How about the Império do Brasil?

Hmm, good idea. Thanks

An Aztec on would be sweet!

Dan

The problem here is that the Aztec Empire had no flag to speak of. I was only able to do a Roman Empire concept because JQK, an expert on Roman history, was able to design a flag based on elements the Romans would have probably implemented into a flag. If someone who has extensive knowledge about the Aztec Empire would do the same, then I could do a concept.

This is my favorite so far. This one doesn't seem as "over the top" as some of the others ones and I would actually love to see France do something like this for the Olympics or another World tournament. Although I am not quite sure how it would look in reality, I think the crest looks great as the logo. I dont have much criticism because to be honest, I suck at design and in no position to give any critiques. But I do like this one especially. Great job.

The crest is a concern of mine as well. Originally I used the "lesser" French Imperial Arms (just the eagle and the crown). It was more "logo-like" but the shade of gold was very different from that of the bees. So I used the full Imperial Arms instead, seeing as it was in the right shade of gold. It may be a tad over the top as far as a logo goes, but "over the top" basically describes everything about Napoleon from a design standpoint.

[charger77]

Now, this was not the pic I was looking for but this type of face could be the crest or a darn good shoulder patch. Do your historic jerseys have to have a flag?

A vViking one could be sweet or Inca, Mayan, Olmec or Indians of the Pacific Northwest (without being too "Canuckish") Babylonia, Hawaii pre-USA, Japan could all be contenders if you have not done them already.

This is a great concept series and has a lot of possibilities.

Good work!

Dan

[mets1989]

How about the kingdom of Yugoslavia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_yugoslavia

[winghaz]

I get a kick out of the idea of a Zaire hockey team.