Historical Nations Hockey Concepts 2.0

Ah, gotcha. I've been using MS Paint since 2003. I've got it down to a science
Ice, I'll use it like my sig. you expressed the feelings of all paint users.

Hehe, thanks

Anyhow,

The French Empire, 1804-1814/1815/1852-1870

The French Empire is a historical conundrum. The French nation had thrown off the monarchy of the Bourbons to establish a republic, only to cheer approvingly when one of the Republic's heroes crowned himself a monarch.

It all began in 1789. Louis XVI was set to reap what his ancestor Louis XIV had sewn. Louis XIV had greatly expanded the power of the French monarchy, but it was at the expense of the peasantry, who were taxed almost, literally, to death. Revolutionary sentiment had existed in Europe prior to 1789. The humanists and Enlightenment philosophers had been gaining ground since the end of the Thirty Years War. The short-lived Corsican Republic had established a constitution based on Enlightenment principals. Then the American Revolution came. The American Revolution was heavily influenced by the principals of the Enlightenment. That Revolution proved that Enlightenment principals were viable in the realms of practical government. The French Revolution was, in many ways, inspired by the American Revolution which had occurred roughly a decade earlier.

The Revolution resulted in the end of the French monarchy, the declaration of the Republic, and the establishment of the Constitution of 1793. This Constitution, though rather progressive, is associated with the reign of terror. The French Republican government, in the form of the National Assembly, executed between 16,000 and 40,000 people on suspicion of being "counter revolutionary." The Constitution of 1793 was thus repealed. A new constitution, the Constitution of 1795, was passed. This one was more conservative and less influenced by revolutionary vigour. The 1795 Constitution established the Directory, a group of five officials who held executive power in the Republic. The Directory was supposed to ease the revolutionary zeal in France and establish a viable, long-term system of republican government. It wouldn't last.

General Napoleon Bonaparte of the revolutionary French army pushed his forces into British-influenced Egypt. This had the effect of stretching revolutionary France's military forces thin, and the Republic's European enemies began to regain the ground the Republic had won in the early Revolutionary Wars. The military setbacks turned public opinion in France against the Directory. Napoleon's campaign in Egypt ended in failure, but he remained popular for his series of impressive victories in Italy during the early War. When he got word that the Directory was about to fall he rushed home to France and helped stage a coup. He reasoned that the Directory's unpopularity would cause the Revolution to fail and reopen the door to the Bourbon monarchy. By overthrowing the Directory, Napoleon reasoned, he was saving the Revolution. In 1799 he set is coup in motion and toppled the Directory. In the Directory's place he established the Consulate, based on the ancient Roman Republic. Whereas the Roman Consulate had two Consuls on equal footing, however, the French Consulate would have three, with Napoleon as First Consul, the undisputed leader of the group. By 1802 he had the Constitution amended to make him First Consul For Life. As First Consul he sold France's vast Louisiana Territory to the United States once a successful slave rebellion in Haiti ended his dreams of a French North American empire.

In 1804 Napoleon was given the title of Emperor of the French by the French Senate. He was crowned Emperor Napoleon I by Pope Pius VII at Notre Dame. The Republic established by the French Revolution had dissolved, and the French Empire was established. He quickly defeated the Holy Roman Empire in the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Battle of Austerlitz. As a condition of peace he forced the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire. Francis II complied, reorganizing his remaining territory into the Austrian Empire. The Germanic states taken from the Holy Roman Emperor were arranged into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French puppet state.

Napoleon I would attempt to establish his family's dynasty in several European states that his armies had overrun. His had himself crowned King Napoleon I of Italy. His younger brother Louis was crowned King Louis I of Holland. His older brother Joseph was crowned first as King Joseph I of Naples and Sicily and then as King Joseph I of Spain.

Napoleon I defeated Prussia in the Battle of Eylau. The peace that followed reduced Prussia's once feared army to a mere 40,000 men. Napoleon I then ended his war with Russia in 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. In the peace Napoleon I agreed to help Tsar Alexander of Russia against the Ottoman Empire, and in return Russia would join Napoleon I's continental system. With Russia in the fold the Continental System blocked British goods from almost all of Europe's ports.

France's Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Talleyrand advised Napoleon to consolidate his winnings and make peace with the British. The British had achieved unmatched naval supremacy with their victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, but the British lacked the means to challenge Napoleon on land. Talleyrand argued that since neither France or Britain could really get to one and other that Napoleon I should make peace with Britain and consolidate his winnings. Napoleon I dismissed his Talleyrand though. He felt he could destroy Britain. His Continental System had closed Europe off from British goods. He felt he could strangle Britain and bring his one remaining rival to its knees.

It was in Spain that it all fell apart. He had moved his brother Joseph from Naples and Sicily to Spain to be crowned as King Joseph I. Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand VII waged a guerilla campaign against his forces. The British supplied and aided the Spanish resistance. The Spanish resistance grew to a point that the British were able to land an army in Spain under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Wellington, along with Spanish and Portuguese resistance fighters, drove Napoleon I and his brother Joseph I out of Spain, and Ferdinand VII was reinstalled on the Spanish throne IN 1814. While the Spanish campaign was being waged Napoleon I's forces marched on Rome. He crowned his newly born son King of Rome, absorbing the Papal states into his Empire and exiling the Pope.

In the east Alexander I of Russia believed he could regain some of the prestige lost when he was forced to make peace with France in 1807. He pulled Russia out of the Continental System and began openly supporting German resistance fighters in the Confederation of the Rhine.

In 1812 Napoleon I decided to end Russia's insolence. He created his "Grande Armée," the largest single land force every assembled up to that point in history with almost 700,000 men. He intended to march it into Russia and bring it to heel so he could concentrate on crushing the British in Spain. The Russians engaged in a scorched Earth policy, burning everything behind them as they retreated from Napoleon's advancing army. The Grand Army was left unable to restock their supplies and the Russian Army kept eluding Napoleon I, denying him of the one major victory he would need to bring Russia to its knees. When winter came the Grand Army was ill-prepared. Running low on supplies and unable to cope with the winter, the Grand Army proved to be an easy target for the Russian forces, which slowly but surely picked it apart piece by piece. Only 120,000 French soldiers made it out of Russia alive, most of them starving and near death.

The collapse of the Russian campaign was coupled with the Duke of Wellington's success in Spain. The twin French defeats allowed the British to form the Sixth Coalition, an alliance with Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Portugal, and Sardinia. The Coalition was aided by an uprising against French power in the Neatherlands. Pushed from all sides, Napoleon I had to fall back to France. The Coalition entered Paris on 30 March 1814. Napoleon I vowed to fight on, and had the support of his men. His officers, however, believed the situation to be lost, and they mutinied. Napoleon I abdicated on 6 April 1814.

The Coalition believed that the best way to keep Napoleon from wanting to return to France was to make him never want to come back from exile. They exiled him to the island of Elba, which they gave him sovereignty over. Napoleon was able to sneak past the British Royal Navy, however. He landed in France on 1 March 1815. Since his men had supported him up until the end in 1814 he was able to conscript many of them back into his army in an attempt to reclaim power. The Coalition declared Napoleon I an outlaw and moved to finally quash him once and for all.

Napoleon moved on Belgium, hoping a victory there would drive a wedge between the British and Prussian forces. The resulting Battle of Waterloo saw Napoleon I go down in defeat to the British Duke of Wellington, the Dutch William Prince of Orange, and the Prussian Gebhard von Blucher. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, a small British colony in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He died there in 1821 at the age of 51.

The victorious powers in Europe re-established the Bourbon monarchy in France with Louis XVIII as King. He died and was succeeded by his younger brother Charles X. Charles X abdicated during the July Revolution of 1830. Louis Philippe d'Orléans was crowned Louis Philippe I by the revolutionary mob. Louis Philippe I attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy on the model of the British system, but was ousted by the French Revolution of 1848 that established the Second French Republic. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I's nephew, was elected the Republic's first President. In 1851 he staged a coup, dissolving the National Assembly of the Republic and re-establish the French Empire with himself as Emperor Napoleon III (he recognized Napoleon's son, his cousin, as Napoleon II). Napoleon III's actions were approved by a popular referendum.

Napoleon III's government was one of the two foreign powers, along with the government of Great Britain, that the rebelling Confederate States of America looked to for international recognition. Napoleon III wouldn't do so until the British did, and the British wouldn't until the Confederates won a major battle on Union soil. Such a victory never came, and both European powers stayed out of the American Civil War.

Napoleon III would use the American Civil War to his advantage, however. Mexico had been a rotating door of regimes, dictatorships, and republics since 1824. Conservative elements among Mexico's elite looked for a way to restore stability to the country. Napoleon III offered them a solution. The Mexican elite would allow Napoleon III to select a European noble to be Emperor of Mexico. France got a puppet state that allowed it to expand its influence into Central and South American and the Mexican elite got a regime that could offer stability. Maximilian Hapsburg was a member of the Hapsburg dynasty that ruled the Austrian Empire. He would never be Emperor himself, that honour would go to his older brother Franz Josef. Napoleon III and the Mexican elite offered him the title Emperor of Mexico, which he accepted. The Americans protested this breach of the Monroe Doctrine, but the Civil War made their objections mute. The new Mexican Emperor Maximilian I would reign for three years. When the American Civil war ended in 1865 the United States aided Mexican republicans. With US assistance the Mexican rebels captured Maximilian I and executed him, ending Napoleon III's hopes for a puppet state in Latin America.

In 1870 Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Prussia, organized an alliance between Prussia and and the other Germanic states. The alliance crushed the French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War. Napoleon III was captured and his government fell. The Third French Republic was proclaimed soon afterwards.

The striping attempts to mimic the pattern of the French tricolour, which served as the national flag of the Empire. The golden falcon served as the emblem for the House of Bonaparte, and was the national emblem of France during the Napoleon-led Republic and later the Empire. The falcon was meant to allude to the Imperial eagle of the Roman Empire. The golden bees come from the Empire's Imperial standard. The bees, which were also featured on the Imperial coat of arms, were chosen by Napoleon as a symbol of his reign to connect his regime to the earliest origins of the French nation. Golden bees were used to decorate the tomb of France's third King, Childeric I. By using bees as an Imperial symbol Napoleon hoped to create a sense of continuity between the France that was and the France he planned on building. Napoleon III would bring all of these emblems back when he re-established the Empire. I felt that the bees themselves could be put to use, but I didn't want to go overboard with them. By restricting them to the white space between the blue and red striping I think I achieved the look I was going for.

The Kingdom of Bavaria is up next.

johnrafael · May 30, 2011

can't wait to see the checkers...

Puck · May 31, 2011

My only complaint, some of the names on the back of the jerseys have been way too high to be functional.

Other than that, I've liked this series.

Flame · June 2, 2011

Just wanna say i'm loving this series..

IceCap · June 2, 2011

My only complaint, some of the names on the back of the jerseys have been way too high to be functional.
Other than that, I've liked this series.

I thought so to when I did an IIHF concept series back during the 2010 Olympics. It's the nature of the template though. The Nike IIHF template is designed so that the names are placed inside the shoulder yoke. Otherwise it cramps up with the numbers.

Just wanna say i'm loving this series..

Much appreciated. Thank you

TalktoChuck · June 2, 2011

My only complaint, some of the names on the back of the jerseys have been way too high to be functional.
Other than that, I've liked this series.
I thought so to when I did an IIHF concept series back during the 2010 Olympics. It's the nature of the template though. The Nike IIHF template is designed so that the names are placed inside the shoulder yoke. Otherwise it cramps up with the numbers.

Ice Cap is correct.

Team+Canada+Announces+2010+Olympic+Men+Coaching+VGv0i2Jega9l.jpg

IceCap · June 2, 2011

can't wait to see the checkers...

Well then, here we are....

The Kingdom of Bavaria*, 1806-1918

Bavaria emerged as one of the earliest territories of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire. After that Empire collapsed it would become part of the Eastern Frankish Empire, which would form the basis of the Holy Roman Empire. The Duchy of Bavaria was established in the year 889, though evidence exists that Bavarians existed as a distinct Germanic tribe as early as the 500s.

In 1070 the Welfs, a Germanic noble family, took control of the Duchy. They held it until the 12th century when Duke Henry XII of Bavaria challenged the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick I. Fredrick I stripped the Welfs of their territories, and Bavaria was handed over to the Wittelsbach family, a noble family that had remained loyal to the Emperor during the dispute.

The Wittelsbach family split, with half ruling Bavaria and half ruling the Palatine. The Golden Bull of 1356 established the seven electors that would elect the Holy Roman Emperor, the County of the Palatine being one of them, transforming it from a Country to an Electorate. The Wittelsbach branch that ruled the Electorate of the Palatine held an influential position within the Empire while the Wittelsbach branch that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria lacked the honour of the title of electors. This changed in 1621. Elector Fredrick V of the Palatine was stripped of his titles for helping provoke the Bohemian Revolt against Emperor Ferdinand II, the event that kicked off the Thirty Years War. The Palatine, and all of its rights as an electorate, were passed on to Fredrick V's loyal cousin Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria. This unification elevated Bavaria from the status of a Duchy to that of an Electorate. Maximilian and his heirs would now sit at the Council of Electors, an influential branch of the Imperial government.

Though Bavaria was ravaged by Swedish and French forces during the Thirty Years War it came out of the conflict stronger, despite siding with the losing Emperors. Maximilian I had assumed the title of Duke when the Duchy was in heavy debt. He reformed the economic and political systems of the Duchy, and later Electorate, to the point that when he died in 1651 the Electorate of Bavaria boosted a unified, efficient governing system and enjoyed a prosperous economic position. The Thirty Years War ended in 1648, and resulted in the almost total destruction of the Emperor's practical power. Though the Thirty Years War didn't dissolve the Holy Roman Empire it granted its component states de facto independence. Due to Maximilian I's efforts Bavaria was in a strong position to go froward from that point.

The French overran the Electorate during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In 1806 Emperor Napoleon I of France forced the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire. Francis reorganized his own territories in Austria and eastern Europe into the Austrian Empire with himself as Francis I. The Germanic states that had been part of the Empire were forced to separate from Hapsburg control completely. Elector Maximilian IV transformed the Electorate of Bavaria into the Kingdom of Bavaria as the Council of Electors was dissolved along with the Holy Roman Empire. Elector Maximilian IV became King Maximilian I of Bavaria.

In 1818 a constitution was written up which established a bicameral parliament on the British model and safeguarded religious freedom. In 1825 Maximilian I died and was succeeded by his son, King Ludwig I. Ludwig was a supporter of the arts and under his rule the artistic scene in Bavaria flourished. He was also set Bavaria down the path for industrialization. Ludwig I was also a huge supporter of the Greek independence movement against the Ottoman Empire. When Greece achieved independence Ludwig I's second son Otto was invited to become King Otto I of Greece by the leaders of the Greek revolt. The Greek revolt and the French July Revolution, however, inspired a wave of revolutionary thought across Europe, and Bavaria was not immune. A failed uprising in 1830 turned the once liberal and reform-minded Ludwig I into a conservative reactionary.

This led to a decrease in his popularity. Bavaria once again fell victim to revolutionary fervour in 1848. Though this revolution was crushed as well Ludwig I abdicated to avoid a coup and the toppling of the government. His eldest son succeeded him as King Maximilian II. Maximilian II was pressured by the Bavarian people into attending the Frankfurt Assembly, which had been called to discuss unifying the German states. Prussia was the strongest of the German states and the Assembly moved that King Frederick Wilhelm IV of Prussia be appointed Kaiser of a united German Empire. Bavaria was a rival for power between the German states, however, and Maximilian II stated he wouldn't support a united Germany with the King of Prussia as Kaiser. Maximilian II's position was supported by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Fredrick Wilhelm IV of Prussia refused the crown offered by the Assembly, believing that the state the assembly was suggesting would be to liberal and revolutionary, and not in Prussia's interests. With Fredrick Wilhelm IV's refusal to take the crown of a united Germany the movement to establish a unified German state in 1848 fell apart. Maximilian II's opposition to a unified Germany was unpopular in Bavaria, but Fredrick Wilhelm IV's refusal to take the crown anyway nullified the issue. In 1865 Maximilian II died and was succeeded by his eighteen year old son Ludwig as King Ludwig II.

The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia would go on to argue over which state was the dominant power among the German states. Bavaria sided with the Austrians, the Bavarian Wittelsbachs having always been loyal to the Hapsburgs, the ruling dynasty of Austria (and formally the Holy Roman Empire). This led to the Austro-Prussian War, which lasted between June and August of 1866. Bavaria sided with Austria. The Battle of Koniggratz resulted in a Prussian victory and the Austrian war effort collapsed soon afterwards. The Kingdom of Prussia emerged as the dominant power among the German states. Bavaria was offered generous peace terms and in the coming years Bavaria moved within Prussia's sphere of influence.

In 1870 Otto von Bismarck convinced Bavaria and other German states to form an alliance and declare war on the French Empire. The quick Prussian-led victory resulted in the capture of the French Emperor Napoleon III and the collapse of his government. Taking a 180 position from that of his father in 1848, King Ludwig II of Bavaria used the Germanic victory to propose that the King of Prussia Wilhelm I be crowned Kaiser of a unified German Empire. This time the proposal was accepted by the Prussian Crown and Wilhelm I of Prussia became Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany in 1871.

The Kingdom of Bavaria continued to exist within the German Empire with Ludwig II as King under the Kaiser. Bavaria was granted special status within the German Empire. It maintained its own army that would become absorbed into the Imperial army during a time of war. Ludwig II was succeeded by his younger brother Otto who ruled as King Otto I for a year before dying. Otto I was succeed by his cousin Ludwig as King Ludwig III.

At the onset of World War I Ludwig III received a letter from a young Austrian who wished to join the Bavarian army and fight for Germany. Ludwig III approved the young Adolf Hitler's request. By 1917 Germany's position in the war was deteriorating and Ludwig's loyalty to the German Imperial government became increasingly unpopular. Bavaria attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies in 1918, but these efforts failed. In November of 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the German Imperial throne and the kings of the individual states within the German Empire followed suit. This ended 738 years of Wittelsbach rule in Bavaria.

There were a lot of options to go with on this one. I could have used the lozenge (the skewed checker pattern that's been the symbol of Bavaria since 1242) as a chest stripe or a standard waist/arm stripe pattern. In the end I went with something more wild, partly inspired by this illustration of a Bavarian herald wearing the full pattern from around the early 1500s. The lozenge takes up the entirely of the sweater's arm space, shave for the mesh material on the underside. The striping along the hem is reflective of the Kingdom's flag, a white stripe atop a light blue stripe. The crest is the central emblem of the Kingdom's coat of arms.

*Apparently Bavaria fielded an ice hockey team in the early 1900s. I still say they qualify for this series because when they fielded that team they were no longer a truly sovereign nation, they were part of the larger German Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed as an independent entity for centuries before the formation of the German Empire, and during that time they (obviously) didn't field a hockey team. Therefore I feel this concept still fits within the series as a whole.

The Republic of Venice is up next.

tvko · June 3, 2011

This is so good. Major URI vibes, but the checker pattern is quite cool.

MiK · June 3, 2011

b-e-a-utiful. i lived in bavaria for 5 months in college and that flag design is just the coolest. nice execution on the jerseys!

what a series this is! history + awesome hockey concepts, bravo!

How's about the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway (1814-1905). I can see crazy striping and color mixing patterns in my head!

gésier123 · June 4, 2011

My favorite jersey of the serie :notworthy:

Armadillo19 · June 4, 2011

Long time lurker here, but I rarely post...that said, this set inspired me to post...quite an interesting series here, both for historical, and design reasons.

I'm not sure if you're still taking requests, but if you are, what about the following:

1.) Vermont Republic

2.) Kingdom of Israel

3.) Kingdom of Nri

4.) Llanrwst

I hope that these requests fit the aforementioned parameters and that you can find symbols/flags/crests etc.

Keep up the great work and interesting project!

Puck · June 7, 2011

My only complaint, some of the names on the back of the jerseys have been way too high to be functional.
Other than that, I've liked this series.
I thought so to when I did an IIHF concept series back during the 2010 Olympics. It's the nature of the template though. The Nike IIHF template is designed so that the names are placed inside the shoulder yoke. Otherwise it cramps up with the numbers.
Ice Cap is correct.

Thank you both for the correction.

BLUELANDbeliever · June 7, 2011

if you decide to do movie jerseys, putting in a request for star wars

Sign In

Historical Nations Hockey Concepts 2.0

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Archived

Important Information