Historical Nations Hockey Concepts 2.0

[IceCap]

I did Prussia in my last set, but I'm foregoing it this time around, seeing as it was essentially the same as the German Empire concept. Both Austria-Hungary and the HRE are in the set though.

[knnhrvy16]

Texas is part of the set I plan on doing before I get to the requests

Oh sweet! Very nice, well I'm excited for its turn then!

[IceCap]

First, the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland uniform, with gold striping. It turned out better then I thought it would, actually.

Next up....

The German Empire, 1871-1918

Germany itself, though unified in language since at least the time of the Protestant Reformation, wasn't unified as a single political entity until the late 1800s.

The story of the German Empire is the story of two men, Otto von Bismarck and Kaiser William I. In 1861 William I succeeded his father Fredrick William IV as King of Prussia, the largest of the Germanic states. A year later Otto von Bismarck became Chancellor of Prussia. Bismarck and William I were both pan-German nationalists, believing that all of Germany should be united. In 1870 Bismarck created an alliance between the North German Confederation (Prussia leading with a collection of smaller northern Germanic states), Baden, Bavaria, and Württemberg and declared war on France. France was both one of the predominant powers in Europe and an old enemy of the Germanic states.

The resulting Franco-Prussian War ended in in 1871 with a decisive victory for the Germanic alliance. In one notable battle, the Battle of Mars-la-Tour, two Prussian corps managed to beat back the entire French Army of the Rhine. The war was so successful for the Germans that the French Emperor, Napoleon III, was captured by the Prussian forces.

Two new states were born as a result of the war. The war exposed Napoleon III's French Empire as weak, and it was replaced by the Third French Republic. The Germanic alliance, however, was shown how effective Germany could be when united. So on January 18, 1871 the German Empire was brought into being when King William I of Prussia was crowned as Kaiser William I of Germany in Versailles, the great palace of French kings.

Bismarck believed that defeating France, for the longest time the premier land power in Europe, so decisively was enough to establish Germany as a new rising power. He believed that if the new German Empire forced concessions from France it would only galvanize France into seeking revenge. He advised Kaiser William I not to seek any territorial concessions from the new French Republic. The generals of the army, however, believed that territorial concessions were necessary as a sign of prestige and prosperity for the new German Empire. William I opted to listen to his generals, and Germany demanded the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine as a condition of peace, which France had no option but to concede.

Bismarck proved to be prophetic. The Third French Republic began preparing for a rematch with Germany, allying itself Russia, which had experienced its own falling out with the new German Empire. In 1904 France settled all of its outstanding issues with its longtime rival of Great Britain in the Entente cordiale of 8 April 1904.

For its part Bismarck realized that Germany would need allies too. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, led by the Germanic Hapsburg dynasty of Austria, was a natural selection. The newly united Kingdom of Italy was the third member of what became the Central Powers. The Entente, which was expanded to include Russia, and the Central Powers were locked in a cold war, exemplified by the naval arms race between Germany and Great Britain.

On 28 June 1914 Serbian terrorists assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Suspecting the Kingdom of Serbia to have been behind it, the Austro-Hungarian Empire issued a list of demands, all of which Serbia accepted, save for the clause allowing Austo-Hungarian troops to enter Serbia to conduct the investigation. On that point of disagreement the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia. Serbia was a Slavic state, and the Russian Empire felt that it was the "big brother" or protector of the smaller Slavic states. It declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany, Austria-Hungary's ally, declared war on Russia. Russia's ally France saw this as an opportunity to exact revenge on Germany and declared war. Germany's plan for dealing with a war with France and Russia involved it having to invade Belgium to get to France. Britain was committed to protecting Belgium's neutrality and declared war on Germany when it invaded Belgium. World War I was on.

The war in the west was primarily fought on French soil, and the two sides settled into a gridlock of trench warfare. The Russian Revolution of October 1917 took Russia out of the war. Germany, suffering from a British naval blockade, needed to win the war by the end of 1918. The Spring Offensive of 1918 was launched to achieve this victory. At first the offensive was successful, pushing within 120 km/75 mi of Paris, but that was as far as the Germans would get. Commonwealth/French troops, aided by fresh American troops, pushed the Germans back and the Spring Offensive failed. The German Empire, at this point, was on its last legs. The British blockade was starving the populous, and the collapse of the Spring Offensive left the German Army in retreat. The Allies could now push them back across the French-German border and bring the war to German soil for the first time in the conflict. Facing these realities the German High Command asked for an armistice. The Allies agreed on the condition that the Germans disband their army, worried that Germany would simply use the armistice to regroup and attempt another offensive. With their people starving and their army falling apart, the German high command had no choice but to accept. On November 11, 1918 an armistice went into effect, bringing the war to a close.

Meanwhile the situation within Germany had reached critical mass. Defeat of the war, coupled with the hardships of war in general, including the British blockade, pushed Germany to a near-revolutionary state, its radical socialist elements inspired by the success of Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The Imperial regime could not survive, and moderate and conservative elements within Germany forced Kaiser William II to abdicate. In October of 1918, in the city of Weimar, a new republican constitution was drawn up and the Imperial crown abolished.

The new republic, nicknamed the Weimar Republic, was forged by conservative and moderate socialist elements. The uneasiness of this arrangement, coupled with the Great Depression, toppled the fragile republic and laid the foundations for the Nazi Party to take over in 1933.

The uniform is primarily white and black, the colours of the Kingdom of Prussia, the dominant partner in the North German Confederation, the Germanic alliance against France, and later the German Empire. The black, white, and red tri-colour of the Empire was used as a chest stripe, ala the Montreal Canadiens. The Imperial eagle serves as the crest, with the Germanic Iron Cross serving as the alternate logo. The numbers and Captain C are rendered in a Germanic font. I decided to keep the name on back font block, for legibility purposes. "HOHENZOLLERN" is in reference to the ruling house of Prussia, and later the German Empire.

The Macedonian Empire is up next.

[tvko]

Commonwealth: Beautiful.

Germany: I don't know about the fonts, but the striping is very cool.

[Jahgee]

Futurama's Earth please

http://pool.theinfosphere.org/images/1/17/Earth_Flag.svg

[Discrim]

Commonwealth: jolly good

German Empire: I wouldn't have used that particular font for numbers, or made em that tiny, but eh. 3/4 decent otherwise.

suggestions: Kingdom of Hawaii, Republic of West Florida, Republic of Dahomey, Sultanate of Darfur, Republic of Maryland, Corsican Republic, Republic of Central Lithuania, Kingdom of Sicily

[9dek5]

I loved the first series, mainly for the history. The second one should be fun as well.

[Kevin W.]

This probably won't fly for the same reasons as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, but I wouldn't mind seeing one using the former flag of South Africa, despite the connotations.

[IceCap]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions thus far. I'll see what the German Empire looks like with a more conventional font.

The Macedonian Empire, 808 BCE-146 BCE

Alexander the Great and ancient Greece seem to go together like George Washington and the United States. Which speaks a lot to the achievements of Alexander's family more then anything. Alexander the Great, aka Alexander III of Macedonia, was from the boonies of the ancient Greek world. Thebes, Athens, and Sparta were the centres of power, culture, and philosophy in ancient Greece. Macedonia was a backwater kingdom, the Macedonians seen as barbarians by the powerful Greek city-states despite the Macedonians being Greeks themselves. The Reign of Alexander the Great's father, Phillip II changed that. Phillip II wanted a united Greece, and he he wanted it united as a Macedonian state.

First he defeated his neighbours in the Balkins. He then turned his attention south to the Greek city-states, the traditional powers of the ancient Greek world. Pioneering the use of cavalry and bolstering his light infantry, Phillip II's armies seemed unstoppable. He captured Thrace and their valuable silver mines, a show of force against the Athenians, who considered Thrace part of their informal empire. He then took Thessaly, and from there drove on the city states. At the Battle of Chaeronea he defeated the Athenians and their allies, establishing Macedonia as the central power in all of Greece.

Phillip II was now the master of the Greek world, but this happiness for him wouldn't last. Pausanias of Orestis, one of his bodyguards, assassinated him as he was preparing to meet with delegates from the defeated city-states. Why, exactly, he was assassinated is still debated to this day. The Greek city-states, his father-in-law to his son Alexander have all been put forward as possible culprits. I can assure you that it was not the Persians, as claimed in the horrible movie Alexander starring Colin Farrell.

Regardless, Phillip II was dead. His son Alexander was crowned as King Alexander III. Alexander III soon began earning his nickname of "the Great." Thebes and Athens rebelled against Macedonian rule. Athens was quick to lay down their arms when they saw how futile resistance was, but Thebes refused to surrender. Alexander responded by razing the entire city, killing all the men, and selling the women and children into slavery. Alexander III wasn't going to let his father's winnings be lost under his watch.

In fact he wanted to add to them. The Persian Empire had been a thorn in the side of the Greeks for centuries, and Alexander decided that it was time a united Greece, under his banner, took the fight to the Persians. Alexander led a massive Greek army into Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). It's believed that had Darius III, Emperor of Persia, acted immediately he could have smashed Alexander's forces at the crossing. Darius III, however, took the threat lightly. The Greeks had proven successful against the Persians on the cramped terrain of Greece, but Darius believed his massive army had the advantage in the wide open spaces of the Persian Empire. Alexander's Asia Minor campaign was relatively free of conflict in its early stages. Though the area was part of the Persian Empire, it was predominantly Greek in ethnic and cultural makeup, and they welcomed Alexander as a liberator. Darius III, however, believed that these actions were inconsequential, and that Alexander would be crushed as soon as he crossed into the proper realm of the Empire.

The first major battle of the Persian campaign was the Battle of the Granicus, in which Alexander secured his holdings in Asia Minor, defeating a Persian army. Darius III didn't personally command his troops though, so Alexander was denied the confrontation with the Persian Emperor he was after.

The Macedonian forces continued to find victory, winning the Battle of Issus and capturing Troy. Finally Alexander met Darius III on the field of battle during the Battle of Issus, where Alexander's forces emerged victorious yet again. Darius III, however, escaped back to the stronghold of his Empire. It was the first time an army personally led by the Persian Emperor had been defeated.

After capturing Tyre, Alexander moved on to Egypt, which had been a province of the Persian Empire for some time. The Egyptians, with their own history and culture, had resented Persian rule. After defeating the Persians at Gaza and driving them out of Egypt, Alexander followed. Egypt was now under Greek rule, but Alexander placed Egyptians in control of Egypt while he fought the Persians, earning loyalty from the Egyptian people.

Finally Alexander entered Persia proper and met Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela. Alexander won yet again, and Darius escaped, the western half of his empire now totally under Alexander's control. Darius planned on raising another army to fight against the Macedonians, but his chief adviser, Bessus, murdered him and fled. Alexander was saddened to see a enemy he respected die in such a manner. Maybe Darius III's murder at the hands of those he trusted reminded him of his own father's murder. He gave Darius III a full Persian burial and payed his respects.

Bessus then proclaimed himself King of Persia and attempted to resist Alexander himself. Bessus was trailed by Alexander, captured, and executed.

At the Battle of the Persian Gate the Persians made their last stand. Alexander emerged victorious, and the Persian Empire was no more.

Alexander's advisers expected him to return to Macedonia, ruler of both Greece and Persia. Alexander, however, wanted to push further, and invaded the fringes of India, at what the Greeks thought was the end of the world. Though victorious in some of his early Indian campaigns, his army was ready to mutiny. They wanted to return home. The sentiment of his soldiers coupled with the logistics of supplying a force so far away from its home base at this time in history forced Alexander to reconsider his plans to wage war on the Indians. He consented his soldiers' wishes, and they began their march home.

On the way home his army stopped in Babylon. It was there that Alexander died of a drunken fever. While on his deathbed his soldiers asked him who would rule his vast empire. Legend has it that he uttered the words "give it to the strongest."

It was decided to split the Empire. Phillip, Alexander's half brother, was made joint king of Macedonia with Alexander's son, Alexander IV. The rest was divided among his generals. Ptolemy, ancestor of the famous Cleopatra, was given Egypt. Seleucus got the bulk of the former Persian Empire, the Seleucid Empire. Both states survived, becoming some of the last holdouts against Roman expansion. Macedonia would also fall to Rome, though earlier then Ptolemic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire, being divided up into four Roman client states.

The blue and gold are taken from the flag of the Macedonian region in present-day Greece. The sun, the Vergina Sun, was a symbol commonly used by the Macedonian Kingdom. A traditional Greek striping pattern was used, as I felt it was just to good a fit to pass up. The name on the back, "ARGEAD," is the dynasty of Alexander the Great, the dynasty that ruled Macedonia for much of its history.

The Russian Empire is up next.

[Cartabago]

That jersey is melting my face with its perfection and glory. Oh my.

[knnhrvy16]

WOW. That's my favorite so far. I don't know what else to say other than incredible job! It's perfect in my opinion.

[IceCap]

Thanks for the Macedonian complements!

Here's the German Empire with more traditional block numbering.

[IceCap]

A slight detour. I realize that this is neither defunct or a "state" in the traditional sense, but it seems fitting.

Al-Qaeda, 1988-Present

They're a**holes. That's pretty much it.

[UnclearInitial]

Love the last concept Could you do the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Roman empire, the Aztec Empire, the Inca Empire, Babylonia, Assyria, Parthia, Davidic dynasty Israel (pre-split), the Mongol Empire, Carthage, the Byzantine Empire, and the Papal States? (not really requests, more like suggestions.)

[gésier123]

You should make the confederate state of america hockey team and lower-canada using the patriot flag of 1837-38

[Kevin W.]

You should make the confederate state of america

Not gonna happen. He said that in the first post.

[Generic]

Interesting thread, I like the results so far.

[IceCap]

see below

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

man i love the history capsules as much as the concept itself. This is a real treat to read.

[IceCap]

man i love the history capsules as much as the concept itself. This is a real treat to read.

Thanks! Glad to see this project is catching on.

The Russian Empire, 1547-1917

The Grand Duchy of Moscow laid the foundations for the Russian Empire. Grand Dukes of Moscow Ivan III and Vasili III forced the other Russian medieval states to pay homage to Moscow. Ivan III would go on to marry Sophia Palaiogina and adopt Orthodox Christianity as the growing Duchy's official religion. Sophia was the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, and this allowed Ivan III to claim that Moscow was the official successor to Constantinople after the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks. Just as Constantinople was the "Second Rome" so Ivan III claimed Moscow was the "Third Rome."

Along with this he centralized his new state, creating an infrastructure that would allow Moscow to continue to control the surrounding Russian states that it has recently brought to heel.

Ivan III's grandson, Ivan IV, took things to a new level. Rather then simply being crowned Grand Duke of Moscow he had himself crowned Tsar of all Russians in 1547, Tsar being the Russian form of Caesar. The collection of states his father and grandfather had cobbled together were now merged into a single Russian nation. Ivan IV quickly earned the nickname of "the Terrible." Reports indicate that he would alternate between killing animals and writing sappy poetry. He also believed that he was the undisputed mater of all of Russia. He would gather the best professionals Russia had to offer and work them day and night until they died in the belief that they existed to serve him. Ivan IV was Russia, and Russia was Ivan IV. Ivan IV reached a level of autocracy that not even Louis XIV of France reached. Louis XIV may have called himself the "Sun King," but he was still bound by the laws of France. Ivan IV literally had the power of life and death over every Russian. Ivan IV also continued the expansionist policies of his father Vasili III and grandfather Ivan III. He pushed the new Russian Empire's domains in all directions, from the Caspian Sea to the Baltic to the western fringes of Siberia.

When Ivan IV died he was succeeded by his son Fedor I. Fedor I himself was mentally challenged, and real power rested with Fedor's brother-in-law Boris Godunov. Fedor I died without an heir, ending the Rurik dynasty of Ivan IV and his ancestors. Boris Godunov called a national assembly of nobles, church officials, and commoners. The assembly proclaimed him Tsar Boris I. A famine caused discontent, however, and a man claiming to be a dead son of Ivan IV emerged to claim the throne. Boris I died, his son Fedor II succeeding him. The pretender marched on Moscow with his followers, and was crowned Tsar Dmitriy I at the death of Fedor II. This kicked off the Time of Troubles. A rotating door of Tsars and pretenders left Russia in an near anarchical state. Poland intervened to restore order in 1609, which spurred a feeling of Russian patriotism. This lead to an assembly of nobles in 1613 to declare Mikhail Romanov, descendent of Ivan IV's wife, Tsar as Mikhail I. This began 300 years of Romanov rule. Mikhail I quickly took advantage of a conflict between Sweden and Poland to reassert authority over Russia, stabilizing the nation.

Tsar Aleksey I took Ukraine for Russia, and the weakening of the Khanate of Sibir led to Russia conquering Siberia.

Russia began a period of modernization under Tsar Peter I, aka Peter the Great. Prior to the Grand Duchy of Moscow asserting itself as the leading Russian nation Russia itself was under the control of the Mongolians. As such Russia was isolated from Europe during the Renaissance, and lagged behind the rest of the continent. Peter I toured western Europe, absorbing a vast amount of knowledge and returned to Russia to modernize it. Adopting western European military tactics, he reorganized the Russian army and turned it loose on Sweden, winning the land on which he would build his new capital, St. Petersburg. He reorganized the Russian government, dividing the nation up into provinces, each with local centres of government, and established a Senate to act as a council of state. These efforts further centralized the Russian state, making the autocracy stronger.

Forty years after Peter I died Peter III was assassinated. His wife, Catherine, took charge, determined not to lose control of the country. She was crowned as Catherine II, aka Catherine the Great. She placed control of the provinces in the hands of the nobles, winning their favour. She also proceeded to undermine the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a long time power in eastern Europe and along the Baltic. In a startling sign of progressive thought given the time period, Catherine II stated that the serf peasantry was "just as good as we are" and lay the foundations for sefdom's eventual abolishment. Her victories against the Ottomans and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth further entrenched her legacy.

Russia cemented its status as a major military power in Europe when Napoleon I invaded Russia following a dispute with Tsar Alexander I. The French, caught in the Russian winter, were beaten back. The Russian victory marked the beginning of the end of Napoleon I's campaign of conquest in Europe.

Tsar Alexander II oversaw another round of Russian expansion, pushing on the Chinese and Ottomans. His reign saw Russia liberate the Slavic Balkan states, giving rise to the idea of Pan-Slavicism, the belief that Russia was the protector of the smaller Slavic peoples. Alexander II is also known for selling Alaska to the United States and for freeing the serfs.

Alexander II was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II. Nicholas II's regime was shaken after the Russo-Japanese War, in which Russia became the first European nation to lose a war to an Asian nation. The discontent of this defeat resulted in the revolution of 1905. The first Soviets (workers' councils) appeared here, and the government was paralysed. Nicholas II's regime survived, but only after concessions which included a Duma, an elected parliament. The Duma attempted to force Russia to evolve into a constitutional monarchy, but Nicholas II was resistant to change. Thus Russia remained an autocracy when World War I started.

The Russian Empire could continue on as an autocracy in peacetime, but the outdated infrastructure and government structure could not survive the demands of total war that WWI imposed on all the combatant nations. In February 1917 Nicholas II was forced to abdicate after a food riot grew to a massive political protest. His brother Mikhail was offered the crown, but he turned it down. After 300 years Romanov rule in Russia was over.

A provisional government and a new central Soviet were both established in the power vacuum, and the two sides existed in a state of dual power for months. Vladimir Lenin had, in 1903, split the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, his new faction calling themselves Bolsheviks. Most Russian communists believed that Russia had yet to pass through the phase of capitalist industrialization, and were thus unwilling to force a socialist revolution on the country, believing Russia wasn't ready for socialism. Lenin, however, had seen a chance to gain power slip away in 1905, and was determined not to make the same mistake in 1917. Shortly after his Bolsheviks became the leading party in the central Soviet Lenin staged his coup. The Bolshevik military wing, the Red Guard, took control of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Shortly after that the last holdout of the provisional government, in the Winter Palace, fell. Russia became the world's first socialist state.

The Civil War that followed between officers loyal to the Tsarist regime (the Whites) and the communists (the Reds) forced the issue of what to do about Nicholas II and his family. He was in Bolshevik custody, and Lenin couldn't allow him to survive as a rallying symbol for the Whites and their allies in the west. On 16/17 July 1918 the Soviet Cheka (predecessors to the KGB) executed Nicholas II and his family, snubbing out the Romanov dynasty for good.

This one proved troublesome. The flags and emblems of the Russian Empire aren't that different from those of the present day Russian Federation, as the old national symbols were brought back after the collapse of the Soviet regime. The trick was to make a Russian Empire concept that didn't completely echo the uniforms of the current Russian Federation national team, though creating something that didn't echo modern day Russian aesthetics simply wasn't going to happen.

The striping echoes the Russian tri-colour flag, flag of both the Empire and Federation. The script across the chest echoes the Soviet aesthetic, but the stylised script makes it distinct from the starker Soviet font. The coat of arms of the Russian Empire, a double headed eagle, adorns the right breast.

The Kingdom of France is up next.