Friedensfahrt

Friedensfahrt (German)
Závod míru (Czech)
Preteky mieru (Slovak)
Wyścig Pokoju (Polish)

I've been working on this illustration inspired by the "Peace Race" for centuries (I think the first time I mentioned it, it was about one year ago, in a conversation with ).

The idea comes from this photo (the team of the Free Territory of Trieste at the 1950 Peace Race): goo.gl/gb2cYo

As far as I know, this is one of the few sport events to which Trieste participated as a State, so I included my APH OC, Maria Theresa, in the race: along with her there are Czechia and Slovakia (I call them Veronika and Dalibor), Poland - Feliks and Gilbert (this time he is not here as Prussia but as Eastern Germany, which I find inaccurate but appears to be implied by the author of Hetalia himself ).

I am not sure about why Maria Theresa sneaked on the other side of the Iron Curtain to take part to the "Tour de France of the East", probably it was to stay close with her beloved friends who lived in Mitteleuropa (she used to live with Czechia and Slovakia in the house of Austria, and sometimes Poland was forced to join them, too) but her guardians (USA/Alfred and UK/Arthur, whose Government administered Trieste from 1947 to 1954) did not like it, at all!
I can't blame them, the Cold War was not an easy era, and they were very afraid that Trieste could become a little Communist (neighbouring with Yugoslavia, socialism was not that far away from her friends from the from the once-Austrian Littoral anyways). Considering that the result was being administered by the Italian Government, resulting in basically all of her current economic problems (and the fact that many have forgotten about her), she should have paid more attention to her "home sickness"

(probably, just like USA/Alfred, Trieste cannot read the atmosphere, also, due to her Bora wind, Cold never bothered her anyways... )

My drawing is not 100% accurate, because their outfits are invented by me. I had fun drawing the characters, while the background is a design on a flat surface: the illustration is the flags of the Countries in which took place the Peace Race.

Relations of the Free Territory of Trieste and the other Countries not portrayed in the previous drawings:


Prussia/Gilbert: being Prussia her "Vati" Roderich/Austria's arch-enemy, Trieste never really liked him.
According to my headcanons, when she lived in the House of Habsburg, little Maria Theresa liked to listen to Hungary/Elizabeth Héderváry's stories about how she would always defeat Prussia/Gilbert.
In 1866, during the 1866 Austro-Prussian war (also called the Fraternal War or simply the German War - Deutsche Krieg), while Roderich/Austria's army was defeated by Prussia/Gilbert, Trieste and the other nations or the Austrian littoral (and beyond) joined forces to defeat Italy/Feliciano Vargas, who was fighting against them as Prussia's ally in the sea battle of Lissa - Vis, which culminated in a victory for Austria thanks to Austrian commander Wilhelm von Tegetthoff (who was born in Marburg - Maribor, now Slovenia).
Whenever Trieste sees Prussia (like in this case) they tease each other, but unlike her "Vati", Maria Theresa answers back to him - much of Roderich/Austria's embarrassment, since he'd prefer his Urbs Fidelissima to be a proper lady but at the same time needed her skills as a trader (thanks to her free port) and even as a fighter. It doesn't help that Prussia's formal dissolution and Trieste's independence both took place in 1947: while Hungary/Elizabeth Héderváry actually misses her old friend, Trieste/Maria Theresa considers it very meaningful that the ultimate defeats of her "father's" enemy corresponds with her transformation in a State (if she were human, it would be something like "now that the bad guy is gone, my dad does not need me as much as he needed me before, so I can follow my own path!").

The relations of Trieste with Mitteleuropa (Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia): fav.me/d8k16z3

The relations of Trieste with the Allied Powers and their successor States (USA, UK, France and part of the former "Eastern bloc"): fav.me/d8me788

Trieste's 20th century in one drawing (and relations with Italy/Feliciano Vargas, Germany/Ludwig, plus details about the Allies and her neighbours): fav.me/d99o1lj

Still working on the relations of Trieste and her neighbours (and successor States).

Note to me: I must annoy my Balkan expert friend more, to get some good info about them XD

This drawing on Pixiv, with the individual drawings of each character: www.pixiv.net/member_illust.ph…