Historical background of CS2 skins!
Today we would like to tell you all about a few Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and now Counter-Strike 2 skins,
that have quite a historical meaning, upbringing or, for a lack of better words: History behind them.
Quite a few skins are connected to the history of different countries, regions or even events.
Skin creators seem to love history and callbacks to certain periods. Be it just in tone or atmosphere of the era they are trying to display, or direct references to world history.
My name is Thorben and I am one of the main writers of the GamerPay Blog.
I am also quite a big history enthusiast who even studies history at University.
Today I would like to bring you some skins that you did not even know have a historical background!
From the Roman Empire to the Cold War and even some celebrities a lot can be seen reflected in
Counter-Strike 2 skins. There are quite a lot of areas tackled by skin creators or Valve themselves.
Let us take a trip down our history, and we hope that you learn a little something in today’s history lesson!
SCAR-20 | Magna Carta
The Magna Carta, which is Latin for "Great Charta" is one of the most famous documents in history.
Also called Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms") it influenced
the “American Constitution” (1789) and even the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948).
The year was 1215 and many people believed that King John was one of the worst Kings in English history.
He imposed high taxes on his people, punished them severely if they could not pay and
even seized their property to fund his wars.
After an uprising from unsatisfied Barons, he was forced to negotiate a treaty.
Most of the Charta talked about customs and rights, but it also gave rights such
as the right to justice and fair trials for all the free men of England.
This means that the King himself is not above the law, neither can he just imprison people,
this is also reflected in the Flavor Text: Everyone is subject to due process—even you.
Neither side stood by their commitments, and Pope Innocent III declared the Magna Carta as invalid.
This skin is fittingly found in the “Control Collection”.
MAG-7 | Praetorian
The Praetorian Guard was one of the most famous but also infamous units of antiquity!
Originally an elite unit of soldiers to protect the Roman Emperor to the later years of the republic where they yearned to control the Emperor.
In the early years of the empire the Praetorian Guard, being taken from active wartime units, were following the Emperor on his campaigns and conquests and were quite skilled warriors and loyal to their Emperor.
Praetorians were most often not near the battlefield or danger but rather comfortably stationed in Rome itself.
Not only did they protect the imperial family as bodyguards,
but they also served occasional civic duties.
There were crimes committed by the Praetorian Guards for the Roman Emperors. Such as unrighteousness imprisoning people and murdering Senators who had fallen from grace in the eyes of their leader.
Praetorians swore an oath of loyalty to the Emperor, and not to the Empire or Rome itself.
“Semper Fidelis” is written on the skin, which means “Always Loyal”. This is also the motto of the United States Marine Corps.
Its golden accents also fit this elite and prestigious skin quite well.
PP-Bizon | Embargo
The Embargo looks quite similar to Havana in the 1950's - early 1960’s.
This is why I think that this skin is referring to the “Cuban missile crisis” (1962) and its Embargo of Cuba.
After the failed “Bay of Pigs invasion” in 1961 ordered by John F. Kennedy (35th president of the US),
Fidel Castro (prime minister of Cuba) and Nikita Khrushchev (first secretary USSR) came to a secret agreement to station SS-4 Nuclear missiles in Cuba after already sending a lot of defensive missiles and rockets.
A U-2 Spy plane caught the missiles in photos, Khrushchev had promised not to send offensive weapons
to Cuba, but he had been lying.
During the “Cuban missile crisis” tensions between the USA and its close neighbor Cuba and the Soviet Union were
at an all-time high and the world was close to an all-out Nuclear war.
JFK decided to put a “quarantine” on Cuba (which was a blockade), the embargo of Cuba started on February 7th 1962. The US had no legal right to do so, so this was technically an act of war.
This has all been happening because John F. Kennedy placed a command in 1961 to place Nuclear missiles in Turkey near the border of the USSR. To resolve this crisis the USSR and the USA both removed their missiles out of Cuba and Turkey respectively.
M249 | Warbird
This “Warbird” looks quite similar to the Grumman F6F Hellcat of World War 2.
An American carrier-based fighter aircraft was used in the Pacific theater and it was introduced in 1943.
It also bears a few victory markings, which are basically “StatTrak” for pilots. They draw either a flag or what kind of unit they have killed/destroyed on the side of their plane. We can see a total of five jets here, so most likely five confirmed kills. Bombers often draw a Bomb symbol for “bombing runs” or “strave runs” on their planes.
It was developed to defeat and beat the Japanese “Zero” and it did quite a splendid job at that. It outperformed the A6M Zero and helped secure air superiority for the Americans over the Pacific theatre.
Our Counter-Strike 2 “Warbird” looks more like a crashed and rusty model of it, and its colour is a bit off. But we can see the inspiration behind this skin.
Its flavor text says that “This old bird deserves a rest”, probably also hinting at its long service and rusty condition.
Conclusion
The idea of historical skins was something that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. A big thanks goes out to Leo, who allowed me to use this article idea.
We hope you enjoyed our little class session today, and we also hope that you will be back for more knowledge.
Have fun bragging at the dinner table with some of the obscure facts you have learned in this article here today.
If you like this idea, please reach out to us via Twitter/X DM here @GamerPayGG
Or over at our Discord.
Thank you for your attention and for reading this article -Thorben.
