European Union Forums

[Terry]

Let's describe here flags of any country we know. Every colour and shape should mean something.

France
The French flag was officially adopted on February 15, 1794.
The tricolor's main idea is to present liberty, equality and fraternity - the ideals of the French Revolution. Blue and red are symbolizing Paris, while white is the color of the Royal House of Bourbon.

[Steven]

German flag, adopted in 1919 and readopted in 1949, after WWII.
The colors are based on the soldiers' uniforms which were black coats with red braid and gold buttons

[Terry]

The Danish flag represents a red with a white cross that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side, and that design element of the Dannebrog was adopted by the other Nordic countries Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden

[Faw_Peter]

Belgium flag was adopted on January 23, 1831.
The vertical layout was taken from the French Tricolor.
Black represents the shield; gold represents the lion, and red representsthe lion's claws and tongue.

[Benn]

Spain flag was officially adopted on on July 19, 1927.
You can see here a coat of arms which includes the royal seal framed by the Pillars of Hercules
The red and golden colours were used in early times in order to asily differentiate his ships from those of other countries.

[M.Helen]

United Kingdom

Blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland); properly known as the Union Flag; the design and colors was the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces, as well as British overseas territories

[Benn]

Austria
The legend says that the red and white flag (above) was designed to resemble the bloodstained white coat worn by the Duke of Austria during a fierce battle.

[Terry]

Italian flag was adopted on January 21, 1919.

The flag was inspired by Napoleon. Green was his favourite colour. White and green are simply Italy's national colours.

[Faw_Peter]

The Finnish flag - adopted on May 29, 1918.

The blue cross is based on the Scandinavian Cross. The cross is widely used on Scandinavian country flags. The blue color symbolizes blue skies, and the thousands of lakes from Finland. And white - of course the wintertime in Finland.

[Steven]

Portugal flag was adopted on June 30, 1911.

Green is representative of King Henry the Navigato. The central sign is representative of ocean exploration and the expansion of Portugal's influence during the domination of King Afonso Henriques. Red recalls the internal revolution of the early XIX century.

[Benn]

Czech Republic

The first flag of Czechoslovakia was white over red. The blue triangle was added to the flag in an effort to distinguish it from the Poland flag, and blue is said to represent the "State of Moravia".

[Benn]

Romanian flag - officially adopted in 1989.

It represents colors from its previous associations with the Ottoman Empire, since the red and blue used to bepart of the former Ottoman province of Moldova's flag. Also, red and yellow colours were part of the Ottoman province of Wallachia's (part of today's Romania) flag.

[Steven]

The flag of Hungary was officially adopted on October 1, 1957
Red means strength
Green is hope
White is faithfulness

[Benn]

Adopted in 1822, the Greek flag represents a a white cross, and a combination of nine blue and white horizontal stripes. The depth of blue colour varied during the years. The cross means the Greek faith. Blue stripes are the nine syllables in the cry "Freedom or Death," (commonly used during the Greek war of independence). The white reflects the purity of that struggle

[Terry]

The flag of Ukraine was adopted on September 4, 1991.
This flag used the original one for many centuries. But it was banned during the German and Soviet occupation. Blue means sky and the yellow are the Ukraine's wheat fields.

[Nathan]

The Polish flag was adopted on August 1, 1919.
It is said that white colour is the hope for peace expressed by all Poland people. Red is a symbol of socialism times, old times.

[Peach]

The flag of Turkey was adopted on June 5, 1936.
The white crescent and star are symbols of Islam. The shade of red dates back to the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

[Laurentine]

Bulgarian flag was created on November 22, 1990.

The red and white colours represent the Pan Slavic colours. Green colour replaced the blue of the Russian Tricolour. Before 1990, the white stripe included the Bulgarian coat of arms.

[Nathan]

On September 1, 1992, the Slovakian flag was adopted
Everybody know that red, white and blue are traditional Pan-Slavic colours. The centered Slovakian arms includes a dominant white cross atop a blue symbolic reference to the country's mountains.

[M.Helen]

The good-looking flag of Sweden was released in 1906.
The off-centered yellow cross, also known as the Scandinavian cross, was taken from the Danish flag. Yellow and blue are the colours of the national coat of arms.

[tricker]

The Dutch flag was adopted by officials on February 19, 1937.

Once these three colour were orange, white and blue. In the 17th century, orange colour replaced the red colour, since the orange dye used on the flag was unstable, and it turned red after exposure to the sun.

[Benn]

Flag of Estonia was adopted after the breakup of Soviet Union in 1990.
Blue means absolute royalty along with blue sky, lakes etc. Black means the pats wards and fertile soil while white is winter snow and virtue.

[Newrussian town]

The color red has always been positive in the Russian culture. The word red (Russian: красный, krasny) is etymologically related with the Russian words for very good and the best, as well as the word for beautiful. This can also be seen in Moscow’s Red Square and the Russian Orthodox festivity, Red Easter.

It is said that the red field is symbolism of the blood that has been spilled by workers and farmers. It honors the red flag of the Paris Commune of 1871.[2] The ideology of communism can be seen from the flag. The red star and hammer and sickle represent communism and socialism. Not counting Hungary or Lithuania, the Soviet flag has not been banned by any state and is still used in Russia. The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag. A gold hammer is crossed with a gold sickle which are placed beneath of a gold-bordered red star. This symbol is then placed in the upper left canton of the red flag.

[Newrussian town]

The design of the Russian flag is based on the flag of the Netherlands. The Russian flag has also inspired the flags of many Slavic nations of Europe, and the colors are often referred to as the pan-Slavic colors. They have come to represent Slavic independence and unity. There is no official meaning of to the Russian flag but some Russians believe the following: In Russia the white symbolizes generosity and frankness; blue stands for loyalty, honesty and wisdom; red means courage, magnanimity and love. Many people also believe red represents Russian people, blue represents the Ukrainians, and white represents the Belo Russians

[Laurentine]

The flag of Croatia was officially adopted on December 22, 1991, after the waves of anti-socialist revolutions in the Eastern Europe.
The free colours (red, white and blue) are traditional Croatian colors. The centered coat of arms, we can see in the center, was first used at World War II. The shields are from the arms of five of Croatia's regions, including Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia . Red and white checks represent Croatian symbols.