Concept
National flag
Related concepts (26)
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signalling and identification, especially in environments where communication is challenging (such as the maritime environment, where semaphore is used). Many flags fall into groups of similar designs called flag families.
War flag
A war flag, also known as a military flag, battle flag, or standard, is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few countries today currently have proper war flags, most preferring to use instead their state flag or standard national flag for this purpose. TOC Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours wave! And either victory, or else a grave. Field signs were used in early warfare at least since the Bronze Age.
Flag of Denmark
The national flag of Denmark (Dannebrog, ˈtænəˌpʁoˀ) is red with a white Nordic cross, which means that the cross extends to the edges of the flag and the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a white-on-red cross is attested as having been used by the kings of Denmark since the 14th century. An origin legend with considerable impact on Danish national historiography connects the introduction of the flag to the Battle of Lindanise of 1219.
State flag
In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occasionally a completely different design) specifically designated and restricted by law or custom (theoretically or actually) to use by a country's government or its agencies. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as government flags.
Flag desecration
Flag desecration is the desecration of a flag, violation of flag protocol, or various acts that intentionally destroy, damage, or mutilate a flag in public. In the case of a national flag, such action is often intended to make a political point against a country or its policies. Some countries have laws forbidding methods of destruction (such as burning in public) or forbidding particular uses (such as for commercial purposes); such laws may distinguish between the desecration of the country's own national flag and the desecration of flags of other countries.
Flag of Russia
The national flag of the Russian Federation (государственный флаг Российской Федерации Gosudarstvenny flag Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is a tricolour of three equal horizontal fields: white on the top, blue in the middle, and red on the bottom. It was first raised in 1696, as an ensign for merchant ships under the Tsardom of Russia. After just over a century and a half of usage, uninterrupted by the proclamation of the Russian Empire, the flag was replaced following a decree by Alexander II in 1858.
Flag of Norway
The national flag of Norway (Norges flagg; Noregs flagg; Norway's flag) is red with a navy blue Scandinavian cross bordered in white that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark. Royal Standard of Norway It is difficult to establish what the earliest flag of Norway looked like. During ancient times countries did not fly flags. Kings and other rulers flew flags, especially in battle.
Flag of Iraq
The flag of Iraq (علم العراق; ئاڵای عێراق) includes the three equal horizontal red, white, and black stripes of the Arab Liberation flag, with the phrase "God is the greatest" in Arabic written in Kufic script in the center. This basic tricolor has been in use since its adoption on 31 July 1963, with several changes to the green symbols in the central white stripes; the most recent version adopted on 22 January 2008 bears the takbīr rendered in dark green and removes the three green stars present since 1963.
Flag of Germany
The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederation. It was officially adopted as the national flag of the German Reich (during the period of the Weimar Republic) from 1919 to 1933, and has been in use since its reintroduction in Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. Since the mid-19th century, Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red.
Flag of New Zealand
The flag of New Zealand (Te haki o Aotearoa), also known as the New Zealand Ensign, is based on the British maritime Blue Ensign - a blue field with the Union Jack in the canton or upper hoist corner - augmented or defaced with four red stars centred within four white stars, representing the Southern Cross constellation. New Zealand's first internationally accepted national flag, the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, was adopted in 1834, six years before New Zealand's separation from New South Wales and creation as a separate colony following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.