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"QUANTUM SHOT" #576
Link - article by Simon Rose

      Don't just wave a black flag... consider your options

      "There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a
        vacuum" -- Arthur C. Clarke

      In recent years, we have seen a number of countries disappear, along with
      their flags. The Soviet Union came to an end, to be replaced by a
      multitude of new or revived republics, all with their own flags.
      Czechoslovakia split into its two component parts, while Yugoslavia
      splintered, as the individual nationalities all asserted their
      independence. All this happened very recently, but many states have
      vanished from the map before over the centuries. Here’s a look at some
      flags of those long gone - and in many cases forgotten - kingdoms and
      countries.

      
      
      "Avenue of Flags" - 1933 Chicago World's Fair, images via
        1,
        2,
        3

      The Holy Roman Empire, which existed from 962 to 1806, was famously
      said by Voltaire to be neither holy, Roman nor an empire. It was an
      attempt to revive the Western Roman Empire, which had collapsed during the
      5th and 6th centuries and replaced with by independent Germanic kingdoms.
      At its peak in the 12th century, the Holy Roman Empire comprised most of
      the territory of modern-day Germany, Austria, Switzerland, eastern France,
      Belgium, the Netherlands, western Poland, the Czech Republic and Italy. By
      the end of the medieval period, the emperor was mostly just a figurehead,
      with real power based at the local level, with all the emperor’s vassals
      being virtually independent. This flag was used from 1400 until the
      empire’s dissolution during the Napoleonic wars in 1806 -

      

      In 1473, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was one of the
      wealthiest and most powerful nobles in Europe, rivaling many royal
      families. His territory stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea,
      incorporating large parts of eastern France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
      He had ambitions to transform his lands into a real kingdom, but his plans
      to become a monarch ended with his death in battle in 1477, so this flag
      of the duchy also represents a country that might have been -

      

      A state that lasted for over a millennium was the
      Most Serene Republic of Venice, one of the superpowers of its time.
      The republic existed from the late seventh century until 1797, when
      Napoleon conquered the city.

      

      The Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation
      of the Roman Empire in the medieval period, although over the centuries,
      it gradually became primarily Greek. The capital was Constantinople, now
      known as Istanbul. For a thousand years, the Empire was a powerful force,
      despite military setbacks and territorial losses, but entered into a
      lengthy decline after the twelfth century, culminating in the Fall of
      Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.The imperial flag featured a
      double-headed eagle to symbolize the empire’s interests in both Europe and
      Asia.

      

      Refugees from Constantinople in 1453 helped fuel the Renaissance in Italy,
      but Byzantine churchmen and nobles also ended up in Moscow, which shared
      the Orthodox faith of the now defunct empire. Around the same time, the
      rulers of Russia adopted the title Czar, meaning Caesar or Emperor, and
      Moscow began to be referred to as ‘the Third Rome’, after Constantinople
      was the second. The Russian Czars thus saw themselves as the successors to
      the Byzantine Empire and so adopted the double-headed eagle, using this on
      their flags until the revolution in 1917:

      

      Imperial Russia wasn’t the only major casualty of the First World War.
      The Habsburg family was one of the most prominent dynasties in
      Europe from the fifteenth century onward. Their empire covered almost
      250,00 square miles of central Europe, including what are now Austria,
      Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, parts of Poland, Romania, Italy,
      Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. With a population of
      around fifty million, the multi national Austrian Empire was one of the
      great powers of Europe. However, military reverses in the mid-nineteenth
      century led to a loss of territory and influence in Italy and Germany, and
      the Habsburgs were forced to come to a new arrangement with the Hungarian
      half of their empire in 1867. Henceforth the country was known as
      Austria-Hungary, until its collapse in 1918 -

      
      

      The kingdom of Prussia was also a great power in Europe in the
      eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, playing a major role in the war
      against Napoleon. Prussia was located mainly in the northern portion of
      Germany, although it also held territory elsewhere, such as in the
      Rhineland. The eagle was used as the symbol of the country -

      

      In 1870, Germany was unified under Prussian leadership and the German
      empire was born. This was the Emperor’s standard from 1871 until the end
      of the empire at the close of the First World War in 1918 -

      
      
      (image credit: Martin Grieve)

      Napoleon’s flags and coat of arms were seen flying all over Europe
      in the early years of the nineteenth century -

      

      Napoleon III, ruler of France from 1852 to 1870, clearly used his uncle’s
      previous flags as an inspiration for those of his own empire -

      

      Although the first Napoleon transformed the map of Italy, for much of the
      first part of the nineteenth century, Italy was often said to be just a
      geographic expression and there was no united Italian nation. The
      peninsular contained a collection of small states and duchies, the largest
      of which was the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies:

      

      The kingdom comprised the southern part of Italy and the island of Sicily,
      with its capital in Naples. In 1861, it became part of the
      United Kingdom of Italy, whose royal flag is shown here -

      

      Yugoslavia disappeared, along with its flag, in recent memory. And
      yet between the two world wars, Yugoslavia was a monarchy with, you
      guessed it, a two headed eagle on the flag:

      

      Spain is one of the countries in Europe to still have a monarchy, but from
      1931 until 1939 the country was a republic and displayed this flag to
      symbolize its new direction:

      

      Unfortunately for the republicans, the new direction was short lived and
      after the Spanish Civil War, this flag was illegal during the Franco Era.
      Possession could lead to execution or at best an extended prison sentence.
      After the civil war and until shortly after Franco’s death in 1975, this
      was the flag of Spain -

      

      Outside of Europe, the Mexican flag has undergone a lot of changes
      since the early nineteenth century, but this one depicts one of the short
      lived emblems of the Mexican state, the second Mexican empire, which ran
      from 1864 to 1867. When President Juarez suspended payments of interest to
      foreign countries, Spain, France and Britain, Mexico’s main creditors,
      united by sending a fleet to Mexico to force the government to pay its
      debts. Britain and Spain soon withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III,
      remained with a large army and proceeded to conquer the country. With the
      US still engaged in the Civil War and unable to intervene, Napoleon III
      helped establish Maximilian of the house of Habsburg, brother of the
      Austrian Emperor, on the throne of Mexico. The empire faced civil war
      right from the start and in 1867 Emperor Maximilian was executed by firing
      squad by the victorious rebels:

      

      Mexico wasn’t the only monarchy in the Americas.
      The Empire of Brazil, under the rule of Emperors Pedro I and Pedro
      II, existed from 1822 until 1889. After the occupation of Portugal by
      Napoleon, the royal family fled to exile in Brazil, their most important
      colony. After the fall of Napoleon, Brazil became independent of Portugal,
      but kept a member of the royal family as the head of state -

      

      Also in South America, when the area threw off Spanish rule in the early
      nineteenth century, one of the early republics was Gran Colombia,
      which included much of northern South America and a small portion of
      southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. It later split up into the
      countries we know today as Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela -

      

      In Asia, the Qing Dynasty ruled China, Manchuria, Tibet, Taiwan and
      Mongolia from 1644 to 1912. This flag dates from the period from 1890 to
      the establishment of the republic in 1912 -

      

      Iran, of course, was also once a monarchy, which flew this flag
      until the late seventies -

      

      In Africa, Ethiopia is the oldest independent country and also has
      one of the longest recorded histories in the world, including a long list
      of monarchs. Here we see the Imperial flag of Haile Selassie, the
      country’s last emperor -

      

      And finally, also in Africa, a country often in the news today is
      Zimbabwe. However, after declaring independence from Britain under Ian
      Smith in 1965 until 1980, the country was known as Rhodesia, which
      had this flag at that time -

      

      So there you are, flags of forgotten countries. Hopefully for some of you,
      these images may have helped jog your memory.

      BONUS:

      Speaking about cool flags... Turns out that Greater Tokyo Area, Japan, has
      a flag for every
      city and ward
      inside of it - and they are quite unique and stylish:

      
      
      (images via 1,
        2)

      CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 OF THIS ARTICLE ->

      Simon Rose is the
        author of science fiction and fantasy novels for children, including
        The Alchemist's Portrait,
        The Sorcerer's Letterbox,
        The Clone Conspiracy,
        The Emerald Curse,
        The Heretic's Tomb
        and
        The Doomsday Mask.




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YOUR COMMENTS::

31 Comments:

Anonymous kumo said...

The second spanish flag, with the oval shape) it's a pre-republican flag. Used until 1931.

It's followed by the republican tri-color flag and then by the Franco, the dictator, flag, used until 1977 (2 years after his dead).

Nowadays, it's strange to see republican flags (used in some parades against monarchy or government) with the iconography. Being most in plain tri-color scheme.

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Anonymous Felonius Monk said...

I'm a stamp collector,specializing in "Dead Countries".I find the the
everyday paraphernalia of fallen countries fascinating.

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Anonymous brie987 said...

I was so excited to see this article. Being Hawaiian now living in NYC I thought I might see the Hawaiian Royal Flag and Arms. Hawaii was a very short but bright Kingdom and I wish we were still independent. Perhaps next time. Great article!

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Anonymous dario said...

Great post, as always. Just one thing: of the two flags of Italy, the right one is the royal flag, while the left one is the (current) flag for the navy.

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Anonymous 10800 said...

I read the DRB whenever I can, but this article is great, thanks!

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Anonymous miasto-masa-maszyna said...

Some more flags:

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flaga_Rzeczpospolitej_Obojga_Narodow.svg

Belarusian People's Republic (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Flag_of_Belarus_1991.svg

East Germany (1949 – 1990)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Flag_of_East_Germany.svg

Third Reich (1933–1945)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg

Bavarian Soviet Republic (April – May 1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Socialist_red_flag.svg
not very sofisticated ;-)

Republic of Central Lithuania (1920–1922)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Flag_of_Central_Lithuania.svg

Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków, called also The Republic of Cracow (1815–1846)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Flag_of_Krakow.svg

Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (1918)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Flag_DKR.svg

Commune of the Working People of Estonia (1918–1919)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/Estonianworkerscommuneflag.gif

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Anonymous Roger said...

In many pictures appears the Catalan flag (four red bars over yellow), which is one of the oldest in Europe (dating back to 1150) and it is still widely use in the territories catalans ruled (includings parts of spain, france, sicily but even athens) until they lost the war against castilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senyera

According to a 14th century legend, the flag dates back from the 9th century, when the four red bars were drawn, as an act of gratitude, on Wilfred I the Hairy's (Count of Barcelona) golden shield by king Charles the Bald's fingers drenched with blood from the Count's war wounds prior to Wilfred's death in 897 during the siege of Barcelona by Lobo ibn Mohammed, the moor governor.

A slightly modified catalan flag with a star is used nowadays to claim independence for the Catalans.

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Anonymous Alex Telionis said...

Great article!!!

However, the Byzantine flag with the black double-headed bird on a yellow background is related to the Orthodox Church specifically.

Though they didn't fly flags in the sense that we do today, the banner representing the government in Constantinople was a cross with four betas (pronounced v in Greek), one in each corner.

The four betas stand for Vasilefs Vasileon, Vasilevon Vasilevonton - Greek for the "King of Kings, Rules the People". It was most likely a reference to Christ, though many contemporary emperors called themselves the king of kings, so we cannot be 100% sure.

Here is a picture:

http://www.oramaworld.com/images/flags/4b_300.jpg

-Alex

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Anonymous Michael said...

Here would be an adition as well, a total different flag for Switzerland, proposed by the French and used in the "Republique Helvetique" for 5yYears, before Switzerland was again Swiss and not French anymore...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetic_Republic

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

For Yugoslavia (formerly Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians), you only showed coat of arms. Actual flag were simply 3 horizontal stripes: blue, white and red.
And those stripes stayed for the Yugoslavia till the end in '90. with addition of a red star.

My point is...if this is wrong, and I read something about Italian flag too...what else is wrong?

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Anonymous Donna M. McDine said...

Fascinating article and pictures. Thanks, enjoyed it immensely.

Regards,
Donna
Children’s Author
Donna M. McDine’s Website

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Blogger Avi Abrams said...

Thank you all for great additions and info... the Kingdom of Italy flag was fixed, and we are hoping to include the rest of great tips into a next article about flags.

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Anonymous Ángel said...

Great article though is a shame the inclusion of that so-called flags from Japan ¿Do this people have always to do everything copying the west? They have obviously a very poor meaning compared to the flags above. Flags must have significance given by history, they must not become a design hobby. I pity them.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting collection. Just thought I'd point out you got the Iranian flag wrong, that is the Imperial standard and not the state flag that was used up to 1979. The state flag was the Lion and Sun which has a much older history than the Pahlavi Imperial standard.

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Blogger miasto-masa-maszyna said...

Some more flags of non-existing countries and provintions related to polish history:

Free City of Gdańsk (under Prussian protection) [1807-1814]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Gdansk_flag.svg

Kingdom of Poland (called also Congress Poland, under Russian protection) [1815-1916]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Flag_of_the_Congress_of_Poland.svg

Grand Duchy of Posen (under Prussian protection) [1815-1848]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Flag_of_Wien.svg

The same flag as above was used by Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien mit dem Großherzogtum Krakau und den Herzogtümern Auschwitz und Zator (under Austrian protection, what a name - typisch österreichisch) [1772-1918]

Flag used during January Uprising, with symbols of Poland (eagle), Lithuania (racing knight) and Ukraine (archangel Michael)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Chor%C4%85giew_powsta%C5%84c%C3%B3w_styczniowych.PNG

And yet another flag of United Kingdom of Poland [1320-1386]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Alex_K_Kingdom_of_Poland-flag.svg

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Blogger Smurfswacker said...

When I was in high school and a rabid fan of the brand-new "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD" comic book (which shows you how long ago it was), I drew a pastiche in which Fury exposes a world-domination plot by a cadre of disgruntled descendants of Austro-Hungarians. They dreamed of restoring the True Empire. Wish I'd had your article for reference.

The interesting thing about flags is that they, like ethnic or territorial claims, are attached to specific dates or events. Like those claims they establish an abstract "year zero" for the flagmaking power. As long as the flagmaker stays in power he gets to wave the real flag on behalf of the true country. Examples: USA; claims by earlier conquerors or the original(?) inhabitants are merely History. Iran: for the late Shah's die-hard gfans his is the real flag, regardless of what came before or after. Similarly the Catalonians can trace their flag to the 12th century, but what was the flag for the 11+ centuries before?

In the end flags are expressions of the most artificial of human constructs: the country, the nation, the empire, the true faith.

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Blogger Unknown said...

Actually, every town in Japan has its own flag, not just the cities/wards in the Tokyo era.

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Blogger Mark said...

Good work on the flags, can't wait for part 2!

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Blogger miasto-masa-maszyna said...

@Jamie
Actually, every town in Japan has its own flag, not just the cities/wards in the Tokyo era.

Actually, many cities around the world have it's flags. I know that every bigger city in Poland has. The same in Germany. And perhaps the same in most of European countries. Some of them contains city coat of arms, some just traditional colors.

Berlin, Chełm, Wrocław, Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk, Wrocław

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

lots of incorrect historical data...

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.dubrovnik-guide.net/pics/thumbs/libertas%20flag.gif

flag of free state of Dubrovnik, which played important role as one of the biggest mediterian trading harbours in 12th to 18th century, then taken by Napoleon and lost its soverenity.

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Blogger JohnLeeMEDIA said...

The double eagle motif was also used in the flag of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick...the fictional country in the novel & film "The Mouse that Roared"
Johnleemedia

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's pretty cool. I love flags!

As for the last part showing the Tokyo city flags, they do that in Peru to. They have a flag for every department, province, district and town.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

I great source of extinct flags and coats is the Gerle Amorial

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k38944m.image.f1.pagination

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Anonymous Albdurres said...

Very fascinating article. For the flag of Byzantine Empire, i have to add that part of it was what inspired Albanian National Hero , Scanderbeg to use it as the flag that was raised in 1443.

Best

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Anonymous Tex said...

Oops, Not to toot my own horn but I built a site for exploring flags and their locations. This post is beautiful, I was thinking of adding some of your finds to my site: http://www.flagthousand.com

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hungary's Coat of arms is still the same, so it's not "forgotten":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary

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Blogger Ian said...

ht on, Tokyo! Most of the rest are far too elaborate. Who could ever remember what they looked like?

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

the spanish one is wrong, sorry mate =)

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Blogger Rajendra said...

What about Nepal`s Flag.

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Anonymous CAMEL said...

Flags are today arn't as interesting to day. Maybey its because everyone has no imagination anymore.

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