1.
Glossary of vexillology
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Flag terminology is the nomenclature, or system of terms, used in vexillology, the study of flags, to describe precisely the parts, patterns, and other attributes of flags and their display. Badge A coat of arms or simple heraldic symbol, canton Any quarter of a flag, but commonly means the upper hoist quarter, such as the field of stars in the flag of the United States or the Union Jack in the Australian Flag. Charge A figure or symbol appearing in the field of a flag, emblem A device often used as a charge on a flag. It may be heraldic in origin or modern, for example the maple leaf on the Canadian Flag, field The background of a flag, the color behind the charges. Fimbriation A narrow edging or border, often in white or gold, for example the white and gold lines of the South African Flag. Fly The half or edge of a flag farthest away from the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the horizontal length of a flag. Hoist The half or edge of a flag nearest to the flagpole and this term also sometimes refers to the vertical width of a flag. Length The span of a flag along the side at right angles to the flagpole, width The span of a flag down the side parallel to the flagpole. Flags often inherit traits seen in traditional European heraldry designs and as a result patterns often share names, banderole or bannerol A small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or a long narrow flag flying from the mast-head of a ship. Banner Generically, a synonym for a flag of any kind, in heraldry, a flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms, but usually in a square or rectangular shape, also known as a banner of arms. Burgee A distinguishing flag of a recreational boating organisation, Civil ensign, merchant flag or merchant ensign A version of the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality. Civil flag A version of the flag flown by civilians on non-government installations or craft. Colour or color The flag of a military unit, courtesy flag or courtesy ensign A flag flown by a visiting ship in foreign waters as a token of respect. Ensign The flag of a ship or military unit, may also be used generically as a synonym for a flag of any kind. Fanion A small flag used by the French military, gonfalon, gonfanon or gonfalone A type of heraldic flag suspended from a crossbar. Guidon A small flag borne by a military unit, in Scots heraldry, a smaller version of the Standard. Pennon or pennant A flag larger at the hoist than at the fly, pipe banner A decorative flag for the Scottish Highland bagpipes. Prayer flag A type of flag found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, rank flag or distinguishing flag The flag flown by a superior naval officer on his flagship or headquarters
2.
State flag
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There are two separate meanings for the term of state flag in vexillology, the flag of the government of a sovereign state and the flag of an individual subnational state. A state flag is a variant of a national flag specifically designated and restricted by law or custom to use by a government or its agencies. For this reason they are referred to as government flags. Scandinavian countries also use swallowtailed state flags, to differentiate them from civil flags. In addition, some countries have state ensigns, separate flags for use by government ships such as guard vessels. For example, government ships in the United Kingdom fly the blue ensign, state flags should not be confused with the national flag as used by military organisations, these are referred to as war flags and naval ensigns. To avoid confusion with the first meaning of the term, however, such a flag would be more referred to as the flag of the state of X. For this usage, see also, Flags of the Australian states and territories Flags of Brazilian states Flags of the U. S. states Flags of German states Znamierowski, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
3.
Ensign
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Ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern of the ship, the naval ensign, used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign or the yacht ensign. Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle, the ensign differs from the jack which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel. In its widest sense, an ensign is just a flag or other standard, the European military rank of ensign, once responsible for bearing a units standard derives from it. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, liwa, derives from the command of a unit or units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a units ensign, and is a general officer. In Arab armies, ensign is a title equivalent to a Western brigade. In nautical use, the ensign is flown on a ship or boat to indicate its appartenance, while this includes its nationality, it may well indicate more information rather than being the national flag itself. This is particularly common for commonwealth and European countries, ensigns are usually at the stern flagstaff when in port, and may be shifted to a gaff or mast amidships when the ship is under way, becoming known as a steaming ensign. Vexillologists distinguish three varieties of a national flag used as an ensign, A civil ensign is worn by merchant. In some countries the yacht ensign, used on boats or ships instead of merchant vessels. A state ensign or government ensign is worn by government vessels, a naval ensign is used by a countrys navy. Such ensigns are strictly regulated and indicate if the vessel is a warship, a merchant ship, several Commonwealth countries national flags had their origin in the ensigns of their original colonising power, the United Kingdom. Most notable of these flags are those of Australia, New Zealand. It is also likely that the original design from which the flag of the United States developed was strongly influenced by the British Red Ensign or the flag of the East India Company. With the creation of independent air forces and the growth in aviation in the first half of the 20th century. These may be divided into air force ensigns and civil air ensigns, in heraldry, an ensign is the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet, or mitre, borne above the charge or arms. Distinguishing mark Maritime flag Znamierowski, Alfred, the world encyclopedia of flags, The definitive guide to international flags, banners, standards and ensigns
4.
War flag
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A war flag, also known as a military flag or a battle flag, is a variant of a national flag for use by a countrys 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. And either victory, or else a grave, field signs were used in early warfare at least since the Bronze Age. The word standard itself is from an Old Frankish term for a field sign, the use of flags as field signs apparently emerges in Asia, during the Iron Age, possibly in either China or India. Early field signs that include, but are not limited to a flag, are also called vexilloid or flag-like, the Roman Vexillum itself is also flag-like in the sense that it was suspended from a horizontal crossbar as opposed to a simple flagpole. Use of simple flags as military ensigns becomes common during the medieval period, the maritime flag also develops in the medieval period. The medieval Japanese Sashimono carried by foot-soldiers are a parallel development, some medieval free cities or communes did not have coats of arms, and used war flags that were not derived from a coat of arms. Thus, the city of Lucerne used a flag as a field sign from the mid 13th century. Colours, standards and guidons Wise, Terence Military flags of the world, FIAV Flag Information Symbols at Flags of the World
5.
Hammer and sickle
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The hammer and sickle or sickle and hammer is a Communist symbol that was conceived during the Russian Revolution. At the time of creation, the hammer stood for industrial laborers, after World War I and the Russian Civil War, the hammer and sickle became more widely used as a symbol for peaceful labor within the Soviet Union and for international proletarian unity. It was taken up by many Communist movements around the world, farm and worker instruments and tools have long been used as symbols for proletarian struggle. A popular ancestor to the hammer and sickle was a hammer on a plough, in Ireland, the symbol of the plough remains in use. The Starry Plough banner was used by the Irish Citizen Army. James Connolly, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army with Jack White, a sword is forged into the plough to symbolise the end of war with the establishment of a Socialist International. This was unveiled in 1914 and flown by the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Easter Rising, in 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Anatoly Lunacharsky held a competition to create a Soviet emblem. ” in six languages. It originally featured a sword, but Lenin strongly objected, disliking the violent connotations, the winning designer was Yevgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin. On 6 July 1923 the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee adopted this emblem, serp i Molot is the name of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant. Serp i Molot is also the name of a stop on the railway line from Kurski railway station in Moscow to Gorky, featured in Venedikt Yerofeyevs novel. In the Soviet Union the hammer and sickle came to take on a meaning, with the sickle coming to be associated with women. In addition, the Russian city of Oryol also uses the hammer, the former Soviet national airline, Aeroflot, continues to use the hammer and sickle in its symbol. The flag can also appear without the hammer and sickle in some circumstances, all of these use the yellow-on-red colour scheme. In Laos and Vietnam, the hammer and sickle flags party flags can often be seen flying side-by-side with their national flags. The Communist Party of Sweden, the Portuguese Communist Party and the Mexican Communist Party use the hammer, the hammer and sickle accompanied by the yellow star is used by the Communist Refoundation Party, the main Communist party in Italy. Many symbols having similar structures and messages to the original have been designed, for example, the Angolan flag shows a segment of a cog, crossed by a machete and crowned with a socialist star, while the flag of Mozambique features an AK-47 crossed by a hoe. In the logo of the Communist Party USA, a circle is formed by a half cog, a hammer is laid directly over the sickles handle with the hammers head at the logos center. The logo of the Communist Party of Turkey consists of half a cog wheel crossed by a hammer, movement, the pickaxe and rifle used in communist Albania, and the hammer and compasses of the emblem of the East German flag
6.
Flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
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This flag was adopted by the Moldavian SSR on January 31,1952. The flag has three bands of red, green and red, with a hammer and sickle in the canton. Between 1929 and 1937, the hammer and sickle was removed, in 1940, the flag was red with the gold hammer and sickle in the top-left corner, with the Cyrillic characters РССМ above them in gold in a serif font. With perestroika in force, the Moldovan nationalism came in place with the Popular Front of Moldova being involved, on April 27,1990, the new flag of the Moldavian SSR consisted of the Romanian tricolor with the emblem of the Moldavian SSR in the centre. However, it was decided to use the flag without the emblem until new symbols were worked on, when Moldavia declared sovereignty in June 1990, the new flag was adopted on November 6,1990 and remains the flag of Moldova to this day. The flag closely resembles the current Flag of Transnistria
7.
Civil flag
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A civil flag is a version of the national flag that is flown by civilians on nongovernmental installations or craft. The use of flags was more common in the past to denote buildings or ships not manned by the military. In some countries, the flag is the same as the war flag or state flag but without the coat of arms, such as in the case of Spain. In others, it is an alteration of the war flag, in Scandinavia, state and war flags can be double and triple-tailed variants of the Nordic Cross flag. Many countries, particularly those with a British heritage, still have distinctive civil flags for use at sea, many based on the Red Ensign
8.
Transnistria
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The region is considered by the UN to be part of Moldova. The PMR controls a narrow strip of territory to the east of the River Dniester, unrecognised by any United Nations member state, Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Transnistria autonomous territorial unit with special legal status, or Stînga Nistrului. As part of agreement, a three-party Joint Control Commission supervises the security arrangements in the demilitarised zone. Its authorities have adopted a constitution, flag, national anthem and it is the only country still using the hammer and sickle on its flag. After a 2005 agreement between Moldova and Ukraine, all Transnistrian companies that seek to export goods through the Ukrainian border must be registered with the Moldovan authorities and this agreement was implemented after the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine took force in 2005. Most Transnistrians also have Moldovan citizenship, but many Transnistrians also have Russian and Ukrainian citizenship, the largest ethnic group is Moldovans, who historically had a higher share of the population, up to 49. 4% in 1926. Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia are post-Soviet frozen conflict zones and these four partially recognised states maintain friendly relations with each other and form the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations. The region is known in English as Trans-Dniestr or Transdniestria. Etymologically, these names are adaptations of the Romanian colloquial name of the region, the documents of the government of Moldova refer to the region as Stînga Nistrului meaning Left Bank of the Dniester. The name of the according to the Transnistrian authorities is Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The short form of name is Pridnestrovie. Pridnestrovie is a transliteration of the Russian Приднестровье meaning by the Dniester, indo-European tribes had for millennia inhabited the area where Transnistria now is when it was a borderland between Dacia and Scythia. The Tyragetae inhabited the area around the River Dniester as well as the Scythians, early Germanic and Turkic tribes were present in the area during their attacks and invasions of the Roman Empire. From 56 AD, the area around the city of Tyras was occupied by the Romans for nearly four centuries. Tyras enjoyed great development during Roman times, there is a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus, but in the second half of the fourth century the area was continuously attacked by barbarians and the Roman legionaries left Tyras. In the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribes of Tivertsi and Ulichs populated larger areas, including Transnistria, followed by Turkic nomads such as the Petchenegs and Cumans. Possibly an early part of Kievan Rus, after the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241, prince of Moldavia George Ducas built a court at Țicanova on the east bank of the Dniester, and one at Nimirov on the Southern Bug, last mentioned in Moldavian hands in 1765. The localities Dubăsari, Rașcov, Vasilcău, as well as four other currently in Ukraine are mentioned in 17th–18th centuries as fairs for the Dniester-Bug region
9.
Red star
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A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important symbol often associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with hammer and sickle. It has been used in flags, state emblems, monuments, ornaments. The five-pointed red star has served since about 1917 as a symbol of communism. One interpretation sees the five points as representing the five fingers of the workers hand, a red star became one of the emblems, symbols and signals representing the Soviet Union under the rule of the Communist Party, along with, for example, the hammer and sickle. In Soviet heraldry, the red star symbolized the Red Army and the service, as opposed to the hammer and sickle. It is most often thought that Russian troops fleeing from the Austrian and German fronts found themselves in Moscow in 1917, to distinguish the Moscow troops from the influx of retreating front-liners, officers gave out tin stars to the Moscow garrison soldiers to wear on their hats. When those troops joined the Red Army and the Bolsheviks they painted their tin stars red, another claimed origin for the red star relates to an alleged encounter between Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Krylenko. Krylenko, an Esperantist, wore a lapel badge, Trotsky enquired as to its meaning. On hearing that, Trotsky specified that soldiers of the Red Army should wear a similar, red and it has also been suggested that the use of the red star might be related to the popular novel called Red star from 1908 by Alexander Bogdanov. Following its adoption as an emblem of the Soviet Union, the red star became a symbol for communism in a larger sense, the symbol became one of the most prominent of the Soviet Union, adorning all official buildings, awards and insignia. Sometimes the hammer and sickle appeared depicted inside or below the star, separatist and socialist movements also sometimes adopted the red star, as on the Estelada flag in the Catalan countries. Titos partisans, often including people with different political views, or even with a religious background, wore the red star as an identification symbol. As the use of the red star spread to communism in East Asia, it was adapted, while some states kept the star as it was, some used a star, particularly on a red field. The Far Eastern Republic of 1920 to 1922 used a star on its military uniforms. The flag of Vietnam also has a star on a red field. In Brazil, however, the red star remained as it was, the Soviet and Russian Federation military newspaper is called the Red Star. Some sports teams from non-communist countries used it, such as French Red Star from Paris, Swiss club FC Red Star Zürich, English Seaham Red Star F. C. the Brazilian leftist Workers Party uses a red star as its symbol with the party acronym inside. Hugo Chávez and his supporters in Venezuela have used the red star in numerous symbols and logos and it was also used throughout 2007 as a symbol of the 5 Engines of the Bolivarian Socialist Revolution
10.
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
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Moldavia, officially the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known to as Soviet Moldavia, was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on August 2,1940 from parts of Bessarabia, a region annexed from Romania on June 28 of that year, and parts of the MASSR, an autonomous republic within the Ukrainian SSR. After the Declaration of Sovereignty on June 23,1990 and until 23 May 1991 it was known as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. From 23 May 1991 until the declaration of independence on 27 August 1991, geographically, the Moldavian SSR was bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. On August 24,1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression treaty, the secret protocol placed the Romanian province of Bessarabia in the Soviet sphere of influence. On June 26, four days after France sued for an armistice with the Third Reich, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was thereafter created following the entrance of Soviet troops on June 28,1940. 90% of the territory of MSSR was on the bank of the river Dniester. As such, the strategically important Black Sea coast and Danube frontage were given to the Ukrainian SSR, considered more reliable than the Moldavian SSR, by the end of World War II the Soviet Union had reconquered all of the lost territories, reestablishing Soviet authority there. On June 22,1941, during the first day of the German invasion of the Soviet Union,10 people were killed in Răzeni by Soviet authorities, a memorial was opened in 2009. The Soviet authorities targeted several socio-economic groups due to their situation, political views. They were deported to or resettled in Siberia and northern Kazakhstan, according to a report by the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania, no less than 86,604 people were arrested and deported in 1940-1941 alone. Modern Russian historians put forward a number of 90,000 for the same period. NKVD/MGB also struck at anti-Soviet groups, which were most active in 1944-1952, a de-kulakisation campaign was directed towards the rich Moldavian peasant families, which were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia as well. Religious persecutions during the Soviet occupation targeted numerous priests, after the Soviet occupation, the religious life underwent a persecution similar to the one in Russia between the two World Wars. Other deportation campaigns were directed towards the ethnic Germans and religious minorities, collectivisation was implemented between 1949 and 1950, although earlier attempts were made since 1946. According to Charles King, there is evidence that it was caused by the Soviets and directed towards the largest ethnic group living in the countryside. The main cause was the Soviet requisitioning of large amounts of products, but it was also aggravated by war, the draught of 1946. With the regime of Nikita Khrushchev replacing that of Joseph Stalin, in the 1970s and 1980s Moldavia received substantial investment from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial, scientific facilities, as well as housing
11.
Flag of Moldova
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The state flag of Moldova is a vertical tricolor of blue, yellow, and red, charged with the coat of arms of Moldova on the center bar. Until further provisions, the State Flag of Moldova is used as the flag and ensign as well. The blue, red, and yellow tricolor of Moldova is almost identical to the flag of Romania, on Moldovas flag the yellow stripe is charged with the national arms. Like the Romanian coat of arms, the Moldovan arms, adopted in 1990, instead of a sword, the eagle is holding an olive branch, symbolizing peace. These two national flags are very similar to the flags of Chad and Andorra, which are all based on vertical stripes of blue, yellow. Until 2010, the shades of the Moldavian flag were not explicitly named. The Regulation regarding the flag stated that the colors of the flag must match the ones shown in the annex. As a result, it was decided to abandon the ultramarine blue, however, a new law from 2010 defined the colors of the flag as Berlin blue, chrome yellow and vermillon red. The exact matches, according to annex no,2, are as follows, In 2010 four new governmental standards, derived from the state flag, were established. The standard of the Minister of Defense has yet to be defined, the flag has a border of squares, each one measuring 1⁄9 of the flags width and following the pattern blue-yellow-red-yellow. The background of the flag is purple for the President, red for the President of the Parliament, the original flags are kept in their respective offices. Duplicates are hoisted on the official residences when the people entitled to them are inside and it is the symbol of the military glory, of the tradition and continuity, honor and loyalty of the soldiers and officers to the country. The cloth of the flag has the same chromatics as the flag of the Republic of Moldova. Its partition reminds of the old Moldavian military flags, from 1834-1863, the red central cross reminds of Saint George, the patron and protector of the medieval Moldavian army. Represents the belief of the Moldovan soldiers, the flag is fixed on a wooden rod, measuring 2500 mm, with a standard pole on top. The military colors, as well as their regulations, are issued by decree of the President of Moldova, also, on reverse, above the coat of arms, is inscribed the name of the unit, all letters being embroided with golden thread. Since April 2010, the Flag Day of Moldova is celebrated on 27 April each year, on this day in 1990, the tricolor was officially adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR as the state flag of the country. Wallachia and Moldova have, in the past, been partially united and culturally similar, as such the flags of Romania, the current flag of Moldova was created in 1990, and is based on the national colors of Romanians, the blue-yellow-red tricolor
12.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and that evening at 7,32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, the week before the unions formal dissolution,11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War, on the other hand, only the Baltic states have joined NATO and the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11,1985, Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy, the reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On April 23,1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, into the Politburo as full members. He kept the power ministries happy by promoting KGB Head Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and this liberalisation, however, fostered nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union. Under Gorbachevs leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, in May 1985, Gorbachev delivered a speech in Leningrad advocating reforms and an anti-alcohol campaign to tackle widespread alcoholism. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised in order to make these drinks more expensive and a disincentive to consumers, unlike most forms of rationing intended to conserve scarce goods, this was done to restrict sales with the overt goal of curtailing drunkenness. Gorbachevs plan also included billboards promoting sobriety, increased penalties for public drunkenness, however, Gorbachev soon faced the same adverse economic reaction to his prohibition as did the last Tsar. The disincentivization of alcohol consumption was a blow to the state budget according to Alexander Yakovlev. Alcohol production migrated to the market, or through moonshining as some made bathtub vodka with homegrown potatoes. The purpose of these reforms, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, unlike later reforms. The latter, disparaged as Mr Nyet in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, gromyko was relegated to the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as he was considered an old thinker. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger, at the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. Finally, on December 23,1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin, Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. The CTAG Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja by three workers, Linards Grantiņš, Raimonds Bitenieks, and Mārtiņš Bariss and its name refers to the human-rights statements of the Helsinki Accords
13.
Flag of the Soviet Union
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The flag of the Soviet Union, commonly known as the Soviet flag was the official national flag of the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1991. The flags design and symbolism are derived from the Russian Revolution, the flag is also an international symbol of the communist movement as a whole. The nicknames for the flag were The Hammer and Sickle and The Red Banner, the design is a solid field of red adorned with a unique gold emblem in the upper hoist quarter. The red flag was a revolutionary symbol long before 1917. The iconic hammer and sickle design was a modern touch – the union of the hammer, the famous emblem is topped by an inconspicuous red star representing the rule of the Communist Party. The first flag with the red star, hammer and sickle was adopted on 13 November 1923, in 1955, a statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammers handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the colour was brightened to a shade of red. The flag continued to be the national flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its imagery is now the basis for the flags of many communist parties, the flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with a gold sickle placed beneath a gold-bordered red star. This symbol is in the upper canton of the red flag. The colour red honours the red flag of the Paris Commune of 1871, the ideology of communism can be seen from the flag. The red star and hammer and sickle are themselves symbols of communism and socialism, the hammer symbolises urban industrial workers while the sickle symbolises agricultural workers —who together, as the Proletarian class, form the state. The reverse of the flag is officially just red, without the symbols, however, in practice, the flag was usually made through and through and thus the symbols usually appeared on the reverse side and in the reverse order. The flags design was legislated in 1955, which gave a way to define. This resulted in a change of the handle length and the shape of the sickle. The adopted statute stated that, The ratio of width to length of the flag is 1,2, the hammer and sickle are in a square with sides equal to 1⁄4 of the flags height. The sharp tip of the lies in the center of the upper side of the square. The length of the hammer and its handle is 3⁄4 of the square diagonal, the five-pointed star is inscribed into a circle with a diameter of 1⁄8 of the flags height, the circle being tangent to the upper side of the square
14.
Socialist state
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A socialist state or socialist republic refers to any state that is constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. Aside from the Communist states, a number of states have described their orientation as socialist in their constitutions. In such cases, the system and machinery of government is not specifically structured to pursue the development of socialism. The concept of a socialist state is related to state socialism. Specifically, the state would become an entity for production as opposed to a mechanism for political control. According to Friedrich Engels, Saint-Simon foreshadowed the classical Marxist notion of the development of the state in a socialist society, karl Marx understood the state to be an instrument of the class rule, dominated by the interests of the ruling class in any mode of production. This transitional stage would involve working-class interests dominating government policy, in the manner that capitalist-class interests dominate government policy under capitalism. Karl Marx described the Paris Commune as the prototype for a government of the future. Friedrich Engels noted that all officials, high or low, were only the wages received by other workers. In this way an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up, such a state would be a temporary affair, Engels argued. A new generation, he suggested, brought up in new and free social conditions, the Leninist conception of a socialist state is tied to Vladimir Lenins theory of the revolutionary party and organizational principles of democratic centralism. These ideas were adopted by Vladimir Lenin in 1917 just prior to the October Revolution in Russia and published in The State and Revolution, a central text for many Marxists. Vladimir Lenin argued that as socialism is replaced by communism, the state would wither away as strong centralized control progressively reduces as local communities gain more empowerment, as he put succinctly, So long as the state exists there is no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no state, states run by Communist parties that adhere to Marxism–Leninism, or some variation thereof, refer to themselves as socialist states. The Soviet Union was the first to proclaim itself a socialist state in its 1936 Constitution, another well-known example is the Peoples Republic of China, which proclaims itself to be a socialist state in its 1982 Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China. In the West, such states are known as communist states. This often includes at least the commanding heights of the economy to be nationalized, usually operated according to a plan of production, at least in the major production and social spheres. These Communist states often dont claim to have achieved socialism in their countries, rather, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea used to be a Marxist–Leninist state
15.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
16.
Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova
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The Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova consist of the Ground Forces and Air and Air Defense Forces. Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union and it acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, DC. It does not have nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations Partnership for Peace on March 16,1994. In early 1995, the armed forces totaled some 11,000 volunteers, at the beginning of 1994, the Moldovan Ground Forces consisted of 9,800 men organized into three motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, and one reconnaissance/assault battalion. Equipment and weaponry included 44 BMD-1 AIFVs, and 266 APCs, including 91 TAB-71s, in 1994 the Moldovan Air Force consisted of 1,300 men organized into one fighter regiment, one helicopter squadron, and one missile brigade. Armaments used by the air force included thirty-one MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft, eight Mi-8 Hip helicopters, five transport aircraft, the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment had been located at Mărculești since October 1951, and had been reequipped with MiG-29s in 1988. It had been part of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division, which had been resubordinated to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet since December 1989, twenty-one of the MiG-29s were sold to the United States in October 1997 to prevent their sale on the world market, and for research purposes. All the spare parts for aircraft were also purchased, as were the accompanying 500 air-to-air missiles. Other military forces also existed within Moldova, in early 1994, the government of the Dnestr Republic had armed forces of about 5,000 which included the Dnestr battalion of the Republic Guard and some 1,000 cossacks. Their equipment and weaponry consisted of 120 main battle tanks,180 armoured fighting vehicles, the remainder of the 14th Guards Army had been over the border in Ukraine and was absorbed by the Ukrainian armed forces. NATO and Moldova http, //education. yahoo. com/reference/factbook/md/milita. html Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova
17.
Coat of arms of Moldova
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The coat of arms of Moldova consists of a eagle holding a cross in its beak and a sceptre and an olive branch in its claws. According to Gheorghe Vrabie, the author of the coat of arms, the chest of the eagle is protected by a shield that bears the traditional arms of Moldavia, an aurochs head with a star between its horns. It also contains two lozenges, a flower and a moon in a crescent phase. Everything on the shield has one of the three colours, red, yellow, blue. The coat of arms appears in the centre of the flag of Moldova, between the horns with five-pointed star, right — rose, left, a Crescent. The small Presidium of the CEC approved the project, but with modifications, on the right side in Russian, Proletarians of all countries, unite. on the left, in Moldavian language Proletary the Dean toate serile, unity-ve. In the upper part of the emblem is five-pointed star
18.
Flag of Russia
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The flag of Russia is a tricolor flag consisting of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant ships and it remained in use until the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1917. During the Soviet Unions existence, it used the flag with the red field with the hammer and sickle. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the tricolor was re-introduced as the flag of the Russian Federation in 1991 in the 1,2 ratio. The Tsarist tricolor was fully restored in 1993 after the crisis as the current flag. Two accounts of the flags origin connect it to the used by the Dutch Republic. The earliest mention of the flag occurs during the reign of Alexis I, in 1668, and is related to the construction of the first Russian naval ship, the frigate Oryol. A different account traces the origins of the Russian flag to tsar Peter the Greats visits to Arkhangelsk in 1693 and 1694, Peter was keenly interested in shipbuilding in the European style, different from the barges ordinarily used in Russia at the time. In 1693, Peter had ordered a Dutch-built frigate from Amsterdam, in 1694 when it arrived, the Dutch red-white-and-blue banner flew from its stern. Peter decided to model Russias naval flag after this banner by changing the sequence of colors, the Russian tricolour flag was adopted as a merchant flag at rivers in 1705. Two other Slavic countries, Slovakia and Slovenia, have similar to the Russian one. On 7 May 1883, the Russian flag was authorized to be used on land, and it became an official National flag before the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896. From that time period, a 1,2 red flag featuring the abbreviated name RSFSR was used, during the Second World War the white-blue-red tricolor has been used by the collaborationist troops of Andrey Vlasov, who was allied with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the tricolor was brought back as the flag of the new Russian Federation. The modern era flag underwent a change in 1993 and has been official since 2000. A variant of the flag was authorized for use by Tsar Nicholas II before World War I. Or was never made the state flag. All of the Soviet Republics flags were created by introducing a small, for Russia, the change was an introduction of the left-hand blue band
19.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
20.
Supreme Council (Transnistria)
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The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is the parliament of Transnistria. The unicameral legislature consists of 43 seats, all of which are determined by single mandate constituencies and it is headed by a chairman. As Transnistria was not a region before the declaration of its independence. This meant that all government authorities had to be formed from scratch, Igor Smirnov was elected chairman of the Provisional Supreme Council in March 1990. After Smirnov was elected Chairman of the Republic on 29 November 1990 he was succeeded by Vladimir Gonchar, on 25 November 1990, the first legislative elections to the Supreme Council of PMR took place in Transnistria. The first Supreme Council was bicameral, it consisted of two chambers - the Council of the Republic and the Council of Nationalities, the Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 64 deputies. On 30 January 1991, the Supreme Council elected native-born Transnistrian of Moldovan origin Grigore Mărăcuţă as its chairman, after referendum in 1995 and the adoption of the second Constitution of Transnistria, the composition of the Supreme Council changed. The Council of the Republic was replaced by the Chamber of Legislators, the second Supreme Council was elected for a five-year term and consisted of 67 deputies. Elections to the second Supreme Council took place on 24 December 1995, in 2000 amendments were made in the Constitution of PMR leading to new change in the organization of the Supreme Council. It became unicameral and consisted of 43 deputies, until 2005, the chairman of the parliament was Grigore Mărăcuţă, but following the election victory of the opposition party Renewal the new chairman became Renewal party leader Yevgeny Shevchuk. In 2009, President Igor Smirnov set up a commission to draft a new constitution, on 22 July 2009, Shevchuk resigned as speaker and was succeeded by Russian-born ethnic Ukrainian Anatoly Kaminski, also from the Renewal party. Shevchuk cited the proposed constitution as a major factor as to why he resigned. He defeated both Smirnov and his former colleague Kaminski in the 2011 presidential elections, following his defeat in the elections Kaminski resigned both as speaker and as head of the Renewal party. He was succeeded by Mikhail Burla, an ethnic Ukrainian, most of the members of parliament are native-born Transnistrians. According to official PMR data,22 of the 43 members of the parliament were born in PMR, while four were born in Moldova, seven were born in Russia, six in Ukraine and four did not declare. Igor Smirnov Vladimir Gonchar Grigore Mărăcuţă Yevgeny Shevchuk Anatoly Kaminski Mikhail Burla Vadim Krasnoselski Official website Parliament summary
21.
Moldova
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Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian, Republica Moldova, listen, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the region in 1878, Bessarabia remained a province of the Russian Empire until 1917, when during the Russian Revolution it became an autonomous and then nominally independent Moldavian Democratic Republic. In 1918, following a vote of its assembly, Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania, the decision was disputed by Soviet Russia, which in 1924, created within the Ukrainian SSR, on a territory east of Bessarabia, a so-called Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, the Soviets decided to split the region between a newly established Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian SSR. The Moldavian SSR included two-thirds of the territory of Bessarabia, on 27 August 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian SSR declared independence and took the name Moldova. The current Constitution of Moldova was adopted in 1994, the strip of the Moldovan territory on the east bank of the Dniester river has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990. Its economy is the poorest in Europe in per capita terms, Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The name Moldova derives from the Moldova River, the valley of this served as a political centre at the time of the foundation of the Principality of Moldavia in 1359. The origin of the name of the river remains unclear, the dogs name, given to the river, extended to the Principality. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova. Officially, the name Republic of Moldova is designated by the United Nations, in 2010, Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki that are 800, 000–1.2 million years old. This demonstrates that humans were present in Moldova during the early Paleolithic era. The inhabitants of this civilization, which lasted roughly from 5500 to 2750 BC, practiced agriculture, raised livestock, hunted, in antiquity, Moldovas territory was inhabited by Dacian tribes. Between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, the south was intermittently under the Roman, and then Byzantine Empires. The Principality of Moldavia, established in 1359, was bounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the west, the Dniester River in the east, and the Danube River and Black Sea to the south. Its territory comprised the territory of the Republic of Moldova, the eastern eight counties of Romania. Like the present-day republic and Romanias north-eastern region, it was known to the locals as Moldova, Moldavia was invaded repeatedly by Crimean Tatars and, beginning in the 15th century, by the Turks. In 1538, the principality became a tributary to the Ottoman Empire, the title used in the document of 6 July 1600 was The King of the country of Romania, Ardeal and of all of Moldavia
22.
Transnistrian independence referendum, 2006
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A double referendum was held in Transnistria on 17 September 2006. Pro-Moldovan organisations announced before the referendum that they would not recognise its results, ballots for the referendum were reprinted 3 times, as the chairman of electoral commission, Piotr Denisenko, announced a shrinkage of electorate of 7% compared with previous year. Of the total of 394,861 registered voters, the turnout was 78. 6%. On the day of the referendum, no exit polling was allowed within 25 meters of polling stations, international organisations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Union, GUAM, and some other countries did not recognise the referendum. However, no internationally recognised monitoring organisations had observers present, viktor Alksnis, a deputy from the Russian party Rodina stated that referendum in Transnistria was held without any violations of legislation and democratic standards. Viktor Alksnis is known to have described the Transnistrian Republic as the base from which the Soviet Unions restoration would begin. In the opinion of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, the situation in Transnistria fails to meet the conditions of a free expression by citizens. According to the OSCE, the climate in the Transdniestrian region is restrictive, as authorities there continue a long-standing campaign to silence independent opposition voices. At some voting stations agents dressed in civil or militia uniforms forcing the observers from outside the sections to stay at a distance of 200–250 meters far from these places, cleaning of the list of voters by excluding some citizens who previously boycotted elections and referendums held in Transnistria. Sergei Bagapsh, president of Abkhazia, has said his republic supports the aspirations of Transniestria toward independence and its choice of unification with Russia
23.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
24.
Flags of Europe
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This is a list of international, national and subnational flags used in Europe. Many states have separate civil and state versions of their flags, ^ Part of Transcaucasian Region, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Physiographically, Armenia falls entirely in Western Asia, while Georgia, ^ The island of Cyprus, which comprises the Republic of Cyprus, Northern Cyprus and Akrotiri and Dhekelia, is geographically located in Asia, closer to Asian Turkey than to the European mainland. However, the Republic of Cyprus is a state of the European Union. ^ Turkey is a country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Turkey has a part of its territory in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace. ^ Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country, Kazakhstan has a small part of its territories located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe
25.
Flag of Albania
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The flag of Albania is a red flag with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center. The red stands for bravery, strength and valor, while the eagle represents the sovereign state of Albania located in the Balkans. Elements of the design such as the double-headed eagle were borrowed from the banner of the Byzantine Empire. The eagle was used for purposes in the Late Middle Ages by a number of noble families in Albania. This was the flag of the League of Lezhë, which was the first unified Albanian state in the Middle Ages. On 28 November 1912, the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Vlora, the Albanian flag has gone through a number of changes over the years as different regimes have modified it. During the reign of King Zog, a crown was added to the flag and was replaced by two fasces during the Italian occupation of Albania. After World War II, the communist regime added a golden star. Albanias maritime flags—the civil ensign and the naval ensign—are both different from the national flag, the civil ensign consists of three horizontal bands of red, black, and red. The naval ensign is similar to the flag, except that the eagle is on a white field. The eagle of the flag of Albania is depicted on the reverse of the Albanian five lekë coin, beginning in 1969, the flag of Albania was widely unofficially flown in Kosovo by the countrys ethnic Albanian population. It was the symbol of the unrecognized Republic of Kosova during the 1990s, the current independent state of Kosovo uses a different flag that was designed to avoid any symbols associated with a particular ethnic group. There is a version of the flag still commonly used by Albanians and officials. The flags had deformed eagles, a detail which didnt go without notice, the flags were ordered from a Chinese company that didnt get all details right. These flags were removed after Independence day, but few specimens are still active around the World. Emblem of Albania Flag of Kosovo List of flags of Kosovo Culture of Albania The Tale of the Eagle http, //www. flagscorner. com/albania-flag/ Albania at Flags of the World
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Flag of Andorra
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The national flag of the Principality of Andorra was adopted in 1866. The flag is a tricolour of blue, yellow. Although the three vertical bars may at first appear to be of equal width, the yellow bar is slightly wider than the other two so that the ratio of bar widths is 8,9,8. The overall flag ratio is 7,10, the design is related to the flags of France, Catalonia and Foix, the lands historically linked with the small country. A flag of three bars is similar to that of the French Tricolour, while the pattern of a wider middle stripe can be noted on the Catalan flag and on the arms of the old County of Foix. The blue and red of the Andorran flag are also found on the French flag, with red, from 1806 to 1866, Andorras flag was a vertical bi-colour of yellow and red. The motto in the coat of arms in the middle stripe Virtus Unita Fortior means Virtue United is Stronger, the design is similar to the flags of Romania, Moldova, and Chad. All of these are vertical tricolours of blue, yellow, and red, the official colors of the Andorran flag are set out in the Graphic regulations for reproducing the shield and flag from the Oficina de Marques del Principat dAndorra. The colors of the shield are, The colors of the flag are, Coat of arms of Andorra Andorra at Flags of the World http, //www. ompa. ad/images/stories/Documents/Normes_Grafiques. pdf
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Flag of Armenia
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The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolour, consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted the current flag on 24 August 1990, on 15 June 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia, governing its usage, was passed by the National Assembly of Armenia. Throughout history, there have many variations of the Armenian flag. In ancient times, Armenian dynasties were represented by different symbolic animals displayed on their flags, in the twentieth century, various Soviet flags represented the Armenian SSR. The meanings of the colors are interpreted in different ways. For example, red stands for the blood of the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide, blue is for the Armenian pure sky, the blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia, in 2012, the Armenian National Institute of Standards issued specifications about the construction and colors on the national flag. Todays tricolor flag bears little resemblance to the earliest Armenian flags, in ancient times, armies went into battle behind carvings mounted on poles. The carvings might represent a dragon, an eagle, a lion or some object of the gods. With the advent of Christianity, the Armenian empire adopted many different flags representing various dynasties, the Artaxiad Dynastys flag, for instance, consisted of a red cloth displaying two eagles gazing at each other, separated by a flower. After Armenia was split between the Persian and the Ottoman Empires, the idea of an Armenian flag ceased to exist for some time, alishans first design was very similar to todays Armenian flag, a horizontal tricolor. However, it looked more like a variation of the current flag of Bulgaria. While in France, Alishan also designed a flag, identified today as the Nationalist Armenian Flag. It too was a tricolor, but unlike the previous design and its colors were red, green, and blue, from left to right, representing the rainbow that Noah saw after landing on Mount Ararat. In 1828, Persian Armenia was annexed to the Russian Empire after the last Russo-Persian War, when the Russian Empire collapsed, Russian Armenia declared its independence and joined the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, together with Georgia and Azerbaijan. This unified state hardly lasted a year and was soon dissolved, since the Republic was short-lived, it did not use any flags or symbols. Nevertheless, some consider a horizontal gold, black, and red tricolor, similar to that of the German flag but arranged differently. The federation was dissolved on May 26,1918, when Georgia declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia
28.
Flag of Austria
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The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red, white, and red. The Austrian triband is based on the coat of arms of the Babenberg dynasty and it may have seen use in flags from about the 15th century, alongside the black-and-yellow colors of the House of Habsburg and other insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. It was adopted as an ensign in the 18th century. The flag traces back to the coat of arms of the medieval Babenberg dynasty, however, the Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria had already been depicted with a triband shield in 1105. When the last Otakar Duke Ottokar IV of Styria died in 1192, the triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges of Lilienfeld Abbey. The medieval chronicler Jans der Enikel reports that the duke appeared in a ceremonial dress at his 1232 accolade in the Vienna Schottenstift. The Babenberg family colors developed to the coat of arms of their Austrian possessions, after the dynasty had become extinct with Fredericks death at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, they were adopted by his Přemyslid successor King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Upon the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld the colours were assumed by the victorious House of Habsburg, according to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria as a consequence of his fighting during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood, when he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colors, the incident was documented as early as 1260, though it is highly unlikely. In fact, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire during the Crusades was a cross on a red field quite similar to the later Austrian arms. This ensign was used by the Austrian capital Vienna from the late 13th century onwards, since the days of Rudolph of Habsburg and the 1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden, the combination of red-white-red was widely considered to be the Austrian colours used by the ruling Habsburg dynasty. However, the flag of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, like the later Austrian Empire. These were the colours of the Imperial House of Habsburg. Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a Naval Ensign based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these became obsolete with Austria-Hungarys dissolution in 1918. The Austrian flag has been the motif of many collector coins. One of the most recent examples is the 20 euro Post War Period coin, the obverse of this coin shows the Austrian coat of arms flanked by the Austrian flag and the European Union flag
29.
Flag of Azerbaijan
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The flag of Azerbaijan is a horizontal tricolour featuring three equally sized fesses of blue, red, and green, with a white crescent and an eight-pointed star in the center. The tricolour replaced an earlier design used by the Azerbaijan SSR, the blue symbolizes Azerbaijans Turkic heritage, the red stands for progress, and the green represents Islam. The official colors and size were adopted on February 5,1991 and this flag was used from November 9,1918 to 1920, when Azerbaijan was independent, and it was revived with slight variations on February 5,1991. The nickname for the flag is Üçrəngli Bayraq, which means The Tricolour Flag, the flag is referred to in the Constitution and mentioned two times in the national anthem. On land, the flag is used as the civil, state and war flag, at sea, it is used as the civil, state, the flag also has official status in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. A presidential decree declared November 9, the date when in 1918 this flag was adopted as the flag of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The national flag of Azerbaijan consists of three stripes of equal width, from top to bottom, light blue, red. In the center are a crescent and eight-pointed star. Upper stripe is blue, middle stripe is red, and the one is green. Width of the flag constitutes half of its length, further specifications of the national flag were detailed in the Presidential Decree On the National Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued on February 5,1991. The ratio was kept at 1,2, which was used in the Soviet era, each stripe is one-third of the total height of the flag and extends the full length. The star and crescent were placed in a box that has a ratio of 3,4, the outside diameter of both the crescent and the red inside circle intersects with the diameter of the star. The diameter of the star is one-sixth the height of the flag, the flag is also described in the technical specification AZS 001-2006. Published by the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2006, the colors of the national flag are green, red, sky blue, and white. Exact specifications for its colors were issued in the 2004 decree On the Rules of the National Flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in the middle of the flag, and appearing on both front and back, are a white crescent and an eight-pointed star. According to historian Nasib Nasibli, Ali bey Huseynzade, one of the ideologists of Azerbaijans independence, while the crescent and star are typically seen as markers of Islam, some historians and researchers disagree about why an eight-pointed star is used on the flag of Azerbaijan. Fatali Khan Khoyski points to the eight letters in the word Azerbaijan as written in Arabic, the eight points of the star are also thought to stand for the eight Turkic peoples of Azerbaijan. The problem is there are only seven Turkic peoples, Azeris, Ottomans, Jagatais, Tatars, Kipchaks, Selijuks and its possible the Kipchaks actually reflect two peoples, the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, which would make eight
30.
Flag of Belarus
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The national flag of Belarus is a red and green flag with a white and red ornament pattern placed at the staff end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus and it is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of symbols of communism, since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by Belarusian government officials and agencies have been modeled on this national flag. The white-red-white flag is used in protests against the government and by the Belarusian diaspora, the basic design of the national flag of Belarus was first described in Presidential Decree No.214 of June 7,1995. The flag is a rectangular cloth consisting of two stripes, a red upper stripe covering two-thirds of the flags height, and green lower stripe covering one-third. A vertical red-on-white Belarusian decorative pattern, which occupies one-ninth of the length, is placed against the flagstaff. The flags ratio of width to length is 1,2, the flag does not differ significantly from the flag of the Byelorussian SSR, other than the removal of the hammer and sickle and the red star, and the reversal of red and white in the hoist pattern. In addition to the 1995 decree, STB 911–2008, National Flag of the Republic of Belarus was published by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus in 2008. It gives the specifications of the national flag, such as the details of the colors. The red ornament design on the flag was, until 2012, 1⁄12 the width of the flag. As of 2012, the red pattern has occupied the whole of the white margin, the colors of the national flag are regulated in STB 911–2008, National Flag of the Republic of Belarus and are listed in the CIE Standard illuminant D65. A decorative pattern, designed in 1917 by Matrena Markevich, is displayed on the hoist of the flag, the pattern, derived from local plants and flowers, is a traditional type commonly used in Belarus. The regulations were issued in the decree that defined the Belarusian flag. May 15 has been declared the Day of the National Emblem, the national flag itself has been incorporated into the badge of the guard units in the Belarusian armed forces. The pole should be three times longer than the width of the flag, according to the 1995 presidential decree, the national flag is to be used on a staff that is colored gold. Other parts of the protocol specify the finial as diamond-shaped and colored in a yellow metal, in this diamond there is a five-pointed star. The diamond-pattern represents another continuation of Soviet flag-traditions, the flag of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted by decree on December 25,1951. The flag was modified in 1956 when construction details were added for the red star
31.
Flag of Belgium
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The national flag of Belgium is a tricolour of three bands of black, yellow, and red. The colours were taken from the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, when flown, the black band is nearest the pole. The territory then passed into Spanish hands, and after the coronation of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor yellow and red, from the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, the colours of what is now Belgium were red, white and yellow. Occasionally the red cross of Burgundy was placed on the section of the flag. During the period of Austrian rule, a number of different flags were tried, the population of Brussels was opposed to this, and following the example of France, red, yellow and black cockades began to appear, those being the colours of Brabant. The colours thus correspond to the red lion of Hainaut, Limburg and Luxembourg, the lion of Brabant. On August 26,1830, the day after the rioting at the Brussels Opera and the start of the Belgian Revolution, the insurgents hastily replaced it with a tricolour of red, yellow and black horizontal stripes made at a nearby fabric store. As a result, Article 193 of the Constitution of Belgium describes the colours of the Belgian nation as Red, Yellow and Black instead of using the order shown in the official flag. On January 23,1831, the changed from horizontal to vertical. The official guide to protocol in Belgium states that the national flag measures 2.60 m tall for each 3 m wide, each of the stripes is one-third of the width of the flag. The yellow is in yellow and not the darker gold of the flag of Germany. The national flag has the proportions of 13,15. The 2,3 flag is the ensign, the correct flag for use by civilians at sea. The naval ensign of Belgium has the three colours in a saltire, on a white field, with a black crown above crossed cannons at the top. There is also an official Belgian naval jack, which is the same as the flag, except in a 1,1 ratio. The royal standard of Belgium is the standard of the current king, Philippe, and features his monogram. The designs of royal standards of past monarchs have been similar, notably, the flag of Belgium flown on the Royal Palace of Brussels and the Royal Castle of Laeken is in none of the proportions above. It has the irregular 4,3 ratio, making it taller than it is wide and these proportions are explained as an aesthetic consideration, as the palaces are large, and the flags are thus viewed from far below, which makes them look more normal due to foreshortening
32.
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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The national flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow right triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag. The remainder of the flag is blue with seven full five-pointed white stars. The three points of the stand for the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. The triangle represents the shape of the territory of Bosnia. The stars, representing Europe are meant to be infinite in number, the flag features colours often associated with neutrality and peace – white, blue, and yellow. They are also traditionally associated with Bosnia. The blue background is suggestive of the flag of Europe, the present scheme is being used by both the Council of Europe which owns the flag and the European Union which adopted the Council of Europes flag in 1985. The green flag with the crescent and star pointing to the left was used by Bosniak landlords in border parts in southern and western Herzegovina. The flag was most commonly used in wars and it also accompanied the troops of the Eyalet of Bosnia during the second siege of Khotyn in Bukowina. It differs from Ottoman flag by size and direction of crescent, in the 1830s revolt by Husein Gradaščević the green flag with a yellow crescent and star was used. The revolts aim was for Bosnia to gain autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, in 1878 Bosnia existed briefly as an independent nation. Its flag was similar to the flag used by Husein Gradaščevićs revolt of 1830. It was green with a crescent and star, but had more curvature to a typical Islamic crescent moon symbol. The green/golden flag was in use for only two months. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina the flag was changed, the province of Bosnia used the flag that was red and yellow horizontally, but the province of Herzegovina used the same flag but with reversed colors. The coat of arms is one of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, Bosnian noble, the original medieval coat of arms had a white background and two red stripes in the top of the shield. Bosnia and Herzegovina also had a new coat of arms during the Yugoslav period and it was a symbol of industrialism in Bosnia at the time. On 6 April 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence from Yugoslavia, the flag chosen in 1992 has a white background with the Bosnian Fleur-de-lis in the centre
33.
Flag of Bulgaria
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The flag of Bulgaria is a tricolour consisting of three equal-sized horizontal bands of white, green and red. The flag was first adopted after the Russo-Turkish War, when Bulgaria gained independence, the national flag at times was charged with the state emblem, especially during the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria. The current flag was re-established with the 1991 Constitution of Bulgaria and was confirmed in a 1998 law. The new Constitution of Bulgaria, adopted in 1991, describes the Bulgarian flag as follows, A popular version of the flag and it has the full coat of arms on the left of the flag, placed across the white and green fields only. The Bulgarian flag through the centuries, history of the Bulgarian State Symbols
34.
Flag of Croatia
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The national flag of Croatia is one of the state symbols of Croatia. It consists of three equal size, horizontal stripes in red, white and blue. In the middle is the coat of arms of Croatia, the flag combines the colours of the flags of the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Slavonia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia. Those three kingdoms are the constituent states of the Croatian Kingdom. The red-white-blue tricolour has been used as the Croatian flag since 1848, while the Banovina of Croatia existed within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it had a similar flag without the modern crown above the chequy. During the Independent State of Croatia, the flag was like the modern, also, the first field of Croatian chequy was white. While Croatia was part of SFR Yugoslavia its tricolour was the same, the star was replaced by the coat in May 1990, shortly after the first multiparty elections. The shield is in the red and white checks of Croatia, above is a crown made of shields of its various regions. From left to right they are the ancient arms of Croatia, Dubrovnik, in 1626 Grand Prince Jure Sinovčić of Dalmatia adopted the Dalmatian shield to represent the Sinovčić Royal family as the Royal familys official coat of arms. Until 1526 this coat of arms was used to represent Croatia in general, apparent from the coat of arms of several kings, Louis I, Mary, Matthias Corvinus. It is also found on the seals of Sigismund of Luxembourg, Albert II, John Zápolya, Ferdinand I. Originally the coat of arms was three lion heads on red background, turned to left
35.
Flag of Cyprus
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The national flag of Cyprus came into use on August 16,1960, under the Zurich and London Agreements, whereby a constitution was drafted and Cyprus was proclaimed an independent state. The flag was designed by art teacher İsmet Güney, the flag deliberately chose peaceful and neutral symbols in an attempt to indicate harmony between the rival Greek and Turkish communities, an ideal that has not yet been realized. In 1963 Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities separated because of Cypriot intercommunal violence, the state flag features a map of the entirety of the island, with two olive branches below on white. The olive branches signify peace between the Turks and Greeks, the map on the flag is a copper-orange colour, symbolizing the large deposits of copper ore on the island, from which it may have received its name. Before the flag of Cyprus was introduced, the flags of Greece, the current flag was created as the result of a design competition in 1960. Under the constitution, the flag should not include blue or red colours. All participants deliberately avoided use of four elements in an attempt to make the flag neutral. The winning design was based on a proposal by İsmet Güney, the design was chosen by Makarios III, the first President of the Republic, with the consent of Fazil Küçük, the first Vice-President. Under the constitution of Cyprus, the flag of Cyprus may be flown by state institutions, public corporations, state institutions, public bodies and corporations may fly the flag of Cyprus along with both the flag of Greece and the flag of Turkey. Private citizens may fly the flag of Cyprus alongside either the Greek flag, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the establishment of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Turkish-Cypriots use the Flag of Northern Cyprus. In the design of August 1960, the colour of the map is copper, both the crest and the two olive-tree leaves are olive green. The background is white with the 3,5 ratio, Flags produced on Cyprus often differ from the original specifications, both regarding the size of the map and the colours used. The government announced in October 2005, that it would take steps to start from scratch and it is possible that any future Cyprus settlement will include the adoption of a new flag. Ismet Guney Cyprus Flag of Northern Cyprus Cyprus at Flags of the World Flags in Cyprus Cyprus Flag and Emblem - Cyprus Government Web Portal
36.
Flag of the Czech Republic
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The national flag of the Czech Republic is the same as the flag of the former Czechoslovakia. Upon the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic kept the Czechoslovak flag while Slovakia adopted its own flag, the first flag of Czechoslovakia was based on the flag of Bohemia, and was white over red. This was almost identical to the flag of Poland, so a blue triangle was added at the hoist in 1920, the flag was banned by the Nazis in 1939, and a horizontal tricolor of white, red, and blue was enforced. The 1920 flag was restored in 1945, after the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, the country had been using the red and white flag of Bohemia, identical to the Polish flag. Following calls for a new flag to be adopted by the state, a committee picked a design by Jaroslav Kursa. His design included the red and white horizontal stripes derived from the coat of arms of Bohemia, the Czech Republic violated this clause, passing legislation overruling the previous agreement and keeping the use of the flag. The blazon of this flag is per pall fesswise Argent, Azure, the flag is formed from an isosceles triangle that extends halfway along the rectangle and two bands, one white and one red. The most similar foreign flag is the flag of the Philippines but the latter has dimensions 1,2, another Czech official symbol is the Standard of the President of the Czech Republic. It was first introduced in 1918 for the President of Czechoslovakia, the current version, which was designed by heraldist Jiří Louda, was adopted upon the creation of an independent Czech Republic in 1993. Zbyšek Svoboda, Pavel Fojtík, brochure Naše vlajka, vznik a vývoj české vlajky, Libea,2005, ISBN 80-239-5862-3. Petr Exner, Pavel Fojtík, Zbyšek Svoboda, brochure Vlajky, prapory a jejich používání, Libea,2004, history of the Czech and Czechoslovak flag Czech Republic at Flags of the World Czech flag - facts, history, colors
37.
Flag of Denmark
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The Flag of Denmark is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag, the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a 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 Lyndanisse of 1219, the elongated Nordic cross reflects the use as maritime flag in the 18th century. The flag became popular as national flag in the early 19th century and its private use was outlawed in 1834, and again permitted in a regulation of 1854. The flag holds the record of being the oldest continuously used national flag. A red field charged with a white cross extending to the edges, in 1748, a regulation defined the correct lengths of the two last fields in the flag as 6⁄4. This regulation is still in effect today and thus the legal proportions of the National flag is today 3,1,3 in width, no official nuance definition of Dannebrog rød exists. The private company Dansk Standard, regulation number 359, defines the red colour of the flag as Pantone 186c, the white-on-red cross emblem originates in the age of the Crusades. In the 12th century, it was used as war flag by the Holy Roman Empire. In the Gelre Armorial, dated c, 1340–1370, such a banner is shown alongside the coat of arms of the king of Denmark. This is the earliest known undisputed colour rendering of the Dannebrog, at about the same time, Valdemar IV of Denmark displays a cross in his coat of arms on his Danælog seal. In this version, the lions are holding a Danebrog banner, the reason why the kings of Denmark in the 14th century begin displaying the cross banner in their coats of arms is unknown. Caspar Paludan-Müller suggested that it may reflect a banner sent by the pope to the Danish king in support of the Baltic countries, adolf Ditlev Jørgensen identifies the banner as that of the Knights Hospitaller, which order had a presence in Denmark from the later 12th century. The legend attributing the origin of the flag to the campaigns of Valdemar II of Denmark were recorded by Christiern Pedersen. The flag was lost in a defeat at the Battle of Hemmingstedt on 17 February 1500. In 1559, King Frederik II recaptured it during his own Dithmarschen campaign, in 1576, the son of Johan Rantzau, Henrik Rantzau, also writes about the war and the fate of the flag. He notes that the flag was in a condition when returned. In a letter dated 22 February 1500 to Oluf Stigsøn, King John describes the battle, in fact, the entire letter gives the impression that the lost battle was of limited importance
38.
Flag of Estonia
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The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue, black, and white. The normal size is 105 ×165 cm, in Estonian it is colloquially called the sinimustvalge, after the colours of the bands. The flag became associated with Estonian nationalism and was used as the flag when the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued on February 24,1918. The flag was adopted on November 21,1918. December 12,1918, was the first time the flag was raised as the symbol atop of the Pikk Hermann Tower in Tallinn. The invasion by the Soviet Union in June 1940 led to the flags ban and it was taken down from the most symbolic location, the tower of Pikk Hermann in Tallinn, on June 21,1940, when Estonia was still formally independent. On the next day,22 June, it was hoisted along with the red flag, the tricolour disappeared completely from the tower on July 27,1940, and was replaced by the flag of the Estonian SSR. During the German occupation from 1941 until 1944, the flag was accepted as the flag of Estonians. After the German retreat from Tallinn in September 1944, the Estonian flag was hoisted once again, when the Red Army arrived on 22 September, the red flag was just added at first. Soon afterwards, however, the flag disappeared. In its place from February 1953, the Estonian SSR flag was redesigned to include the six blue spiked waves on the bottom with the hammer, the flag remained illegal until the days of perestroika in the late 1980s. 21 October 1987 was the first time when Soviet forces didnt take down the flag at a public event,24 February 1989 the blue-black-white flag was again flown from the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn. It was formally re-declared as the flag on 7 August 1990. There are a number of interpretations attributed to the colours of the flag, CMYK equivalents, C=91, M=43, Y=0, K=0 RGB equivalents, R=0, G=114, B=206 The most recent Estonian Flag Act was passed 23 March 2005 and came into force on 14 June 2014. The Act specifies the colors in Pantone and CMYK formats, as well as specifying when it can be hoisted and how it can be used, the Act specifies that the flag is the ethnic and the national flag. More specifically, the Flag Act specifies that the flag be hoisted on the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn every day at sunrise, but not earlier than 7.00 a. m. and is lowered at sunset. Supporters of this claim that a tricolour gives Estonia the image of a post-Soviet or Eastern European country. Several Nordic cross designs were proposed already in 1919, when the flag was officially adopted
39.
Flag of Finland
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The flag of Finland, also called siniristilippu, dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic cross, the state flag has a coat of arms in the centre, but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed state flag is used by the military, like Swedens, Finlands national flag is based on the Scandinavian cross. It was adopted after independence from Russia, when many patriotic Finns wanted a flag for their country. The blue coloring is said to represent the thousands of lakes. This color combination has also used over the centuries in various Finnish provincial, military. The first known Flag of Finland was presented in 1848, along with the national anthem Maamme and its motif was the coat of arms of Finland, surrounded by laurel leaves, on a white flag. The current blue-crossed design was first used in Finland by Nyländska Jaktklubben, in addition to the blue cross on the white background, the yacht club flag had the crowned arms of the province of Uusimaa within two crossed branches in the upper hoist quarter. Except for the position of the cross, the flag was similar to the flag of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, the design can be traced to the Russian Navy ensign, which has a blue cross saltire on a white background. During the Crimean War, Finnish merchant ships captured by the British-French fleet flew a flag called Flag of St. George, in this variant, the cross was thinner than in the modern flag, and the proportions were equal. Another blue-cross flag was made official in 1861 for private vessels, in 1910, in connection with Russification of Finland, the Russian authorities decreed that a Russian flag was to be added to the canton. However, this was met with resistance, the flag was derided as the slaves flag, instead, a triangular pennant without this modification was flown, thereby circumventing the decree concerning flags. Shortly after Finland gained independence in 1917, a competition was held for the design of the Finnish flag. Regarding the colours, the entries fell mainly into two categories – one using the red and yellow from the Finnish coat of arms, one entry had the Dannebrog cross design, but with a yellow cross on a red background. Another entry had diagonal blue and white stripes, but it was criticized as being suitable for a barber shop than a newly independent country. Akseli Gallen-Kallela proposed a similar flag, but with colors inverted. Finally, artists Eero Snellman and Bruno Tuukkanen specified the form of the flag. The state flag was modified in 1922, when the coronet was removed
40.
Flag of France
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The national flag of France is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour, the royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the citys traditional colours. According to Lafayette, white, the ancient French colour, was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national and this cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, the only difference was that the 1790 flags colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794, the royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830, the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830. The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard dEstaing, which replaced a version of the flag. Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height and, initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30,33 and 37. Blue and red are the colours of Paris, used on the citys coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Saint Denis, at the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red cockades on their hats. White had long featured prominently on French flags and is described as the ancient French colour by Lafayette, white was added to the revolutionary colours of the militia cockade to nationalise the design, thus creating the tricolour cockade. Although Lafayette identified the white stripe with the nation, other accounts identify it with the monarchy, Lafayette denied that the flag contains any reference to the red-and-white livery of the Duc dOrléans. Despite this, Orléanists adopted the tricolour as their own, blue and red are associated with the Virgin Mary, the patroness of France, and were the colours of the oriflamme. The colours of the French flag may represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime. Blue, as the symbol of class, comes first and red, representing the nobility, both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order. Lafayettes tricolour cockade was adopted in July 1789, a moment of unity that soon faded. Royalists began wearing white cockades and flying flags, while the Jacobins. The tricolour, which combines royalist white with red, came to be seen as a symbol of moderation
41.
Flag of Georgia (country)
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The flag of Georgia, also known as the Five Cross Flag, is one of the national symbols of Georgia. Originally a banner of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, it was back to popular use in the late 20th. Prior to obtaining its status in 2004, the flag was popularized by the United National Movement. The current flag was used by the Georgian patriotic movement following the independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. However, it was not endorsed by the President, Eduard Shevardnadze and it was adopted in the early 2000s by the main opposition party, the United National Movement led by Mikheil Saakashvili, as a symbol of popular resistance to Shevardnadzes rule. The flag was adopted by Parliament on 14 January 2004, Saakashvili formally endorsed it via Presidential Decree No.31 signed on 25 January, following his election as President. 14 January is annually marked as a Flag Day in Georgia, the national flag of Georgia, as described in the decree, The Georgian national flag is a white rectangle, with in its central portion a large red cross touching all four sides of the flag. In the four there are four bolnur-katskhuri crosses of the same colour. The first Georgian flag design came about during the era of the early Georgian state, the subsequent Principality of Tao-Klarjeti, shared this same flag. The flag of the Kingdom of Abkhazia had 4 green strips in a position on the right side. The white flag with the single red St. Georges cross was used by King Vakhtang I in the 5th century. According to tradition, Queen Tamar used a flag with a red cross. In the 1367 map by Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, the flag of Tifilis is shown as a Jerusalem cross, according to D. Kldiashvili, the Jerusalem cross might have been adopted during the reign of King George V. After the collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, its successor states adopted their own flags, the kingdom was formed through the unification of Kartli and Kakheti. The flag had a cross against a black background. The country lost its independence in 1801 to annexation by the Russian Empire, while not technically a Georgian flag, this flag is of importance as Georgia was one of the founding countries of the federation. The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republics flag was a design, with a top band of dark yellow, a middle band of black. During Georgias brief existence as an independent state as the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921, the design resulted from a national flag-designing contest won by the painter Iakob Nikoladze
42.
Flag of Germany
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The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany, black, red, and gold. The flag was first adopted as the flag of modern Germany in 1919. Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red, which have played an important role in the history of Germany. The black-red-gold tricolour first appeared in the early 19th century and achieved prominence during the 1848 Revolutions, the short-lived Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–1850 proposed the tricolour as a flag for a united and democratic German state. With the formation of the Weimar Republic after World War I, following World War II, the tricolour was designated as the flag of both West and East Germany in 1949. The two flags were identical until 1959, when the East German flag was augmented with the coat of arms of East Germany, since reunification on 3 October 1990, the black-red-gold tricolour has become the flag of reunified Germany. After the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation adopted a tricolour of black-white-red as its flag and this flag later became the flag of the German Empire, formed following the unification of Germany in 1871, and was used until 1918. The colours of the flag are associated with the republican democracy formed after World War I. There are many theories in regarding the origins of the colour scheme used in the 1848 flag. Another claim goes back to the uniforms of the Lützow Free Corps, comprising mostly university students, the German national flag or Bundesflagge, containing only the black-red-gold tricolour, was introduced as part of the German constitution in 1949. Following the creation of government and military flags in later years. The government flag of Germany is officially known as the Dienstflagge der Bundesbehörden or Bundesdienstflagge for short, introduced in 1950, the government flag is the civil flag defaced with the Bundesschild, which overlaps with up to one fifth of the black and gold bands. The government flag may only be used by government authorities and its use by others is an offence. However, public use of similar to the Bundesdienstflagge is tolerated. In addition to the horizontal format, many public buildings in Germany use vertical flags. Most town halls fly their town flag together with the flag in this way. The proportions of these flags are not specified. When hung like a banner or draped, the band should be on the left
43.
Flag of Greece
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The national flag of Greece, officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols, is based on nine equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There is a canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross, the cross symbolises Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The blazon of the flag is Azure, four bars Argent, the official flag ratio is 2,3. The shade of blue used in the flag has varied throughout its history, from blue to dark blue. It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822, the nine stripes are also said to represent the letters of the word freedom. There is also a different theory, that the nine stripes symbolise the nine Muses, blue and white have many interpretations, symbolising the colours of the famed Greek sky and sea, traditional colours of Greek clothes in the islands and the mainland, etc. The origins of national flag with its cross-and-stripe pattern are a matter of debate. This flag was based on their coat of arms, whose pattern is supposed to be derived from the standards of their claimed ancestor and this pattern included nine stripes of alternating blue and white, as well as a cross, assumed to be placed on the upper left. Although the use of alternating blue and white - or silver - stripes on Kallergis coats of arms is well documented, however, in such cases of flags derived from much older designs, it is very difficult to prove or trace original influences. Flags as they are known today did not exist in Antiquity, instead, a variety of emblems and symbols were used to denote each state and were for example painted on the hoplite shields. The closest analogue to a flag were the vexillum-like banners used by ancient Greek armies, such as the so-called phoinikis. It is not known to have carried any device or decoration though, the Byzantines, like the Romans before them, used a variety of flags and banners, primarily to denote different military units. These were generally square or rectangular, with a number of streamers attached, most prominent among the early Byzantine flags was the labarum. Other common symbols, prominently featuring on seals, were depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints, Western European-style heraldry was largely unknown until the last centuries of the Empire. The tetragrammatic cross flag, as it appears in quarters II and III in this design, is well documented, in the same Spanish atlas this plain tetragrammatic cross flag is presented as the Flag of Salonika and the real Greece and Empire of the Greeks. Pseudo-Kodinos records the use of the cross on the banner borne by imperial naval vessels. During the Ottoman rule several unofficial flags were used by Greeks, usually employing the Byzantine double-headed eagle, the Christian Greek sipahi cavalry employed by the Ottoman Sultan were allowed to use their own, clearly Christian flag, when within Epirus and the Peloponnese. It featured the blue cross on a white field with the picture of St. George slaying the dragon, and was used from 1431 until 1639
44.
Flag of Hungary
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The flag of Hungary is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green. In this exact form, it has been the flag of Hungary since May 23,1957. The flags form originates from national republican movements of the 18th and 19th centuries and it both shares close relations to the flag of Bulgaria. The nation of Hungary originated from the freedom movement from before 1848. The revolution was not only in opposition against the monarchy but also the Habsburg Empire, the stripes are horizontal rather than vertical to prevent confusion with the Italian flag, which had also been designed after the French flag. According to other data, the recent form of the Hungarian tricolour had been used from 1608 at the coronation of Mathias II of Hungary. Folklore of the period attributed the colours to virtues, red for strength, white for faithfulness. Alternatively, red for the blood spilled for the fatherland, white for freedom and green for the land, the new constitution, which took effect on 1 January 2012, makes the ex-post interpretation mentioned first official. As described above, the red-white-green tricolour emerged as a sign of sovereignty during the 1848–1849 revolution against the Habsburgs. The flag had the minor arms of Hungary with archangels as supporters were used as a badge on the flag. This configuration was used until the end of the Habsburg Empire in 1918, after the fall of the Habsburg Empire, the years 1918 to 1920 were highly turbulent, and several hard-to-trace minor changes took place. The red-green-white tricolour stayed the same, but small differences emerged in terms of the badge, a short interlude and exception was the 1919 Hungarian Soviet Republic, which lasted for four-and-a-half months, it used a solid red banner. It seems that from 1920–1944 or 1945 the tricolour displayed the arms of Hungary. Between 1946 and 1949 the crown was removed from the top of the serving as the badge. With the onset of Communist rule in 1949, a new coat of arms featuring a Communist red star was placed on the flag as the badge. During the anti-Soviet uprising in 1956, revolutionaries cut out the Stalinist emblem, for some months the new government changed the flag to bear the minor arms without the crown as the badge again. Therefore, the flag of Hungary has been a pure red-white-green tricolour since 1957. After the fall of communism in 1989 there was no need to change the flag, there was a recommendation of the Committee of Symbols some years ago, that the coat of arms should be part of the state flag, while the national flag should remain plain
45.
Flag of Iceland
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The flag of Iceland was officially described in Law No. 34, set out on 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic, the arms of the cross extend to the edge of the flag, and their combined width is 2⁄9, but the red cross 1⁄9 of the combined width of the flag. The blue areas are right angled rectangles, the surfaces are parallel and the outer rectilinear surfaces as wide as them. The dimensions between the width and length are 18,25, Icelands first national flag was a white cross on a deep blue background. It was first shown in parade in 1897, the modern flag dates from 1915, when a red cross was inserted into the white cross of the original flag. It was adopted and became the flag when Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1918. For the Icelandic people the flags colouring represents a vision of their countrys landscape, the colours stand for 3 of the elements that make up the island. Red is the fire produced by the volcanoes, white recalls the ice and snow that covers Iceland. Cutting the inner edges of the rectangles at 4⁄7 of outer length. When this cut encounters the edge of the red cross it is cut vertically, according to a legend described in Andrew Evans Iceland, a red cloth with a white cross fell from the heavens, ensuring Danish victory at the Battle of Valdemar in the 13th century. Denmark then used the cross on its flag throughout its territories in Scandinavia as a sign of divine right, upon Icelands independence, they continued to use the Christian symbol. The civil flag of Iceland had been used as a symbol since 1913. It was officially adopted on 19 June 1915, to represent Iceland, and has been in use at sea since 1 December 1918, other symbolic meanings refer to the natural features of Iceland itself. Blue is the colour of the North Atlantic Ocean, white represents the snow and ice covering the island for most of the year, and red the volcanoes on the island. On 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic, a law was issued that dealt with the national flag, the law describes the dimensions of both the common flag and special governmental flags used by embassies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It also goes into details of usage, such as how the flag should be attached in different situations such as on a flagpole, according to the law, using the flag is a privilege and not a right. The owner must follow instructions on its usage and make sure that his or her flag is in mint condition regarding colouring and it also states that no-one shall disrespect the flag in act or word, subject to a fine or imprisonment of up to one year. This law states that the flag shall not be flown until 7 oclock in the morning, that it should preferably not be flown beyond sunset but that it must not be flown beyond midnight
46.
Flag of Ireland
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The national flag of Ireland – frequently referred to as the Irish tricolour – is a vertical tricolour of green, white, and orange. The proportions of the flag are 1,2, the Irish government has described the symbolism behind each colour as being that green represents the older Gaelic tradition while the orange represents the supporters of William of Orange. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the Orange and the Green, Meagher was the son of Newfoundland-born mayor of Waterford, Thomas Meagher Jr. The flag was adopted in 1916 by the Easter Rising rebels and its use was continued by the Irish Free State and it was later given constitutional status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. The tricolour is used by nationalists on both sides of the border as the flag of the whole island of Ireland since 1916. Thus it is flown by nationalists in Northern Ireland as well as by the Gaelic Athletic Association. In relation to the flag of Ireland, the Constitution of Ireland simply states in Article 7, The national flag is the tricolour of green, white. As there are no statutory requirements in relation to the flag. In its advisory role, the Department has issued guidelines to assist persons in their use of the national flag, the flag should be rectangular in shape and its length should be two times its width, translating into an aspect ratio of 1,2. The three coloured pales — green, white and orange — should be of size. Provided that the proportions are observed, the flag may be made to any convenient size. The green pale in the flag symbolises Irish republicanism dating back to the Society of United Irishmen in the 1790s and his title came from the Principality of Orange in the south of France that had been a Protestant bastion from the 16th century. It was included in the Irish flag in an attempt to reconcile the Orange Order in Ireland with the Irish independence movement, the white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the two cultures and a living together in peace. There are exceptions to the general beneficent theory, Green was also used as the colour of such Irish bodies as the mainly-Protestant and non-sectarian Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick, established in 1751. Occasionally, differing shades of yellow, instead of orange, are seen at civilian functions, however the Department of the Taoiseach state that this is a misrepresentation which should be actively discouraged, and that worn-out flags should be replaced. In songs and poems, the colours are sometimes enumerated as green, white and gold, variants of different guises are utilised to include -for example, various emblems of Ireland, such as the presidential harp, the four provinces or county arms. A green flag featuring a harp is described as being used by Owen Roe ONeill in 1642, in the late 18th century green had become associated as the colour of revolution. The United Irishmen, founded in the 1790s, were inspired by the French revolution, the colours were also used in the same period for rosettes and badges, and on the banners of trade guilds
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Flag of Italy
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The flag of Italy is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side. Its current form has been in use since 18 June 1946 and was adopted on 1 January 1948. The first entity to use the Italian tricolour was the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, a more religious interpretation is that the green represents hope, the white represents faith, and the red represents charity, this references the three theological virtues. The tricolour was used for the first time on November 13–14. The law students defined themselves as patriots and wore tricolour cockades to signal they were insipred by Jacobin revolutionary ideals, standard or flag of three colours, green, white, and red. The flag was maintained until 1802, when it was renamed the Napoleonic Italian Republic, and a new flag was adopted, in 1799, the independent Republic of Lucca came under French influence and adopted as its flag a horizontal tricolour with green uppermost, this lasted until 1801. In 1805 Napoleon installed his sister, Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi, as Princess of Lucca and this affair is commemorated in the opening of Leo Tolstoys War and Peace. In the same year, after Napoleon had crowned himself first French Emperor, the flag of the Kingdom of Italy was that of the Republic in rectangular form, charged with the golden Napoleonic eagle. This remained in use until the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, between 1848 and 1861, a sequence of events led to the independence and unification of Italy, this period of Italian history is known as the Risorgimento, or resurgence. During this period, the became the symbol which united all the efforts of the Italian people towards freedom. The Italian tricolour, defaced with the Savoyan coat of arms, was first adopted as war flag by the Kingdom of Sardinia–Piedmont army on 1848, in his Proclamation to the Lombard-Venetian people, Charles Albert said. In order to more clearly with exterior signs the commitment to Italian unification. Have the Savoy shield placed on the Italian tricolour flag, as the arms, blazoned gules a cross argent, mixed with the white of the flag, it was fimbriated azure, blue being the dynastic colour, although this does not conform to the heraldic rule of tincture. The rectangular civil and state variants were adopted in 1851 and it is worthy of note, however, that the arms bear the red-white-red flag of Austria, the opponent of Italian unification. This flag lasted from 3 April 1848 until 19 May 1849, the Provisional Government of Sicily, which lasted from 12 January 1848 to 15 May 1849, adopted the Italian tricolour, defaced with the trinacria, or triskelion. These lasted until 6 and 24 August 1849 respectively, in 1849, the new Roman Republic adopted an Italian tricolour, sent from Venice, bearing the legend DIO E POPOLO in red capital letters. This lasted for four months, while the Papal States of the Church was in abeyance, in 1860, the flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was again modified to the defaced Italian tricolour with the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies coat of arms. On 15 April 1861, the flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia was declared the flag of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy
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Flag of Kazakhstan
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The current flag of Kazakhstan or Kazakh flag was adopted on 4 June 1992, replacing the flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The flag was designed by Shaken Niyazbekov, the color choices had preserved the Soviet era flag minus the red. The width of the flag to its length is 1,2, the gold and blue colors were inherited from the former Soviet flag which were the gold from the hammer and sickle and the cyan bar from the bottom of the flag. The pattern represents the art and cultural traditions of the old khanate, the sun represents a source of life and energy. It is also a symbol of wealth and abundance, the rays are a symbol of the steppes grain which is the basis of abundance. People of different Kazakh tribes had the eagle on their flags for centuries. The eagle symbolizes the power of the state, for the modern nation of Kazakhstan the eagle is a symbol of independence, freedom and flight to future. Emblem of Kazakhstan Flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic List of Kazakh flags Kazakhstan at Flags of the World Kazakhstan - Vexillographia Flag of the Kazakh ASSR
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