when you look at the flags of various narions, many of them look very similar.
Poland, for example, has a flag that is white on top, and red on the bottom, and the flag of Indonesia is the exact opposite of this. (Red top, white bottom). Monaco also has a red top, white bottom flag, however it differs from Indonesia’s in that it is shorter.
Who decides what country gets to display a particular pattern, and can a country fly whatever they want?
There was a (rather silly) dispute between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia about the latter countries use of a flag based on symbolism associated with Alex the Great. The countries agreed to go to the UN for arbitration, and Macedonia ended up with a similar but different flag.
I don’t think there’s any formal procedure for such things though.
Chad and Romania have the same flag and it does not seem to have hurt anything.
A sovereign nation adopts what flag it sees fit, and potential conflicts are resolved on a case-by-case basis. Evidently Monaco and Indonesia have not been particularly conflicted about it, nor apparently the Netherlands and Luxemburg or Romania and Chad. In WW2 there were issues with the Mexican and Italian shipping ensigns being too similar to one another with both countries being in opposite sides of the conflict, that were not dealt with until well into the postwar. As Simplicio mentioned the original flag of Macedonia created the usual diplomatic froofraw from Greece so there was a negotiated change about (it helps when the country is only two years old, not as invested in it).
(Then of course you have the cases of the Central American and the northern Former-Yugoslav republics, who basically adopted variations on the flag of the country from which they spun off with sometimes too-subtle detail changes; or the similar multiple variations of the Arab or African “unity” flags adopted by countries of those respective regions. I call for a moratorium on linear tricolors.)
Chad has made noises about demanding Romania change their flag, which is fair enough since Chad had it first. However, Romania told them to sod off.
At least two flags feature the AK-47. So the Kalashnikov ia behind the cross and the crescent moon. But it’s ahead if the star of David, Buddha, hammer and sickle, and the maple leaf.
Now Romania’s on the list. With Andorra and Moldova right behind.
Andorra had it a century earlier…
During the 1936 Summer Olympics, it was discovered that the flags of Liechtenstein and Haiti were identical, being horizontal blue over red bands. Liechtenstein subsequently added a crown to their flag.
The flags of the Netherlands and Luxembourg are an almost identical horizontal tricolor of red, white, and blue, although Luxembourg uses a lighter shade of blue. Paraguay’s flag is also similar to the Netherlands except that it’s defaced by the coat of arms on one side and the seal of the treasury on the other. Similarly with the flag of Croatia which features the Croatian coat of arms.
There is no centralised flag-assigning institution, or even a formalised process. In principle, any country has the power to define its own flag unilaterally. If conflicts arise (as in the Greece versus Macedonia case, which goes far beyond the flag and even includes Macedonia’s name), it is dealt with on an ad hoc basis.
What is it about the blue / yellow / red vertical tricolour, which makes it so particularly attractive? (Moldova is contiguous to Romania, and has spent time in the past as Romanian territory, so the likeness there would seem understandable.)
According to Wiki, the Moldovan and Andorran flags bear within the central, yellow stripe, distinctive heraldic badges, which would seem to lessen the problem. Up to 1989, the same applied to the flag of Romania – IIRC, a device showing oil derricks and pine trees, among other things – subsequently expunged from the flag, I gather because of its Communist associations. It was only then, that the Romanian and Chadian flags became identical. One feels that both countries have a valid point: Chad had the “plain” version of the flag first, but Romania has been a sovereign state for a lot longer.
Likewise, I gather – for a similar reason – with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a flag which is different on the two sides. I’m not suggesting you’re wrong; it’s simply news to me.
Are there others? Which side is the preferred side, the one you’d paint on a wall for instance? Do you have any links to interesting sites (or cites :)) on the topic?
I suppose there could be trouble if Ireland and Italy were ever to go to war.
Chad and Romania have the same flag. Wow, thank you for teaching me this information. I had absolutely no idea and can not believe this neat fact eluded me my whole life.
Thanks!
I was just reading about the origins or the Confederate Battle Flag. At the beginning of the American Civil War, the “official” Flag of the Confederacy (The Stars and Bars) was too similar to the Union’s Flag (The Stars and Stripes) and the respective armies tended to shoot at their own people. Thus there was a need then to have distinctly different flags waving about. I suppose if Poland starts to march her armies to Indonesia, we’ll have to work something out …
watchwolf49 that’s how come many countries have distinctive battle/naval/merchant shipping *ensigns * for use when it counts to be recognized before point-blank range
For your viewing pleasure, the state of Oregon.
The Paraguay flag has apparently had the practice of a different charge in obverse/reverse since the very beginning.
AIUI the standard vexillological “obverse” of a flag when represented flat horizontal relative to the viewer, is the side which has the hoist end to the viewer’s left (flag’s own dexter).
Again, each country gets to do its own protocol – for instance when the US flag is to be depicted flat against a surface, the union (star field) is always to the viewer’s upper left whether the flag is displayed short side up or long side up; but in many other countries the short-side-up display is strictly a 90% clockwise rotation of the flat horizontal obverse, and I would not be surprised if in some few they’d have a specific design for hanging it vertical.
Missed edit window:
That should be “flat against a static surface” – when depicted flat against the side of a vehicle or aircraft or a person’s uniform, it’s depicted with the hoist side *forward *in the normal direction of motion. Again, in many other countries in those cases it’s just displayed in the standard obverse format anyway.
The more likely confusion is between Ireland and Ivory Coast. This can be problematic in certain areas of West Belfast.
I once worked with a very nice Irish lady who had, long before that, worked for a while as a nanny in Italy. She said that when she got homesick, she found comfort in looking at the ubiquitous Italian flags and pretending that the red stripe, was orange.
Priceless ! Only in Belfast – or, maybe, Glasgow too.
