National flag
A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colors and symbols, which may also be used separately from the flag as a symbol of the nation. The design of a national flag is sometimes altered after the occurrence of important historical events.
History
Historically, flags originated as military standards, used as field signs. Throughout history, various examples of such proto-flags exist: the white cloth banners of the Zhou dynasty's armies in the 11th century BC, the vexillum standards flown by the armies of the Roman Empire, the Black Standard famously carried by Muhammad which later became the flag of the Abbasid Caliphate, and the various "Raven banners" flown by Viking chieftains. Angelino Dulcert published a series of comprehensive Portolan charts in the 14th century AD, which famously showcased the flags of several polities depicted – although these are not uniformly "national flags", as some were likely the personal standards of the respective nation's rulers.The practice of flying flags indicating the country of origin outside of the context of warfare became common with the maritime flag. During the 13th century, the republics of Genoa and Venice both used maritime flags; William Gordon Perrin wrote that the republic of Genoa was "one of the earliest states to adopt a national flag".
The current design of the flag of the Netherlands originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue Prinsenvlag, that was used in the Dutch War of Independence, evolving in the early 17th century as the red-white-blue Statenvlag, the naval flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic, making the Dutch flag perhaps the oldest tricolour flag in continuous use, although standardisation of the exact colours is of a much later date.
During the Age of Sail in the early 17th century, the Union Jack finds its origins, when James VI of Scotland inherited the English and Irish thrones. On 12 April 1606, the new flag representing this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England, and the flag of Scotland, would be joined, forming the flag of Great Britain and first Union Flag - but then without the red Cross of St. Patrick. It continued in use until 1 January 1801, the effective date of the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Cross of St. Patrick was incorporated into the flag, giving the Union Jack its current design.
With the emergence of nationalist sentiment from the late 18th century national flags began to be displayed in civilian contexts as well. Notable early examples include the US flag, which was first adopted as a naval ensign in 1777 but began to be displayed as a generic symbol of the United States after the American Revolution, and the French Tricolor, which became a symbol of the Republic in the 1790s.
Most countries of Europe standardised and codified the designs of their maritime flags as national flags, in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The specifications of the flag of Denmark, based on a flag that was in continuous use since the 14th-century, were codified in 1748, as a rectangular flag with certain proportions, replacing the variant with a split. The flag of Switzerland was introduced in 1889, also based on medieval war flags.
File:La prima bandiera italiana portata in Firenze - Francesco Saverio Altamura.jpg|thumb|The first Italian flag brought to Florence by Francesco Saverio Altamura
In Europe, the red-white-blue tricolour design of the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands became popular, since it was associated with a republican form of government through that country's long war of independence against the Spanish Crown. That association was greatly reinforced after the French Revolution, when France used the same colours, but with vertical instead of horizontal stripes. Other countries in Europe and in South and Central America selected tricolours of their own to express their adherence to the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity as embodied in the French flag, although some adopted a monarchical form of government with a constitution instead of a republican government.
The Ottoman flag was adopted in 1844. Other non-European powers followed the trend in the late 19th century, the flag of Great Qing being introduced in 1862, that of Japan being introduced in 1870.
Also in the 19th century, most countries of South America introduced a flag as they became independent
Currently, there are 193 national flags in the world flown by sovereign states that are members of the United Nations.
Process of adoption
The national flag is often mentioned or described in a country's constitution, but its detailed description may be delegated to a flag law passed by the legislature, or even secondary legislation or in monarchies a decree.Thus, the national flag is mentioned briefly in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949 "the federal flag is black-red-gold", but its proportions were regulated in a document passed by the government in the following year. The Flag of the United States is not defined in the constitution but rather in a separate Flag Resolution passed in 1777.
Minor design changes of national flags are often passed on a legislative or executive level, while substantial changes have constitutional character. The design of the flag of Serbia omitting the communist star of the flag of Yugoslavia was a decision made in the 1992 Serbian constitutional referendum, but the adoption of a coat of arms within the flag was based on a government "recommendation" in 2003, adopted legislatively in 2009 and again subject to a minor design change in 2010. The flag of the United States underwent numerous changes because the number of stars represents the number of states, proactively defined in a Flag Act of 1818 to the effect that "on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag"; it was changed most recently in 1960 with the accession of Hawaii.
A change in national flag is often due to a change of regime, especially following a civil war or revolution. In such cases, the military origins of the national flag and its connection to political ideology remains visible. In such cases national flags acquire the status of a political symbol.
The flag of Germany, for instance, was a tricolour of black-white-red under the German Empire, inherited from the North German Confederation. The Weimar Republic that followed adopted a black-red-gold tricolour. Nazi Germany went back to black-white-red in 1933, and black-red-gold was reinstituted by the two successor states, West Germany and East Germany, with East Germany's flag being defaced with Communist symbols, following World War II. Similarly the flag of Libya introduced with the creation of the Kingdom of Libya in 1951 was abandoned in 1969 with the coup d'état led by Muammar Gaddafi. It was used again by National Transitional Council and by anti-Gaddafi forces during the Libyan Civil War in 2011 and officially adopted by the Libyan interim Constitutional Declaration.
Usage
There are three distinct types of national flag for use on land, and three for use at sea, though many countries use identical designs for several of these types of flag.On land
On land, there is a distinction between civil flags, state flags, and war or military flags. Civil flags may be flown by anyone regardless of whether they are linked to government, whereas state flags are those used officially by government agencies. War flags are used by military organizations such as Armies, Marine Corps, or Air Forces.In practice, many countries have identical flags for these three purposes; national flag is sometimes used as a vexillological term to refer to such a three-purpose flag. In a number of countries, however, and notably those in Latin America, there is a distinction between civil and state flags. In most cases, the civil flag is a simplified version of the state flag, with the difference often being the presence of a coat of arms on the state flag that is absent from the civil flag.
Very few countries use a war flag that differs from the state flag. Taiwan, Japan, and China are notable examples of this. Swallow-tailed flags are used as war flags and naval ensigns in Nordic countries and charged versions as presidential or royal standards. The Philippines does not have a distinctive war flag in this usual sense, but the flag of the Philippines is legally unique in that it is flown with the red stripe on top when the country is in a state of war, rather than the conventional blue.
At sea
The flag that indicates nationality on a ship is called an ensign. As with the national flags, there are three varieties: the civil ensign, flown by private vessels; state ensigns, flown by government ships; and war ensigns, flown by naval vessels. The ensign is flown from an ensign-staff at the stern of the ship, or from a gaff when underway. Both these positions are superior to any other on the ship, even though the masthead is higher. In the absence of a gaff the ensign may be flown from the yardarm. National flags may also be flown by aircraft and the land vehicles of important officials. In the case of aircraft, those flags are usually painted on, and those are usually to be painted on in the position as if they were blowing in the wind.In some countries, such as the United States and Canada, the national ensign is identical to the national flag, while in others, such as the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Japan and Thailand, there are specific ensigns for maritime use. Most countries do not have a separate state ensign, although the United Kingdom is a rare exception, in having a red ensign for civil use, a white ensign as its naval ensign, and a blue ensign for government non-military vessels. Italian naval ensign bears the arms of the Italian Navy: a shield, surmounted by a turreted and rostrum crown, which brings together in four parts the arms of four ancient maritime republics.