Flag of Yugoslavia
The flag of Yugoslavia was the official flag of the Yugoslav state from 1918 to 1992. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from the Pan-Slavic movement, which ultimately led to the unification of the South Slavs and the creation of a united south-Slavic state in 1918.
The flag had three equal horizontal bands of blue, white, and red and was first used by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1941. A red star was added in its center by the victorious Yugoslav Partisans in World War II and this design was used until the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, whereupon the changes where reverted. This version continued to be used by the direct successor state to Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, until its own dissolution in 2006. Today, the flag still holds meaning to those nostalgic for Yugoslavia or who admire its anti-fascist symbolism.
Design and symbolism
The flag of Yugoslavia is a horizontal tricolour of blue, white and red. The design and colours are based on the Pan-Slavic flag adopted at the Pan-Slavic Congress of 1848, in Prague. Following the end of the First World War in 1918, the Southern Slavs united into a single unitary state of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as Yugoslavia. The monarchy selected the pan-Slavic design to symbolise the new founded unity of all Southern Slavs. The design consisted of a simple horizontal tricolour with three equal bands of blue, white and red. Following the end of the Second World War and the abolition of the monarchy in 1945, the new Communist government retained the design of the flag but added a red star with yellow border in the centre. This flag remained in use until the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in 1992, after which the new union of Serbia and Montenegro removed the red star and retained a plain tricolour flag until their dissolution in 2006.Colors scheme | Blue | White | Red | Yellow |
| CMYK | 100-61-0-42 | 0-0-0-0 | 0-100-100-12 | 0-17-91-1 |
| HEX | #003893 | #FFFFFF | #DE0000 | #FCD115 |
| RGB | 0-56-147 | 255-255-255 | 222-0-0 | 252-209-21 |
Constituent republics flags
Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal socialist republic, consisting of six sub-level constituent republics. Each constituent republic had its own flag and emblem. Most of the flags were based on the old historical flags of the respective Yugoslav states, except the flag of the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia which only gained statehood after World War II. SR Croatia, SR Montenegro, SR Serbia, and SR Slovenia all used the pan-Slavic colors, red, white and blue, in the particular way in which there were already traditional for in the respective countries. They were all embellished by a communist symbol, the red star. This standardization meant that SR Montenegro and SR Serbia had identical flags, as they continued the use of the tricolours of the Kingdom of Montenegro and the Kingdom of Serbia respectively. As for Bosnia and Herzegovina, because of its multiethnic character, its flag consisted of a red flag but with a small SFR Yugoslav flag in the canton. The red and yellow of the flag of SR Macedonia reflected the colours of the traditional coat of arms with a lion of the region.History
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The national flag of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia was blue-white-red in the horizontal sense against a vertical staff. The common national civil flag was the same as the historic Pan-Slavic flag approved at the Pan-Slavic Congress in Prague, 1848.The naval ensign of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is blue-white-red with the simplified lesser coat of arms: On one third of the ensign length there shall be the state coat of arms with the crown. The height of the arms and crown shall be half of the ensign height.
The flags of the Kingdom were in official use from 1922 until the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was occupied by Axis powers in 1941. After that, the flag was used by the officially recognized government in exile, diplomatic representatives, and the Allies until 1945. During the Second World War, Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland continued to use the flag.
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was established on December 1, 1918 and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 3, 1929. The state's first flag was officially adopted in 1922. All Yugoslav flags were variations on the Pan-Slavic flag adopted at the Pan-Slavic Congress in Prague in 1848. The Pan-Slavic flag was a plain blue-white-red tricolor in the horizontal sense against a vertical staff, and the national flag and civil and state ensign during the 1918–1943 period was exactly the same. The naval ensign during the period was the blue-white-red tricolor with the simplified lesser coat of arms of Yugoslavia.
The Corfu Declaration mentions that individual Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian national flags and coats of arms are equal and can be displayed and used freely on all occasions.