The national flag of France is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Revolution, whose revolutionaries were influenced by the horizontally striped red-white-blue flag of the Netherlands. While not the first tricolour, it became one of the most influential flags in history. The tricolour scheme was later adopted by many other nations in Europe and elsewhere, and, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica has historically stood "in symbolic opposition to the autocratic and clericalist royal standards of the past".
The national flag of Romania is a tricolour featuring three equal vertical bands colored blue, yellow and red, with a width to length ratio of 2:3.
The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the Blue-and-White or the Cyan-and-White, is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the crossp symbolises Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The blazon of the flag is Azure, four bars Argent; on a canton of the field a Greek cross throughout of the second. The official flag ratio is 2:3. The shade of blue used in the flag has varied throughout its history, from light blue to dark blue, the latter being increasingly used since the late 1960s. It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822.
The national flag of Switzerland displays a white cross in the center of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross or the federal cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6. The size of the cross in relation to the field was set in 2017 as 5:8. Alongside the flag of Vatican City, the Swiss flag is one of only two square national flags in the world.
The national flag of Turkey, officially the Turkish flag, is a red flag featuring a white star and crescent on its emblem, a prominent symbol of the Ottoman Empire. Although the symbol is now a recognized symbol of Islam, it does not carry any religious meaning on the Turkish flag. The flag is often called "the red flag", and is referred to as "the red banner" in the Turkish national anthem. The measures, geometric proportions, and exact tone of red of the flag of Turkey were legally standardized with the Turkish Flag Law on 29 May 1936.
The national flag of the Union of the Comoros was designed in 2001 and officially adopted on 23 December of that year. It continues to display the crescent and four stars, which is a motif that has been in use in various forms since 1975 during the independence movement. In its constitution, the government of the Comoros refers to the insignia as l'emblème national, or the "national emblem", though it is understood to actually represent a flag.
The Flag of Spain, as it is defined in the Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the height of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle stripe was defined by the more archaic term of gualda, and hence the popular name la Rojigualda (red-weld).
The national flag of Tajikistan was adopted in November 1992, replacing the flag of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic of 1953. The flag features Iranian colors in a horizontal tricolor of red, white, and green, with a yellow crown surmounted by an arc of seven stars at the centre. It has a width ratio of 2:3:2. The tricolor preserves the choice of colors in the former Tajik Soviet flag, as well as the 1:2 proportions.
The national flag of Togo consists of five horizontal stripes, alternating between green and yellow, with a red square bearing a five-pointed white star in the canton. It is one of many African flags that use the pan-African colours of green, yellow, and red. Togolese artist Paul Ahyi designed the flag in 1960, just before its adoption on 27 April of that year, coinciding with Togo's proclamation of independence. When Togo was an autonomous republic within the French Union, it flew a green flag with the French tricolour in the canton and two five-pointed yellow stars, one in the lower hoist and one in the upper fly.
The National Emblem of the People's Republic of China is a national symbol of the People's Republic of China and contains in a red circle a representation of Tiananmen Gate, the entrance gate to the Forbidden City, where Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Above this representation are the five stars found on the national flag. The largest star represents the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while the four smaller stars represent the four revolutionary social classes as defined in Maoism. The emblem is described as being "composed of patterns of the national flag":
...The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution and the yellow color of the stars the golden brilliant rays radiating from the vast red land. The design of four smaller stars surrounding a bigger one signifies the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
—China Yearbook 2004
The flag of the United Nations is a sky blue banner containing the United Nations' emblem in the centre. The emblem on the flag is coloured white; it is a depiction of the world map in the azimuthal equidistant projection, surrounded by a pair of olive branches. The emblem was officially adopted on 7 December 1946, and the flag containing the emblem was officially adopted on 20 October 1947.
The coat of arms of the Swiss Confederation shows the same white-on-red cross as the flag of Switzerland, but on a heraldic shield instead of the square field.
The flag of Udmurtia is one of the official state symbols of the Udmurt Republic, along with its emblem and anthem. The proportion of width and length of the flag is 1:2. It is a rectangular three-color cloth consisting of vertical equal stripes of black, white and red with an eight-pointed red cross. The black colour in the flag is a symbol of the earth and stability, red means the sun and life and white means a space and moral purity. The designer of the flag of the Udmurt Republic was Yuri Lobanov. The appropriate law N26-РЗ "On the National Flag of the Udmurt Republic" appeared on 30 April 2002.
The island nation of Malta has a variety of national flags and symbols, some current and some no longer in use.
The state flag of the Altai Republic in southeastern Russia is a four stripe bicolour of light blue and white. The width of the stripes, from top to bottom, are 67+4+4+25. The white symbolizes eternity, tendency to revival, love, and the consent of the peoples within the republic. The blue symbolizes cleanliness, mountains, rivers, lakes, and heaven.
The national flag of Mexico is a vertical tricolor of green, white, and red with the national coat of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War of Independence, and subsequent First Mexican Empire.
The flag and emblem of Selangor are state symbols of Selangor, Malaysia. These two symbols are distinct from each other in style. Similar to other states of Malaysia with Malay royalties, both the flag and arms of Selangor are influenced by royalties, Islam, and political symbols of the state.
The national flag of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Five-star Red Flag, is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off towards the fly. It has been the national flag of China since the foundation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. The flag was designed by Zeng Liansong.
Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, the peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity. The red flag, the hammer and sickle and the red star or variations thereof are some of the symbols adopted by communist movements, governments, and parties worldwide.
