White and red with a blue triangle: it was born in 1920 for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic kept it when it split from Slovakia.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil, state and military, on land and at seaFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio with two stripes and a triangle.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
When Czechoslovakia was born, in 1918, it began using a white and red flag
Several proposals were studied and, on 30 March 1920, the Parliament approved the current one,…
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of the Czech Republic has two horizontal stripes, white and red, and a blue triangle that comes in from the mast side to the middle of the cloth. It has a curious history: it was not born for the Czech Republic but for Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exists.
The white and red are the colours of Bohemia, the largest region of the country. Since the Middle Ages its coat of arms has shown a white two-tailed lion on a red ground.
When Czechoslovakia was born, in 1918, it began using a white and red flag. But there was a problem: it was identical to Poland’s, which became independent that same year. Besides, it said nothing about the Slovaks, who were also part of the new country. Several proposals were studied and, on 30 March 1920, the Parliament approved the current one, with the blue triangle. Almost all experts attribute the design to Jaroslav Kursa, an archivist at the Ministry of the Interior.
The flag has disappeared and come back with the history of the country.
1918-1920
The new Czechoslovakia uses the white and red flag of Bohemia.
1920
The blue triangle is added to tell it apart from the Polish one.
1939-1945
Nazi Germany occupies the country and bans the flag. In its place it imposes three stripes: white, red and blue.
1945
When the war is over, the triangle flag comes back.
1993
Czechoslovakia splits into two countries. Slovakia debuts a flag and the Czech Republic keeps the usual one.
There is no official meaning, but there are several known readings:
White and red
the colours of the coat of arms of Bohemia, with its white lion on red.
Blue
it is usually said to represent Slovakia or Moravia. Many experts believe it was chosen above all so the flag would be easy to recognise.
On the split, in 1992, a law said that neither of the two new countries could use the symbols of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic kept the flag anyway, which annoyed the Slovaks.
The first white and red flag of Czechoslovakia was raised officially on 18 October 1918 in the house where Tomáš Masaryk lived, in the United States. Masaryk would be the first president of the country.
Czech adults are reminded that the foam of the beer always stays on top. Children are told that if the red were on top, the paint would run down onto the white.
Test what you have read about the flag of Czech Republic.
Text based on the article “Bandera de la República Checa” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Jaroslav Kursa, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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