GeezerVison

ANDORRA • Andorra adopted a new flag around 1866.

GERMANY • The Austro-Prussian War ended on August 23 with the signing of the Peace of Prague. The German Confederation was officially dissolved. The black-red-gold tricolour, which had been flown by Austria and its southern allies during the war, fell out of use.

Shortly after, on September 20, Prussia annexed Frankfurt, Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau.

Prussia also annexed the former territory of Hesse-Homburg, whose ruler had died without an heir on March 24.

Sometime this year, the two Schwarzburg principalities agreed to have a single common flag.

HONDURAS • Honduras adopted a distinct flag on March 7. The five stars represented the five states of the former Federal Republic of Central America.

TONGA • Tonga adopted a new flag, designed by Methodist missionary Shirley Waldemar Baker at the request of King George Tupou I.

¹ The former flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, which remained in use as an unofficial symbol of the country. ↩

² An unofficial local flag. The British colony of Newfoundland had no distinctive local symbols. Note that "Native" here means "born in the colony" and has nothing to do with the First Nations. ↩

³ Flown by the French-backed Second Mexican Empire ↩

⁴ Flown by Republican guerrillas opposed to the Imperial regime. ↩

⁵ Flown by the government, the navy, the national police, and national sports teams. Raised at major ceremonies. The army uses a similar flag with a different coat of arms. ↩

⁶ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

⁷ The most common Costa Rican flag. Officially designated for private citizens, but in practice often used on government buildings and schools too. ↩

⁸ Flown by the government and by diplomatic missions, although also used sometimes by private citizens. ↩

⁹ Flown by Cuban nationalists and revolutionaries who sought independence from Spain. ↩

¹⁰ Flown by the government and armed forces. ↩

¹¹ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

¹² Flown by the government and armed forces, and unofficially used by many private citizens. ↩

¹³ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

¹⁴ The most commonly reported flag from the period. Flags with green, white and red stripes also seem to have been used. Probably flown exclusively on ships. The Turkish flag was the official national flag. ↩

¹⁵ Flown over the palace in Rabat and on ships. Military flags on land were often dectorated with a yellow or green octagram. ↩

¹⁶ Arab monarchies, especially those in and around the Gulf, flew plain red flags from their ships. These weren't quite "national flags" in the modern sense, but European powers tended to view them that way. ↩

¹⁷ Officially all of the Trucial States were supposed to fly a square red flag with a thick white border. In practice this flag became exclusively associated with the Al Qasimi dynasty. The other states mostly flew plain red flags. ↩

¹⁸ Flown by exclusively by the sultan as a symbol of religious authority. Not really a "national flag" as we'd understand it in modern terms. The sultan also gave white flags to his vassal emirs within the Caliphate. ↩

¹⁹ Flown by private citizens and merchant ships. The "Italian Social Republic", the Nazi puppet regime in the north, flew the plain tricolour as a national flag and had a war flag with an eagle gripping a fasces. The anti-fascist Italian partisans flew either plain tricolours or tricolours with a white or red star on the middle stripe. ↩

²⁰ Flown by the government and navy. ↩

²¹ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

²² Flown by the royal house, the government, and the armed forces. Also granted to a select list of private institutions and companies. ↩

²³ Allowed to be flown by anyone. The union mark in the top-left corner of the flag was flown on its own as a joint diplomatic flag for Sweden and Norway. ↩

²⁴ Flown only on state-owned buildings and naval ships. ↩

²⁵ Allowed to be flown by anyone. The union mark in the top-left corner of the flag was flown on its own as a joint diplomatic flag for Sweden and Norway. ↩

²⁶ Flown on government buildings and by the military. ↩

²⁷ Flown on land within Greece. The military flag had a crown in the centre of the cross. ↩

²⁸ Flown at sea and abroad. The naval ensign had a crown in the centre of the cross. ↩

²⁹ Flag of the federal army, treated as an unofficial national flag. ↩

³⁰ Flown unofficially, mostly by civilian ships. ↩

³¹ Flown by the monarchy and government. ↩

³² Flown by merchant ships. ↩

³³ The traditional heraldic colours of Prussia, often used as a flag on land. ↩

³⁴ The dynastic colours of the Hapsburg monarchy, often used as a flag on land. ↩

³⁵ Flown by merchant and navy ships. ↩

³⁶ Flown by the government. ↩

³⁷ Flown by merchant ships. ↩

³⁸ The number of stripes could vary but eight was the most common. ↩

³⁹ Flown by the prince and used as a state flag. ↩

⁴⁰ Designated as the official colours of Lippe. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁴¹ Designed to be used as a diplomatic flag. Within the grand duchy, flags were made various configurations of red and yellow stripes. ↩

⁴² Flown by the prince, and unofficially as a national flag. ↩

⁴³ Designated as the official colours of Württemberg. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. Black and yellow flags were also in use around this time. ↩

⁴⁴ Designated as the official colours of Reuss. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁴⁵ Designated as the official colours of Reuss. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁴⁶ Designated as the official colours of the Ernestine duchies in Thuringia: Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁴⁷ The green and white state colours were still unofficially used on some flags. ↩

⁴⁸ Designated as the official colours of Bavaria. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. There are many reported variants from the period, some with more stripes, others with the diamond pattern from the Bavarian arms. ↩

⁴⁹ Designated as the official colours of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁵⁰ Designated as the official colours of Brunswick. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁵¹ Designated as the official colours of Mecklenburg-Schewerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Not technically a national flag, but often used as one. ↩

⁵² The flag of the Emperor, often regarded as the Russian national flag during the period. ↩

⁵³ Flown on government buildings, especially military buildings, and as patriotic decoration. ↩

⁵⁴ Flown by merchant ships. ↩

⁵⁵ Designated as the official colours of the Austrian crown land of Carniola. Regarded as the unofficial national flag of Slovenia. ↩

⁵⁶ Flown by advocates of Slovakian independence. The "Upper Hungary" region did not have an official flag. ↩

⁵⁷ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

⁵⁸ Flown the government and armed forces. ↩

⁵⁹ Prohibited within the Austrian Empire but still flown by Hungarian nationalists. ↩

⁶⁰ Flown by Ukrainian nationalists. The order of colours wasn't fixed. ↩

⁶¹ Designated as the official colours of the Austrian crown land of Bohemia. Not an official flag, but informally regarded as a Czech national symbol. A white flag with the Bohemian coat of arms was also sometimes used. ↩

⁶² Flown by the prince and the military. ↩

⁶³ The former royal banner of Poland, no longer official but still used as an informal national symbol. ↩

⁶⁴ A typical flag flown by Bulgarian nationalists and revolutionaries in the pre-independence period. The flag would sometimes have different inscriptions or colours, but a golden lion on green was a common element. The slogan here reads "Freedom or Death!" ↩

⁶⁵ The maharaja's flag had yellow stripes at the top and bottom. ↩

⁶⁶ The raja's flag was rectangular ↩

⁶⁷ Flown by the Maharao and also used as a state flag. The flag was sometimes much longer. ↩

⁶⁸ The reverse side of the flag showed a moon and a flower. ↩

⁶⁹ Mewar had a number of reported princely banners which were also sometimes used as state flags. The most common one had a large yellow sun and a blue katar dagger. ↩

⁷⁰ Kolhapur flew the Maratha saffron banner as a state flag. The maharaja had a diagonally-divided red and orange flag. ↩

⁷¹ Flag of the maharaja, also used as a state flag. Plain saffron flags were also sometimes flown. ↩

⁷² Flown by the maharaja and often used as a state flag. ↩

⁷³ Allowed to be flown by civilians. ↩

⁷⁴ Inland river boats flew a triangular pennant in the same colours. ↩

⁷⁵ The Raja's flag had a red sun ↩

⁷⁶ Flown by naval ships. ↩

⁷⁷ Malay monarchs often flew plain white flags. These standards eventually evolved into individual state flags as more colours and symbols were added. ↩

⁷⁸ Flown by the sultan and by naval ships. ↩

⁷⁹ Flown by nobles at sea. ↩

⁸⁰ Flown by commoner merchants at sea. ↩

⁸¹ Flown by the sultan. ↩

⁸² Flown by the sultan and also used as an unofficial state flag. ↩

⁸³ Flown by the government, particularly at sea, as a way of nominally invoking the protection of the Ottoman Empire. ↩

⁸⁴ Flown by the sultan and by warships. There are many other reported flags from the era, and it's not clear exactly how they were all used. Merchant ships often flew a plain red flag. ↩

⁸⁵ Reported flag from this era. It's exact use isn't known. ↩