Flags of Europe

Stripes of red and white have been a collective emblem of Austria for over 800 years, and their first usage on the flag occurred in 1191. According to long established legend, the red and white flag was designed to resemble the bloodstained white coat worn by the Duke of Austria during a fierce battle.

The flag of Azerbaijan is the national ensign of Azerbaijan. It consists of three equal horizontal bands colored blue, red, and green, with a white crescent and an eight-pointed star are centered in the red band. The blue band refers to Turkic heritage, the red is for progress and Europeanisation and the green refers to Islam.

Black, gold and red are symbolic of the country's coat of arms; black representing the shield; gold representing the lion, and red representing the lion's claws and tongue. The vertical layout is taken from the French Tricolour.

The island is depicted in a copper shade representative of its name; the name Cyprus has roots in the Sumerian word for copper (zubar) from the large deposits of copper found on the island. The crossed green olive branches symbolise the hope for peace between the Turks and the Greeks. It was designed by İsmet Güney, a Turkish Cypriot painter.

Known as the Dannebrog ("Danish Cloth"), this blood-red flag with an off-centred white cross (a "Scandinavian Cross") became a model for other regional flags.

Blue represents loyalty, and the country's beautiful blue skies, seas and lakes; black is symbolic of past oppression and the fertile soil; and white represents virtue, winter snows, and Estonia's long struggle for freedom and independence.

The off-centred blue cross is based on the Scandinavian Cross, widely used on Scandinavian national flags. The blue colour is symbolic of blue skies, and the thousands of lakes in Finland. The white represents the winter snows.

The tricolour consists of three vertical bands of equal width, displaying the country's national colours: blue, white, and red. The blue band is positioned nearest the flag-staff, the white in the middle, and the red on the outside. Red, white and blue have come to represent liberty, equality and fraternity - the ideals of the French Revolution. Blue and red are also the time-honoured colours of Paris, while white is the colour of the Royal House of Bourbon.

The tricolour flag was designed in 1832, and the black, red, and gold colours were taken from the uniforms of German soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars (Out of the blackness (black) of servitude through bloody (red) battles to the golden (gold) light of freedom.^[4]) or taken from the coat of arms of Holy Roman Empire.

Features a white cross, and a combination of nine blue and white horizontal stripes. The shade of blue has varied over the years, and darker blue (shown) is now commonly used. The cross is symbolic of the vision of Constantine i.e. a white cross in a blue sky. The alternating white and blue stripes represent the independence of the Greek people. During the centuries of Ottoman domination the Greeks (i.e. the "Roman Nation" as they were referred to by the Ottomans) were represented by a flag of alternating red and blue stripes. The red, representing the Ottoman Empire, was replaced by white upon independence.

The overall design is modelled after the French Tricolour. Red is said to symbolise strength, green hope, and white faithfulness.

Modelled after the French Tricolour, Ireland's flag uses colour to symbolise religions. Green is representative of Catholics, orange is representative of Protestants, and the white is symbolic of the union of both.

The design is adopted from XIII c. chronicle where "red divided by white" is said to be Latvian flag. To differ from Austrian flag, the proportion 2:1:2 and "Latvian red" color has been adopted.

Yellow is symbolic of the country's wheat fields, green symbolic of the forests, and red symbolises patriotism. Collectively the colours represent hope for the future, freedom from oppression, and the courage of the Lithuanian people.

The flag uses a combination of red, white, and blue that date to the 13th century, and the Grand Duke's coat of arms.

The flag uses the traditional red and white colours which pre-date those of the Knights of Malta and which Government emulate the arms of the former Universitas of Mdina. The George Cross (upper left), outlined in red, was added to the flag in the 1940s, as King George VI of the United Kingdom presented it to islanders for outstanding gallantry during World War II.

At one time this tricolour flag was orange, white, and blue, as those were the livery colours of William of Orange, a Dutch prince. In the 17th century, red replaced the orange as a flag colour, because the orange dye used on the flag was unstable, and turned red after exposure to the sun.

The colours red (actually magenta) and almost whites have long been associated with Poland and its coat of arms^[5], at least from establishing of the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

The design is that of a rectangular bicolour (2:3 ratio) with a field vertically divided into two stripes of different width—a green stripe on the hoist, and a larger red stripe on the fly. The minor version of the national coat of arms (armillary sphere and Portuguese shield) is entered over the boundary between the colours at equal distance from the upper and lower edges. The field colours, especially the green, originally represented a radical republican-inspired change that broke the bond with the former religious monarchical flag. In the ensuing decades, these colours were popularly propagandised as representing the hope of the nation (green) and the blood (red) of those who died defending it, as a means to endow them with a more patriotic and dignified, therefore less political, sentiment.

A vertical tricolour of bands of blue, yellow, and red of equal width and overall proportions of 2:3 (height-width). It could be inspired by the French flag.

Red, white, and blue are traditional Pan-Slavic colours. The entered Slovakian arms features a dominant white cross atop a blue symbolic reference to the country's mountains.

Red, white, and blue are taken from the Carniolan coat of arms. The flag without the coat of arms was in use from 1848 to 1945. The Slovenian coat of arms features three gold stars, symbolizing the Counts of Celje. The mountains shown in white are representative of the Alps, and Mount Triglav, Slovenia's national symbol, in particular; the wavy blue lines across the bottom indicate Slovenia's access to the sea.

The red and golden-yellow colours were first used in the late 18th century by the King of Spain as he tried to easily differentiate his ships from those of other countries. They're also the original colours found within the arms of both the Castile, Aragon and Navarre regions of the country, the regions first united by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.

The off-centred yellow cross (The Scandinavian Cross) is taken from the Danish flag. The yellow and blue colours are taken from the national coat of arms.

The 'Union Jack' merges the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England), edged in white, superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which are superimposed on the saltire of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland). The flag of Wales, the other country of the United Kingdom, is not graphically represented.

The flag is rectangular in form and is characterised by the presence of the Trinacria (triskelion) in the centre. It features a softened image of the winged-head of Medusa and three ears of wheat (replacing snakeheads) representing the island's fertility. The three bent legs represent the island's three capes or points, while in mythology it's said to represent good luck and prosperity. The background of the flag is divided by a diagonal from left to right, and is coloured gold (lower left) and red-orange (upper right). The colours represent the cities of Palermo and Corleone, respectively, the first two to found a confederation against the Angevin rule.

This traditional Scandinavian Cross flag features blue, yellow, and red, all said to be borrowed from the national colours of Sweden and Finland.

The flag uses Norwegian colours, commemorating the Faroes once being part of Norway.