Badposter rates every country flag

[badposter]

Flag of Sudan

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 20 May 1970
Part 1
Rule 1: It's a simple flag. A child could draw it from memory.
Rule 2: In the 1820s, Sudan began being conquered by Egypt under Muhammad Ali Pasha (officially, Muhammad Ali was just an Ottoman governor, but in fact he was the khedive of a practically independent Egypt). Muhamad's grandson, Isma'il (reigned 1863-1879), fully conquered Sudan.
During Isma'il's rule, corruption and European influence grew. This led to the 'Urabi Revolt, led by Ahhmed 'Urabi, an officer of the Egyptian army. The khedive did little to oppose the revolt, which led the United Kingdom and France to depose him and replace him with his son, Tewfik (reigned 1879-1892). The revolt was only defeated in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, and the British occupation of Egypt.
Meanwhile, in Sudan in the year 1881, heavy taxes and European attempts to end the slave trade led to Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who followed a strict interpretation of Islam, declaring himself the Mahdi ("Guided One") and rising up in rebellion against the British and Egyptians, which began the Mahdist War, which lasted until the Mahdists were defeated in 1899. Afterwards, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a condominium administered by the United Kingdom and Egypt, was established.
Sudan gained full independence on 1 January 1956. Its first flag was a blue, yellow, and green horizontal tricolor, with the blue symbolizing the Nile, the yellow symbolizing the Sahara Desrt, and the green symbolizing the grasslands. The flag was chosen because it was neutral and favored no ethnic group and political party.
In 1969 a Coup d'état led by Gaafar Nimeiry and nine officers took place in Sudan. The next year, Sudan adopted a new flag, based on the Arab Liberation Flag.
In Sudan's flag, the red symbolizes Sudan's struggle for independence and the blood of its martyrs. The white symbolizes peace, light, and optimism, and the nationalist White Flag League (1923-1924). The black symbolizes Sudan itself ("Sudan" means black in Arabic) and the black flag flown by the Mahdists. Green symbolizes Islam, agriculture, and prosperity.
Rule 3: Green, red, white, and black. I don't really like the Pan-Arab colors.
Rule 4:The flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: This flag can be easily confused with other Pan-Arab flags. It's not distinctive.
Part 2
1956-1970

Spoiler

Gabon's flag was adopted in 1960, so you can't say this flag isn't distinctive. I think this flag looks much better than the current.
Part 3
A bland, undistinctive. I wish Sudan kept its 1956-1970 flag.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Suriname

Ratio: 2:3
Adopted: 25 November 1975 (Surinamese independence)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: Suriname began to be inhabited around 3000 BC. The largest tribes were the Caribs and Arawaks in the coast and savanna, while there were other tribes in the inland jungle.
The first Europeans to come to the area were Dutch traders. There was an attempt by the English to settle in the area in the 1630s, which ended in failure. However, in 1650 the English made another attempt, led by Francis Willoughby (Governor of Barbados). This time, the colony, known as Willoughbyland. The work in the colony's plantation was mostly done by natives and about 3,000 African slaves. Jews from Brazil also settled in the colony due its religious freedom.
In 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, seven Dutch ships attacked and captured Willoughbyland, renaming its fort to Fort Zeelandia. That same year, the Treaty of Breda, which recognized New Netherland as English and Willoughbyland (renamed Suriname) as Dutch.
In 1683 rhe Society of Suriname was founded. It was a company which governed Suriname, and it had three shareholders: the city of Amsterdam, the van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck, and the Dutch West India Company. The company was dissolved in 1795, after company rule of colonies began to be seen as a thing of the past.
In 1799, during the French Revolutionary Wars, Suriname began to occupied by the British. The occupation lasted until 1816, when the colony was returned to the Netherlands.
Slavery was abolished in Suriname in 1863 (before slavery abolished, many slaves escaped from the plantations. They were known as Maroons). Afterwards, workers from China, India, and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) were brought to the colony.
Suriname gained autonomy in 1954. In 1959 it adopted a white flag, with a black ellipse in the middle. On the ellipse were five stars, each one with a different color. Going clockwise from the upper hoist side, the colors were white, red, yellow, brown, and black. Each star represented an ethnic group: natives, the Dutch colonizers, the African slaves and maroons, and the Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian workers.
Suriname gained full indpendence on 22 November 1975, and adopted its current flag. In Suriname's flag, the green symbolizes hope and fertility the red symbolizes progress and love, the white symbolizes hope and fertility, and the star symbolizes the unity of ethnic groups.
Rule 3: Green, white, red, and yellow. Ths flag has nice colors.
Rule 4: This flag has a simple star.
Rule 5: There's no flag which I think can be confused with this one.
1959-1975

Spoiler

I don't like this flag too much. I think the current is much better.
Part 3
It's simple and distinctive, and has good colors. Very good flag.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Swaziland

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 6 October 1968.
Part 1
Rule 1: I think the shield is simple enough for a child to draw (though not perfectly, I don't think they could memorize the exact number of lines), but I don't think they could draw the feathers.
Rule 2: In the early 18th century, the Swazi people (who make up most of the country's population) lived on the banks of the Pongola River. However, conflict with the Nwande people led to the king of the Swazis, Ngwane III (reigned 1745-1780) to establish a capital at the foot of the Mhlosheni hills.
Under King Mswati (reigned 1840-1868) Swaziland grew to twice its current size. Swaziland's population would also grow due to conquest and the entrance of refugees. Due to this, Swaziland is named after Mswati.
Swaziland would keep its independence throughout most of the 19th century. However, a 1894 convention made Swaziland a protectorate of the Boer South African Republic, and shrank Swaziland down to its current size. Swaziland then adopted a flag with eleven vertical stripes, wose color alternated between the lighter and darker blue. In the center was a traditional Nguni shield, made out of cowhide (like the current flag's shield, but aligned vertically).
After the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 the United Kingdom annexed the Boer republics, along with Swaziland. Swaziland was briefly part of Transvaal colony, before becoming a separate British protectorate in 1906.
In 1941, the Swazi Pioneer Corps gave king Sobhuza II (reigned 1899-1982. He had the longest rule out of any monarch in history, being king from he was four months old to his death) a military flag to remind of Swaziland's miltary traditions.
Swaziland adopted a constitution in 1963, and elections to a newly-created Legislative Council of Swaziland.
In 1967 Swaziland adopted a new constitution. That same, on 30 October, the flag was registered in the College of Arms, and the flag was officially hoisted. The flag was adopted on 6 October 1968, a month after Swaziland gained full independence.
In Swaziland's flag, the red symbolizes past battles, the blue symbolizes peace and stablility, and the yellow symbolized the country's natural resources. The flag also features a Nguni shield (which is black and white, symbolizing racial harmony), two spears, and a fighting stick, symbolizing the country's willingness to defend itself. On the shield and the figting stick are tinjobos, ornamental tassels made out of the feathers of the widowbird and lourie, which can only be used by the king.
Rule 3: Not counting the emblems, blue, yellow, and red. The colors in this flag look nice.
Rule 4: This flag has emblems, which I don't consider simple, but I don't think they're too complex either.
Rule 5: This flag is distinctive, and I think it'd be distinctive if the emblems were removed.
Part 2
1894-1902

Spoiler

This flag is nice. I prefer this flag's emblem, but for the rest I prefer the current.
Part 3
This flag is nice, even if the emblems are a bit complex.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Sweden

Ratio: 5:8 (like the other Noridc flag, it has an unusual aspect ratio)
Adopted: Around th early 16th century. Current shade of blue adopted on 22 June 1906
Part 1
Rule 1: Nordic flags are simple.
Rule 2: According to legend [citation needed]:

the 12th-century King Eric IX saw a golden cross in the sky as he landed in Finland during the First Swedish Crusade in 1157. Seeing this as a sign from God he adopted the golden cross against a blue background as his banner.

However, it is most likely that Sweden's flag is based on a coat of arms of Sweden adopted in 1442, which featured a yellow cross, crowns, and lions, while its fiel was mostly blue. The first known Swedish flag which was blue with a yellow cross is from the early 16th century, during the reign of Gustav I (reigned 1523-1560). In a 1562 royal warrant, the flag was defined as "yellow in a cross fashioned on blue". Another royal warrant, this time from 1569, made the use of yellow cross on battle standards and banners mandatory. Before, a blue flag with a yellow cross had been used in the duchy of Finland, which was part of Sweden at the time, while it was ruled by John III (duke 1556-1563, king of Sweden 1568-1592). Due to this, Southwest Finland, which is in what was the duchy, has Sweden's flag in its coat of arms.
A 1663 royal warrant established a triple-tailed flag as a state flag and naval ensign, while only allowing merchant ship the use of (quadrilateral) city flags with provincial colors, though in practice merchant ships used a rectangular Swedish flag, which was adopted as Sweden's civil ensign in 1730. In 1756 merchant ships were forbidden from using pennants.
In 1814 Sweden won a war against Norway, and both countries began to share monarchs and foreign policy, while otherwise remaning independent. On 6 June 1815 Sweden adopted a new military ensign. identical to the previous one but with a white saltire on a red background, symbolizing Norway (which used a flag similar to Denmark's but with its national emblem on the canton), on the canton. In 1818 both Norway and Sweden adopted a civil ensign, which was like the military flag but rectangular. After Norway adopted its own civil ensign in 1821, a royal regulation stated that both Swedish and Norwegian ships south of Cape Finisterre had to use Sweden's civil ensign (Norway had to use for protection from pirates).
In 1844 the union mark, which symbolized the union between Sweden and Norway, was added to the canton of both country's flags. After Norway voted to leave the union in 1905 the union mark was removed. On 22 June 1906 the blue in the flag was lightened, and the state flag became rectangular.
The cross symbolizes Christianity.
Rule 3: Blue and yellow. Very nice colors.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5:

Something nice about Nordic flags is that they all have different colors that make them distinctive.

Part 2
1818-1844

Spoiler

I like this flag, but I don't think it should be readopted, since Norway and Sweden are no longer in a union.
1844-1905

Spoiler

In Sweden, however, the new union mark in particular became quite unpopular and was contemptuously nicknamed the Sillsallaten (Swedish) or Sildesalaten (Norwegian) after a colorful dish of pickled herring, decorated with red beets and apples in a radial pattern

Part 3
I love this flag and its colors. It's my favorite flag of a Nordic country.

 

[Princess Céline]

Yay, you finally rated both mine and Pi's home country flag.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Switzerland

Ratio: 1:1 (it's a square. Vatican City is the only other ciuntry with a square flag)
Adopted: 12 December 1889
Part 1
Rule 1: It's a simple flag.
Rule 2: Switzerland originated around 1300, when the Old Swiss Confederacy, a very loose union of mostly independent states within the Holy Roman Empire, was founded. Its first use of a white cross was in the 1339 Battle of Laupen, where it was sewn on combatants' clothing, contrasting with the Cross of St.George (used by the Habsburgs) and the Cross of Burgundy, both of which were red. However, the first time the white cross was used in a flag to symbolizes the confederation, instead of individual cantons, was in the 1422 Battle of Arbedo against the Duchy of Milan, in which the confederation used a triangular red flag with a white cross.

The ultimate origin of the white cross is attributed by three competing legends: To the Theban Legion, to the Reichssturmfahne (Imperial War Banner) attested from the 12th century, and to the Arma Christi that were especially venerated in the three forest cantons, and which they were allegedly allowed to display on the formerly uniformly red battle flag from 1289 by king Rudolph I of Habsburg at the occasion of a campaign to Besançon.

By the mid-15th century, the white cross remained a symbol of the confederacy, but not the red field, and cantons used the white cross on their flag (notably, Schwyz's flag had red field, making it similar to Switzerland's current).
Switzerland became practically independent from the Holy Roman Empire after the 1499 Swabian War, though it officially left the Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Switzerland declared neutrality in the 16th century, and stopped fighting wars against foreign countries and, as a result, stopped using a banner. However, Swiss mercenaries continued fighting in wars, and using flags feturing a white cross and the colors of their canton, which led to Swiss cantonal soldiers and mercenaries using a Flammé design.
In 1798, during the French Revolutionary Wars, France invaded Switzerland and established the Helvetic Republic as a puppet state. The republic had a green, red, and yellow horizontal tricolor with the words République helvétique written in yellow on the red stripe. After the Treaty of Lunéville was signed in 1801, French troops left Switzerland. The republic fell into civil war between centralists and federalists and collapsed, leading to both sides sending representatives to Paris in 1803 for Napoleon to mediate the issue. Napoleon then passed the Act of Mediation, which reestablished the Swiss Confederation as a French puppet. The confederation was fully restored after the French defeat in 1814. A red flag with a white cross on it was adopted as Switzerland's military flag. The Flammé remained in use by some troops until.
In 1848 Switzerland adopted a new constitution, which strenghthened the central goverment. Switzerland adopted a new constitution in 1874 (and 1999) and made its military flag the national flag on 12 December 1889. Interestingly, Switzerland, due to its lakes, has a navy despite being landlocked, and Switzerland's naval enisgn is rectangular, with a 2:3 ratio.
Rule 3: Red and white. There some bad flsgs with those colors, but some, like this one, are good.
Rule 4: The white cross is pretty simple.
Rule 5: The plus sign-like makes this flag distinctive imo.
Part 2
Helvetic Republic (1798-1802)

Spoiler

Text on flags is bad. Also, I think the current looks better.
Part 3
A simple and distinctive which looks good. It's one of the best flags imo.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Syria

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 22 February 1958. Readopted on 30 March 1980.
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw the flag from memory.
Rule 2: What is now Syria was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1516. Ottoman rule lasted until 1917, after the Great Arab Revolt and the Sykes-Picot Agreement, when Syria became part of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. In 1920, a kingdom known as the Arab Kingdom of Syria was briefly and unilaterally declared by Faisal bin Hussein (future king of Iraq). The kingdom had a flag similar to that of the Arab Revolt. but with a bigger triangle which a star similar to Jordan's on it.
The kingdom's existence ended when France defeated it in a war, afterwards creating the French Mandate for Syrian and the Lebanon, which was split into six states, which included Lebanon (which was not considered part of Syeia and gained independence separate from it in 1943) and the Sanjak of Alexandretta (which became part of Turkey in 1939).
It took until 1922 to Syria to have its own flag, though the states within it did have flags. Syria's flag adopted in 1922 was a green, white, and green horizontal triband, with the French flag in the canton. In 1924 the states Aleppo and Damascus were united to form the State of Syria Syria may have adopted a green, white, and black flag in 1930, but this hasn't been confirmed. However, it is known that the Syrian State became the Syrian Republic in 1930, and that it adopted a green, white, and black (the green symbolizing the Rahiduns, white the Ummayad and black the Abbasids) flag with three red stars symbolizing the three districts of Syria: Damascus, Aleppo, and Deir ez-Zor. In 1936 the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was written, but the French parliament did not ratify it. However, the treaty did result in the Druze and Alawite states joining the Syrian Republic, and the meaning of the flag changed so that one star symbolized Damascus, Aleppo, and Deir ez-Zor, while the other two star symbolized the Alawite and Druze states, respectively.
Syria kept its flag after gaining full independence on 24 October 1945 (however, French troops only left on 17 April 1946).
In 1958 Egypt and Syria joined together to from the United Arab Republic, which had a flag based on that of the Arab Liberation, with two stars, one symbolizing Egypt and the other Syria. The republic was dissolved in 1961 after a coup d'état in Syria, after which its old flag was restored.
In 1963 the Arab Socialist Ba'aath Party led a coup d'état in Syria, which was been ruled by Ba'athists since. Syria's flag was then changed to a flag similar to that of the United Arab Republic, but with a third star symbolizing Iraq (which was also taken over by Ba'athist in 1963, though Nasserists defeated them later that year. Ba'athists would come back to power in Iraq in 1968, however), which had an identical flag.
In 1966 a coup d'état led by the Regional Command and Military Council of the Ba'ath party led to it splitting into Syrian and Iraqi factions. In 1970 there was conflict between Syria's main two leaders, Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad, leading to the latter taking over in the 1970 Corrective Movement. Since then, the al-Assad family has ruled Syria.
In 1972, after referendums that were probably rigged, the Federation of Arab Republics, officially a federation of Egypt, Libya, and Syria (though in fact the federation only really existed on paper), was founded. All three of its members adopted a red, white, and black flag with the Hawk of Quraish. The federation was dissolved in 1977, but Syria kept using its flag until 1980, when it adopted the flag of the United Arab Republic, symbolizing its commitment to Arab unity.
As all of you know (I hope), Syria is currently in a very bloody civil war with a lot of factions with their own flags. Notably, the rebels use the 1932-1958 flag.
Rule 3: Red, white, green, and black. I don't really like the Pan-Arab colors.
Rule 4: This one of many flags in the world with simple stars.
Rule 5: I don't consider most Pan-Arabs distinctive.
Part 2
1922-1930

Spoiler

Remove the tricolor, and this is a good flag.
1932-1958, 1961-1963

Spoiler

Looks better tham the current imo.
1963-1972

Spoiler

This flag was literally identical to Iraq's at the time. Obviously, it wasn't distinctive.
1972-1980

Spoiler

An undistinctive flag with text and a complex hawk.
Part 3
A generic Pan-Arab, though it's more distinctive than some past flags.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China) (recognized by 21 UN members)

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 17 December 1928 (by the Republic of China)
Part 1
Rule 1: I don't think a child could memorize the exact number of rays in the sun, but recognizabilty is more important than perfection.
Rule 2: China under the Qing dynasty annexed Taiwan in 1683. For the next 212 years Taiwan would be ruled by China. From 1894 to 1895 there was a war between China and Japan, won by the latter. The Japanese took the Pescadores Islands near Taiwan at the end of the war, which ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, in which Taiwan was given to Japan. However, there was resistance in Taiwan, where the Republic of Formosa (as Taiwan's main island was known in the West as the time, Portuguese for "beautiful), which had tiger on a blue background as its flag. The republic lasted less than a year, being fully conquered by Japan on 21 October 1895.
Meawhile, in mainland China in 1895, Lu Haodong, who supported republicanism an opposed the Qing, planned an uprising against the monarcy. However, the authorities discover his plan and executed him. Haodong had designed a blue flag with a white sun with 12 rays. The flag was later adopted by the Tongmenghui, led by Sun Yat-Sen, one of China's main supporters of republicanism. The red was added to the party flag in 1906, making the flag identical to Taiwan's current.
The Tongmenghui managed to overthow the monarchy and establish a republic in the Wuchang Uprising (1911) and the Xinhai Revolution (1911-1912). China then adopted the "Five Races Under One Nation" flag, featuring five horizontal stripes of different colors: a red stripe, symbolizing the Han Chinese (which make up 92% of China's population), a yellow stripe symbolizing the Manchus (the Qings were Manchus), a blue stripe symbolizing Mongols, a white stripe symbolizing Muslims, and a black stripe symbolizing Tibetians. However, Sun Yat-sen was opposed to the flag, as the horizontal stripes implied hierarchy. Later that year, the Tongmenghui joined with some minor parties to form the Kuomintang (KMT), which kept the Tongmenghui's flag.
In 1913 Yuan Shikai, China's president since March 1912, dissolved the National Assembly and banned the KMT, which would establish a government-in-exile in Tokyo and adopt the KMT as China's flag. Yuan Shikai would remain dictator in China (briefly declaring himself emperor from 22 December to 22 March 1916) before his death in 1916. Afterwards, the Chinese government would be dominated by the Beiyang Army, which split into many factions after Yuan's death, making China a fractured country. Sun Yat-sen and the KMT then established a goverment in Guangzhou to fight the warlords, with the help of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party (though the KMT was never communist). Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, beig replaced by Chiang Kai-shek.
The KMT defeated the warlords after the 1926-1928 Northern Expedition, after which a government with a capital at Nanjing was establised. China adopted the KMT's flag, and a coat of arms which was a round version of the 1895 flag designed by Lu Haodong.
In the middle of the Northern Campaign, the Communists turned against the KMT after the 1927 massacre of communists in Shanghai, beginning the Chinese Civil War. The war was interrupted in 1936, after the Xi'an Incident, after which the KMT and the Communists joined forces against the Japanese Empire (which had already established a puppet state in Manchuria in 1932). After the Japanese surrendered in 1945 Taiwan became once again part of China after 50 years of Japanese rule. China became one of the five permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The Chinese Civil War in 1946. By 1949, the Communists mostly won, controlling almost all of China except Taiwan and some islands off the coast of the Fujian province. The KMT retreated to Taiwan, still claiming to be the legitimate government of China, managing to keep its Security Council until 1971. For the next 40 years, Taiwan would be a dictatorship ruled by Chiang Kai-shek (or by his son, Chiang Ching-Kuo, after Chiang's death in 1975) and the KMT. Taiwan would politically liberalize in the late 1980s, and democratic presidential elections were held in 1996. Today, Taiwanese politics is dominated by the KMT (which claims Taiwan is part of the Republic of China, with this territory) and the Democratic Progressive Party, the current ruling (which claims Taiwan is an independent country, and supports a Taiwanese declaration of independence. Mainland China has threatened "non-peaceful means" against Taiwanese independence)
In Taiwan's flag, the blue symbolizes nationalism and liberty, white symbolizes democracy and equality, and the red symbolizes fraternity, the people's livelihood, and the blood of those who fought to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The sun's twelve rays symbolize the months and traditional Chinese hours, which lasted twice the time current hours last.
Rule 3: Blue, white, and red. This is one of the good flags with that color combination.
Rule 4: This flag has a simple sun.
Rule 5: This flag is similar to Samoa's and Myanmar's (before 2010), but it's older than both, and the sun makes the flag distincive imo.
Part 2
Republic of Formosa (1895)

Spoiler

Complex but cute flag. Also one of the few with a tiger.
Part 3
A nice-looking, simple flag. It's pretty good.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Tajikistan

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 24 November 1992
Part 1
Rule 1: I think the crown is simple enough for a child to draw from memory. A child may not be able to draw the exact number of stars in the flags, however.
Rule 2: Around the mid-19th century, there were two states in what is now Tajikistan: the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Kholkand. Both states began to be conuered by the Russian Empire in 1864, and were fully conquered in 1885.
Starting in 1916, militias known as the Basmachi rebelled against Russian (later Soviet) rule in Central Asia. The Basmachi were mostly defeated by the 1920s, and the last holdouts were defeated in 1934.
In 1918, the Turkestan Autonomous Sovier Socialist Republic (ASSR) within the Russian SFSR, which included Tajikistan, was founded. In 1924 it was split into two SSRs, (and two autonomus oblasts still within the Russian SSR) the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR. What is now Tajikistan became the Tajik ASSR, part of the Uzbek SSR. Tajikistan got its own SSR in 1929. In 1953 the Tajik SSR adopted a mostly red flag with a gold hammer and sickle and a red star, along two striped: a white one, and a slightly smaller green one.
On 9 September 1991, after the failed August Coup in the Soviet Union, Tajikistan declared independence. It kept its flags from when it was part of the Soviet Union (without the hammer and sickle and star) until adopting its current flag (which uses the colors of the SSR flag) on 24 November 1992.
In Tajikistan's flag, the red symbolizes the country's unity, the white (which, by the way, is one and a half time as big as the other two stripes) symbolizes the snow and ice atop Tajikistan's mountains (Tajikistan is a very mountainous country. The highest peak in the Soviet Union was in what is now Tajikistan) and cotton (other than aluminum, the country's biggest export), and the green symbolize fertile valleys. The crown symbolizes the Tajik people, since the name of Tajikistan is popularly thought to come from the Persian word tâj (crown). The flag has seven stars since seven is a number of perfection and virtue in Tajik culture.
Rule 3: Red, white, yellow, and white. I think yellow on white is a bad combination.
Rule 4: The crown and stars are simple imo.
Rule 5: I think this flag could be confused with Hungary's or North Rhine-Westphalia's
Part 2
Tajik ASSR (1929)

Spoiler

The emblem is pretty complex and has text.
Tajik SSR (1929-1931)

Spoiler

Same as above
Tajik SSR (1931-1935)

Spoiler

SSR flags...
Tajik SSR (1935-1936)

Spoiler

..were pretty oring before the 1950s.
Tajik SSR (1936-1938)

Spoiler

The 1938-1940 and 1940-1953 flags were pretty similar, so I'll skip them.
Tajik SSR (1952-1991)

Spoiler

This is a flag that actually looks good.
Part 3
I think it's ugly. Don't put yellow on white.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Tanzania

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 30 June 1964
Part 1
Rule 1: This flag is simple. A child could draw it from memory.
Rule 2: Tanzania itself is an union of two former countries, and its flag is a mixture of both countries's flag. The countries that united to form Tanzania were Tanganyika and Zanzibar. I'll do Zanzibar first.
Zanzibar (an archipelago with two main islands: Unguja and Pemba) has been inhabited for about 20,000 years. Arabs and Persian traders first came to the islands in the 1st century, and the Romansn knew of the islands. The islands began to have hereditary rulers around the 10th century.
The Portuguese visited the islands in 1499, and began colonizing it in 1503. The colony was conquered by the Sultanate of Muscat in 1698. Afterwards, an economy based on the cultivation of spices and the slave trade was established, and Zanzibar became wealthy. Stone Town, Zanzibar's biggest city, became Oman's capital in 1840.
In 1856 Said bin Sultan Al-Said (reigned 1807-1856) died, leading to a succesion crisis, which ended with his sultanate splitting into the Sultanate of Oman, ruled by Thuwaini bin Said (Said's third son) and the Sultanate of Zanzibar, ruled by Majid bin Said (Said's sixth son).
Throughout the 19th century, British influence in the islands grew. The slave trade was banned in 1876. After the 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty (in which Germany agreed not to interfere with the UK in Zanzibar) was signed, Zanzibar became a British protectorate. Zanzibar adopted a plain red flag in 1896 and finally abolished slavery in 1897. The British began to appoint residents (governors) in 1913.
On 10 December 1963 the protectorate ended and Zanzibar gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy. Cloves (one of the most important spices cultivated on the island) on a green disk were added to the flag.
On 12 January 1964 there was a revolution by Zanzibar's majority-African population (which was mostly poor) led by the Ugandan John Okello against the sultanate and the wealthier Aran and Indian minorities. The monarchy was overthrown, and the People's Republic of Zanzibar. Its first flag was a black, yellow, and green tricolor, but the new flag only lasted 17 days until a new flag, based on the flag of the ruling Afro-Shirazi Party, which was a blue, black, and green horizontal tricolor.
Now I'll write about Tanganyika. In 1884 the German East Africa Company began colonizing Tanganyika (what is now the mainland part of Tanzania), along with Rwanda and Burundi (both of which were occupied by Belgium in 1916, during WWI, and which became a League of Nations mandate administered by Belgum in 1916), which formed German East Africa. Their failure to put down the Abushiri Revolt (1888-1889) in Tanganyika without German and British help led to the the colony falling under direct German administration in 1891. The Hehe tribe led a rebellion, which was defeated in 1894. Tanganyika was the only German colony to never be fully occupied during WWI, as forces led by Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck only surrendered in November 1918 after Germany did in Europe. After the Treaty of Versailles, Tanganyika (except for the Kionga triangle, given to Portugal and today part of Mozambique) became a League of Nations mandate administered by the UK. In 1946 Tanganyika became a UN trust territory, still administered by the UK.
In 1954 the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU, which supported Tanganyikan independence, was founded. It had a green, black, and green horizontal tricolor as its flag.
Elections were held in Tanagnyika in 1958 and 1959, and were won by the TANU. Tanganyika gained autonomy in 1960. On 9 December 1961 Tanganyika gained full independence as a Commonwealth realm, whose flag was similar to the TANU's, but with two thin yellow stripes separating the green and black stripes. Exactly one year later, Tanganyika adopted a new constitution which made it a republic.
On 26 April 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined to form the United Republic of Tanzania (a merger of Tanganyika's and Zanzinbar's names). The new country adopted a flag based on those of the countries which united to form it on 30 June 1964.
In Tanzania's flag, the green symbolizes agricutural and natural resources, the black symbolizes the Swahili (whose language has many people who speak it as a first or second language in East Africa), the blue symbolizes water, lakes, and the Indian Ocean, and the gold (or yellow) symbolizes Tanzania's mineral wealth.
Rule 3: Green, yellow, black, and blue. This flag has very good colors.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: This flag is distinctive.
Part 2
Sultanate of Zanzibar (1896-1963)

Spoiler

Plain red flags used to be very popular in Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf (Zanzibar, wasn't in the Persian Gulf, but it had influence from Oman, which was).
Tanganyika (1919-1961)

Spoiler

British colonial flag. All flags in Tanganyika and Zanzibar after this one are good.
Tanganyika (1961-1964)

Spoiler

A very good flag. I can't find any flaw.
Sultanate of Zanzibar (1963-1964)

Spoiler

Not bad at all, but I prefer the flags that came after it.
People's Republic of Zanzibar (12-29 January 1964)

Spoiler

I don't which flag is better, this one, or Tanganyika (1961-1964)
People's Republic of Zanzibar (January-April, 1964)

Spoiler

Worse than the last flag. Still pretty good.
Part 3
A simple, distinctive flag with great colors. I love it.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Thailand

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 28 September 1917
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: A note: Thailand was known as Siam before 1939, and from 1945 to 1949.
The first Siamese kingdom with an ensign (used at sea, not on land. Siam only adopted a land flag in 1912) was the Ayutthaya Empire (founded in 1351), named after its capital. The empire traded rice, wood, and deerskin to traders from Asia and Europe, and Ayutthaya grew wealthy. Around the beginning of the 18th century it adopted a plain red enisgn for use at sea.
From 1765 to 1767 Siam and Burma were at war. Burma won the war, burning down Ayutthaya and annezing Tennaserim (to this day part of Burma/Myanmar).
In 1767 Taksin, a Siamese man of Chinese heritage, was crowned king of Thailand. As Ayutthaya was ruined, he established a capital at Thonburi (a city on the other side of Bangkok). He then defeated the Burmese and reunified Siam. However, corruption, famine, economic trouble, and the execution of Chinese official and merchants led to rebellion, and the king was executed and succeeded by Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I), who relocated the capital to Bangkok, in 1782. Rama's dynasty, the House of Chakri, reigns in Thailand to this day.
After Rama became king, a white chakra (a weapon used by the Hindu god Vishnu in mythology), symbolizing the Chakri dynasty, was added to the state and naval ensigns (but not the civil ensign). Around 1820 a white elephant was added inside the chakra.
During the reign of King Rama IV (reigned 1851-1868) Siam adopted a red ensign with a white elephant facing towards the hoist side on it. Royal regalia was added to the elephant in the naval and state ensigns in 1893, and in the civil ensign in 1916. This ensign (with the elephant in regalia) became Thailand's first land flag in 1912.
Siam was the only country in Southeast Asia to never be colonized. It became a buffer state between French and British colonies in the region, and played both sides against each other. Despite not being colonized, Siam did westernize and lose territory to colonial powers (parts of what are now Laos, Myanmar, or Malaysia were once part of Siam).
According to legend, in 1916 king Rama VI (reigned 1910-1925), during a flood, saw Siam's flag hanging upside-down. Afterwards, Siam adopted a civil ensign similar to the current (but whose middle stripe was red instead of blue), which was identical when flown upside-down.
On 22 July 1917, during WWI, Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, sending troops in the Western Front. On 28 September of that year, Siam adopted its current flag. Some say it's because blue, in Thai culture, symbolizes Saturday, the day Rama VI was born, while others say it's to match the colors of the Allies in WWI (France, the UK, the US and Russia (this was before the October Revolution) all had red, white, and blue flags).
The red smbolizes Thailand's land and people, the white symbolizes religion (Thailand's biggest religion is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by 93.2% of the population), and the blue symbolizes the Thai monarchy.
Rule 3: Red, white, and blue. These colors may be overused, but they don't look bad on this flag.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems
Rule 5: I think this flag could be confused with Costa Rica's, which is older. North Korea, Laos, and Cambodia also have similar flag, but they're all younger than Thailand's.
Part 2
roughly 1700-1790 (- 1820 as civil ensign)

Spoiler

how many countries have plain red flags.
roughly 1790-1820

Spoiler

A complex flag which also looks pretty cool (like Albania's, but not quite as cool).
1820-1855

Spoiler

I prefer the version without the elephant.
1855-1893

Spoiler

Like the chakra, the elephant is complex. Unlike the chakra, the elephant doens't look cool.
1893-1917 (1912-1917 on land)

Spoiler

Regalia doesn't change my opinion on the elephant.
1917

Spoiler

I actually prefer this flag to the current. It doesn't look quite as good, but it's still good, and it's more distinctive.
Part 3
Simple and good-looking. Has distinctiveness issues.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Togo

Ratio: It's actually the golden ratio (approximately 1:1.1618)
Adopted: 28 April 1960 (one day after Togolese independence)
Part 1
Rule 1: This flag is simple enough. A child could draw it from memory, though they may not memorize the exact number of stripes.
Rule 2: From the 16th century to around the beginning of the 19th century, Europeans began buying slaves in what is now Togo's coast and its surrounding. So many slaves came from Togo that the region became known as the Slave Coast.
In the year 1884, in the village of Togoville (which the country is named after), Germany and Mlapa II, Togoville's chief, signed a treaty which made Togoland (which had more land than Togo currently does) a German protectorate.
On 7 August 1914, after the beginning of WWI, French and British troops invaded Togoland one day after calling for its surrender. Togoland surrendered on 26 August 1914, being occupied by the French and British. The colony was separated into French and British occupation zones in 1916.
In 1919, after the Treaty of Versailles was signed, two League of Nations mandates were established over what was once Togoland. One mandate was administered by the UK (and today is Ghana's Volta Region), while the other was administered by France (there were discussions on estasblishing a mandate administered by Czechoslovakia, but nothing came of them). The mandates became UN Trust Territories after 1946.
In 1957, British Togoland voted to join newly-independent Ghana after a referendum, while French Togoland adopted a flag which was mostly green, with a French tricolor in the canton and two white stars (symbolizing British and French Togoland), one on the lower hoist side and the other on the upper fly side. In 1958, Togoland became a fully autonomous republic within the French Union, held parliamentary elections, and removed the French tricolor on its flag. On 27 April 1960 Togo became fully independent. One day later it adopted its current flags.
Togo's flag uses Pan-African colors, and its design is inspired by Liberia, making the flag inspired by Ethiopia and Liberia, the only countries to remain independent in the Scramble from Africa. This flag was designed by the artist Paul Ahyi. In Togo's flag, the red symbolizes the blood of martyrs who fought for independence, the white star symbolizes hope, the green symbolizes agriculture, firest, and hope for the future, and the yellow symbolizes Togo's natural resources.
Rule 3: Red, white, green, and yellow. Good colors.
Rule 4: One of the many flags with simple stars.
Rule 5: This flags is influenced by Ethiopia's and Liberia's, and manages to be distinctive. A good example of related but disinctive.
Part 2
1958-1960

Spoiler

This flag is also good, but I prefer the current.
Part 3
It's a distinctive and has good colors. I love it

 

[badposter]

Flag of Tonga

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 4 November 1875
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: Tonga was first inhabited by the Lapita people (ancestors of Polynesians) between 1500 and 1000 BC. From the 12th century, Tongans were known all over the central Pacific, leading some to believe they had an empire. What is certain, is that Tonga had a king known as the Tu'i Tonga since around the 10th century.
The first Europeans to visit the islands were the Dutch led by Willem Schouten in 1616. Captain James Cook visited the islands in 1773, 1774, and 1777. Cook named the islands "Friendy Islands", as he visited while the ʻinasi festival (in which fruit was give to the Tu'i Tonga) was going om and he was invited to it,
The first missionaries game to the island in 1797, and afterwards the islands were Christanized (about 97% of the country's population is Christian, and Methodism is the state religion).
In 1799 Tuku'aho (Tuʻi Kanokupolu, a junior rank of the Tu'i Tonga's lineage) was assassinated, and Tonga fell into civil war. Tonga was only united in 1845, under George Tupou (born Tāufaʻāhau, he was the 19th Tuʻi Kanokupolu, and was also baptised "George" in 1831). In 1862 Tonga adopted its first flag, which was white with a red cross. The flag was identical to the one adopted by the International Red Cross in 1864, which led to Tonga ending the use of its flag in 1866.
On 4 November 1875 George Tupou was crowned king of Tonga, establishing a Western-style constitutional monarchy. That same day, Tonga adopted a new constitution, in which the current flag, designed by the king and Shirley Waldemar Baker (the king's friend, a British missionary, and also the future prime minister of the islands) was adopted.
Tonga became a British protectorate in 1900. On 4 June 1970 the protectorate ended. Tonga only joined the United Nations in 1999.
In Tonga's flag, the cross symbolizes Christianity, the white symbolizes purity, and the red symbolizes the blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Tonga's flag is based on the British Red Ensign.
Rule 3: Red and white. This one of the good flags with those colors.
Rule 4: This flag has a simple cross.
Rule 5: This flag is coincidentally similar to Switzerland's, but I dont't think it can be confused with it.
Part 2
1862-1866

Spoiler

Cool flag. It's older than the Red Cross's.
Part 3
A good-looking, simple flag. I like it.

 

[Natalie J.]

Are you going to be listing your favorite and least favorite flags at the end?

 

[badposter]

Are you going to be listing your favorite and least favorite flags at the end?

I wasn't planning on doing it, but now I'm gonna do it.
Well actually, I like (and dislike) too many flags to pick one favorite or least favorite, so I'm going to do the best and worst flag of every alphabet letter.

Flag of Trinidad and Tobago

Ratio: 3:5 (the most common flag ratio)
Adopted: 31 August 1962 (independence of the country)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child couuld drw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: The islands were the first islands in the Caribbean to be inhabited, around 7,000 years ago. By the time Christopher Columbus became the first European to see the islands in the year 1498, the islands was inhabited by Arawak and Carib people.
Trinidad became a Spanish colony in the 16th century. Meanwhile, Tobago was fought over a lot. Troughout its history it has been a colony of Spain, the Netherlands, France, England/the UK, and even the Duchy of Courland, in what is now Latvia (which also colonized parts of the Gambia in the 17th century).
Trinidad wasn't very intenesly colonized by Spain: by 1777, there were only 1,400. This led to Spain atracting Catholics to the islands by giving them 13 hectares/32 acres (and half as many land for every slave they brought) of land if they settled in Trinidad. As a result, many colonists came over from French colonies in the Caribbean, and Trinidad's population grew: in 1789 it had over 15,000 people.
The French took over Tobago in 1781, during the American Revolution and the 1778-1783 war between France and Great Britain. The British took Trinidad from the Spanish in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, and their possesion of the islands was confirmed in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. The British also took Tobago buring the Napoleonic Wars, and their control of Tobago was confirmed in the 1814 Treaty of Paris.
Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834, and afterwards indentured laborers from India and China were brought to the islands. Trinidad and Tobago were united into one colony in 1889. The first general elections with universal adult suffrage in the islands were held in 1946. Trinidad and Tobago adopted its current flag became a fully independent Commonwealth realm on 31 August 1962, before becoming a republic in 1976.
Trinidad and Tobago's flag was designed by Carlisle Chang. In it, the red symbolizes fire and courage, the black symbolizes earth and dedication, and the blue symbolizes water, purity, and equality.
Rule 3: Red, white, and black. I like how the colors look on the flag.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblem.
Rule 5: This flag is coincidentally similar to that of the micronation (not microstate, they're different things) of Sealand. However, Sealand's flag is newer, being adopted in 1975.
Part 2
1889-1962

Spoiler

It's a British colonial flag. It has text.
Part 3
Out of the five last flags I've written about (including this one), the worst has been Thailand's, which doesn't look bad at all.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Tunisia

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 1831 as naval ensign, 1 June 1959 as national flag (current version adopted on 3 July 1999)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw from memory.
Rule 2: In 1534 the Ottoman Empire conquered the city of Tunis, which since 1229 had been ruled by the Berber Hafsid dynasty. The Ottomans only held Tunis for one year, as the Habsburg Empire under Charles V (along with Genoa, Portugal, the Papal States, and the Knights of Malta) took Tunis in 1535. The Ottomans finally managed to reconquer Tunis in 1574. Tunisia was initially ruled from Algiers, before being governed by a Pasha appointed by the Ottoman Empire.
In 1705 Tunisia began to be ruled by a bey of the Husainid dynasty, and afterwards Tunisia, while officially remaining part of the Ottoman Empire, became practically independent.
Tunisia adopted a naval ensign with five blue, red, green, blue, and red stripes with an irregular shape (I'm bad at naming shapes, so look at it here).
In 1831 Tunisia adopted two flags. One was a naval ensign, nearly identical to the current (but with a thinner crescent). The second was used by the Bey, and was rather complex, featuring nine horizontal stripes, which mostly aleternated between yellow and red. However, the middle stripe (which was twice as big as the other stripes) was green, with Zulfiqar, a legendary sword used by Ali ibn Abi Talib. On the other stripes there five emblems, which I'd rather not describe.
In 1881 France and the bey of Tunisia signed the Treaty of Bardo, making Tunisia a French protectorate.
In 1920 Destour, a party which supported Tunisian independence, was founded. A split in the part in 1934 led to the establishment of Neo Destour by the party's youth. The Tunisian independence grew in strength in the 1950s, and Tunisia became a fully independent kingdom (ruled by Muhammad VIII al-Amin, the last bey of Tunisia). The kingdom didn't last long, as on 25 July 1957 the monarchy was abolished and Tunisia became a republic (ruled as a dictatorship by Habib Bourguiba until 1987, when he was overthrown in coup d'état by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who afterwards ruled Tunisia until the 2011 revolution which began the Arab Spring).
On 1 June 1959 Tunisia adopted a constitution, which made Tunisia's naval ensign its national flag. The The Organic Law No. 99-56, adopted on 3 July 1999, established the exact design of the flag, and made the crescent slightly thicker.
The flag has disputed symbolism. The red symbolizes the resistance against Turkish supremacy, the white symbolizes peace, the circle symbolizes the sun, the crescent and star symbolize the unity of Muslims, and its five points symbolize the Five Pillars of Islam. This flag is based on that of the Ottoman Empire.
Rule 3: Red and white. Though there are bad flags with those colors, there are also good ones, like this one.
Rule 4: The crescent and star is a simple emblem.
Rule 5: I think this flag can easily be confused wwith Turkey's.
Part 2
mid-17 century-1831

Spoiler

In my opinion, this flag has ugly complex.
1831-1957 (flag of the bey)

Spoiler

An adult couldn't draw this flag from memory.
1959-1999

Spoiler

Almost identical to the current.
Part 3
It's not bad, but I think it's too similar to Turkey's.

 

[Hobbes]

Those are some great historic flags from Tunisia.

 

[EctoBiologist]

Someone ping me in discord when he finally shows the venezuelan flag.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Turkey

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 1844 (current version adopted on 29 May 1936)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw the crescent and star from memory.
Rule 2: The star and crescent, as an emblem, has a long history, and it originally had nothing to do with Islam. It was first used in the first century BC in the Kingdom of the Bosporus, Byzantium (both Greek), and the Kingdom of Pontus (ruled by Hellenized Persians). The symbol became associated with Artemis, Selene, and Hecate, Greek goddesses assoicated with the moon.
Turkic people, who speak Turkic languages, originated in Central Asia (all the countries in Central Asia except Tajikistan (and Afghanistan if you count as part of Central Asia) are mayority-Turkic). The first Turkic state was the Gokturk Khaganate, which existed from the sixth to the eighth centuries. The Turkic peoples were gradually Islamized after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana (a region of Central Asia).
The first Trks to inhabit what is now Tukey (and what was then Anatolia) were the Oghuz Turks, who established the Seljuk Empire (1037-1194) and the Sultanate of Rum (1077-1308). As the Sultanate of Rum collapsed in the late 13th century, many small beyliks (states ruled by a bey) were established. Most weren't really important, but one, the Beylik of Osmanoğulları, founded in 1299 and ruled by Osman I and his dynasty, managed to grow in power during the 14th and 15th centuries, conquering most of the Balkans and most of Anatolia, famously ending the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire after taking Constaninople in 1453. The Ottoman Empire would rech the peak of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, its territory including the Balkans (except for most of Croatia's coast), Hungary, Crimea, Cyprus, most of North Africa except Morocco, most of the northern Middle East except Iran, the coasts of the Red Sea, the coast of the Persian Gulf north of Qatar, the south and west of the Caucasus, and of course what is now Turkey. During this time, the Ottomans used tug banners (poles with the hairs of horse tails arranged in a circle at the top) or banners featuring Zulfiqar (a legendary sword, sometimes confused with scissors).
After the Ottomans were defeated in the 1683 Battle of Vienna
and the Great Turkish War (1683-1699) the Ottoman Empire slowly declined in power.
In 1793 a decree stated that all Ottoman ships must be red with a white star and crescent. The number of points in the star wasn't defined. In the 19th century the Ottoman Empire made modernizing reforms known as Tanzimat. One of those reforms was the adoption of a national flag almost identical to the current (but with a thicker crescent). Red was to be used by secular institutions, and green by religious ones.
According to legend:

In accounting for the crescent and star symbol, Ottomans[who?] sometimes (1890[citation needed]) referred to a legendary dream of the eponymous founder of the Ottoman house, Osman I, in which he is reported to have seen a moon rising from the breast of a qadi whose daughter he sought to marry. "When full, it descended into his own breast. Then from his loins there sprang a tree, which as it grew came to cover the whole world with the shadow of its green and beautiful branches." Beneath it Osman saw the world spread out before him, surmounted by the crescent.[3]

Also during the 19th century, Greece, Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria managed to gain independence (though technically Bulgaria only declared independence in 1908. It had been practically independent since the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War), Ottoman territory in Africa was mostly lost to European colonial powers (though Libya was only taken by Italy in 1912), and Ottoman territory in the Caucasus was lost to the Russian Empire.
In 1876 Turkey adopted a constitution and parliament, but in 1878 it went back to being an absolute monarchy until the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, after which the constitution was readopted, with a more powerful parliament. After a coup d'état in 1913 the Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Three Pashas. The Ottoman Empire joined WWI in the side of the Central Powers in 1914. In 1915 it comitted genocide against Armenians. The Ottoman Empire lost much of its territory in the Middle East after the Great Arab Revolt in 1916.
After WWI ended the Treaty of Sèvres, in which Turkey lost most of its territory, was signed. In response to the Allied occupation of Turkey a provisional government based in Ankara was established, managing to defeat the allies in the Turkish War of Independence. The Ottoman sultanate was abolished in 1922, and Turkey became a republic. In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne gave Turkey borders almost identical to their current ones.
On 29 May 1936 Turkey adopted a flag law in which its exact design was established, and its crescent was made thinner.
In 1938 the Sanjak of Alexandretta, part of the French Mandate of Syria, became independent as the Hatay State, which joined Turkey in 1939 (after a referendum which was most likely rigged), giving Turkey its current borders.
The use of the crescent and star in Turkey's flag made the emblem associated with Islam, and due to this some Muslim countries have a crescent and star on their flags.
Rule 3: Red and white. A commbination which looks good on this flag.
Rule 4: The crescent and star is a simple emblem.
Rule 5: This flag came before the others with crescent and stars, so if this flag can be confused with that of another country, it's not Turkey's fault.
Part 2
1844-1936

Spoiler

I prefer the thinner crescent.
Part 3
A good-looking, simple, and influential flag.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Turkmenistan

Adopted: 19 February 1992 (current version adopted on 24 January 2001)
Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could not draw the carpet designs from memory.
Rule 2: In the mid-19th century, the two most important states in what is now Turkmenistan were the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara. The Russian Empire conquered both states in 1873. Turkmen resistance against the Russians ended after the 1881 Battle of Geok Tepe. What is now Turkmenistan was fully conquered in 1884.
Starting in 1916 the Islamic Basmachi movement rebelled against Russian/Soviet rule in Central Asia. The Basmachi were mostly defeated in the early 1920s, though they weew only fully defeated in 1934. The monarchies of Khiva and Bukhara, which remained even after the Russian conquest, were abolished in 1920. Afterwards, the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic were established. In 1924 parts of these two republics, along with parts of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Russian SFSR, were joined to form the Turkmen SSR (the other parts of the PSRs became part of the Uzbek SSR instead). On 1 August 1953 the Turkmen SSR adopted a red flag with a hammer (symbolizing industrial workers), a sickle (symbolizing peasants), a red star (symbolizing the Communist party) on the upper hoist side, and two blue horizontal stripes, symbolizing the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, both rivers.
After the 1991 August Coup in the Soviet Union Turkmenistan declared full independence on 27 October 1991. It kept its flag from when it was a SSR until adopting a flag similar to the current, but with a darker shade of green, no wreath, slightly different designs and a 1:2 ratio, on 19 February 1992. The wreath was added in 1997, to symbolize Turkmenistan's status of permanent neutrality, declared in 1995. The green in the flag was lightened, the current designs were adopted, and the flag got a 2:3 ratio on 25 January 2001.
Green and red have been used by Turkmen historically. The crescent is associated with Islam (89% of Turkmen are Muslim) and Turkic people (both Turkmen and Turks are Turkic), and symbolizes the hope for a bright future for Turkmenistan. The five stars symbolize Turkmenistan's five provinces. The five carpet designs symbolize five Turkmen tribes: Teke, Yomut, Saryk, Chowdur, and Arsary.
Rule 3: Not counting the colors in the carpet designs, green, red, yellow, and green. Colors are not this flag's flaw.
Rule 4: The crescent and stars are simple, but the carpet designs are not.
Rule 5: Remove the carpet designs (still keeping the red stripe) and I think this flag will remain distinctive.
Part 2
Turkmen SSR (1926-1937)

Spoiler

Yes, it took until 1937 for the Turkmen SSR to get its own flag.
Turkmen SSR (1937-1940)

Spoiler

And its first flag was pretty bad.
Turkmen SSR (1940-1953)

Spoiler

So was its second.
Turkmen SSR (1953-1973)

Spoiler

Not bad, but at all the SSR flags with blue stripes.
Turkmen SSR (1973-1991), Turkmenistan (1991-1992)

Spoiler

The placement of the hammer and sickle is pretty odd.
1992-1997

Spoiler

This flag is complex with and without the wreath.
1997-2001

Spoiler

I prefer the current shade of green, but this shade isn't bad.
Part 3
According to Wikipedia, this is the most detailed national flag in the world. It certainly needs to be simplified.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Tuvalu

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 1 October 1978 (readopted on 11 April 1997)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child may not be able to draw the Union Jack perfectly, or to memorize the pattern of the tars, but I think they otherwise could draw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: The islands of Tuvalu were first inhabited by Polynesians around 3,000 years ago. Although there were nine islands in Tuvalu, one wasn't inhabited, and so Tuvalu literally means "Eight Together".
The first European to visit the islands was Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who was Spanish. In 1819 Arent Schuyler de Peyster, who was from New York and was the captain of the British ship Rebecca, and named the islands "Ellice Islands" after Edward Ellice, a British merchant and politician who supplied Rebecca's cargo. Missionaries first came to the islands in 1860s, and managed to Chistianize Tuvalu, which is today 97% Christian.
In 1892 the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati) and the Ellice Islands were made a British protectorate. In 1916 the islands became a Crown Colony. The colony adopted a constitution in 1967 and 1971, and parliamentary elections were held in 1967, 1970, and 1974. Tuvalu became a separate colony in 1975, after a 1974 referendum. Tuvalu gained full independence as a Commonwralth realm on 1 October 1978. Tuvalu then adopted its current flag, based on the British Blue Ensign. The stars are actually arranged like Tuvalu's islands, with east on top. On 1 October 1995 the star representing Niulakita was removed, as the island was uninhabted. Tuvalu adopted a completely new flan on January 1996, as Kamuta Latasi, Prime Minister at the time, was a Republican. The flag was a red, blue, and red horizontal triband (with the blue stripe being bigger than the other two), with white fimbriations between the stripes. The flag also had a (white) chevron on the hoist side and the blue stripe, with Tuvalu's coat of arms on it. The eight stars were kept, but thet were white instead of yellow. The new flag was unpopular with Tuvalu, which saw this flag as a move towards abolidhing the popular monarchy. After a new Prime Minister, Bikenibeu Paeniu, took over on 24 December 1996, the old flag (with nine stars) was restored on 11 April 1997.
Rule 3: Red, white blue (two shades) and yellow. This flag's colors are okay imo.
Rule 4: This flag has nine simple stars. The Union Jack is also mostly simple.
Rule 5: This flag is similar to Australia's, New Zealand's, and Fiji's, but I think the lighter shade of blue makes it distinctive from the former two and the star makes it distinctive from the latter.
Part 2
1995-1996

Spoiler

I don't really care about whether the flag has eight or nine stars.
1996-1997

Spoiler

I would have liked this flag if it didn't have a complex coat of arms with text.
Part 3
Except for the UK's flag, this is my favorite national flag with the Union Jack. It actually has a different shade of blue than other flags, and it's not as complex as Fiji's.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Uganda

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 9 October 1962.
Part 1
Rule 1: A child couldn't draw the crane from memory.
Rule 2: Uganda was first inhabited more than 50,000 years ago. Speakers of Bantu languages came in around 2,000 years ago. Some kingdoms were established, including Buganda, whose name in Swhaili is Uganda, Tooro, Ankole, and Busoga.
Arab traders from East Africa moved inwards to what is now Uganda in the 1830s. Anglican British missionaries first came to what is now Uganda (which is now 84,5% Christian). Uganda became a British protectorate in 1894.
Legislative elections were first held in 1958. Elections in 1961 were won by the Democratic Party, whose colors were blue and green. A green, blue, and green vertical triband with yellow fimbriations and a yellow crane in the center was proposed. However, elections held in 1962 had the Ugandan People's Congress, whose colors were black, yellow, and red, win the most seats. Uganda's current flag was proposed and approved, and it was adopted when Uganda became an independent Comonwealth realm on 9 October 1962. Exactly one year later Uganda became a republic.
Black symbolizes African people, yellow symbolizes African sunshine, and red symbolizes African nature. During British rule the grey crowned crane which has a gentle nature, was used as the military badge of Ugandan soldiers. The leg of the crane is raised upwards, symbolizing the forwards movement of the country.
Rule 3: Not counting the crane's colors, black, yellow, and red. I'd probably like the colors more if the stripes were halved.
Rule 4: The crane is complex imo.
Rule 5: This flag is distinctive.
Rule 2
1914-1962

Spoiler

British colonial flag.
1962-1963

Spoiler

Good flag. I like it much more than the current.
Part 3
This is actually one of my least favorite flags. I think it looks ugly, and in my opinion the crane is complex. At least it's distinctive.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Ukraine

Ratio: 2:3 (normal)
Adopted: 1918 (readopted on 28 January 1992)
Part 1
Rule 1: It's a simple bicolor.
Rule 2: In the 9th century the Kievan Rus', a loose federation of Slavic trives whose territory included parts of what is now Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, was founded. Its capital was Kiev, and its inhabitants were mostly the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians (though its rulers may have been Nordic). The Rus' reached its peak in the 10th and 11th centuries. Around the 12 century the Rus' began to be known in Western Europe as Ruthenia, and its inhabitants were known as Ruthenians. The Rus' was invaded by the Mongols starting in 1223, and Kiev was burned in 1240, after which the existence of the Kievan Rus' ended. One of the parts of what was the Kievan Rus', and is today part of Ukraine, was the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhyinia, a vassal of the Golden Horde. Most of what is now northern and western Ukraine was divided between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy in Lithuania (which would unite in 1569 to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) after the Galicia-Volhynia Wars in the 14th century, while southern and eastern Ukraine was controlled by the Golden Horde.
The first known blue and yellow Ukrainian flag was flown in the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, in which the Ruthenian land used a blue banner with a yellow lion on it. Traditional pre-Christian religious ceremonies featured the color blue, symbolizing water, and yellow, symbolizing fire.
In 1449 the Crimean Khanate, whose territory included the indisputed eastern and southern territory of Ukraine, and the Crimean peninsula, disputed since 2014, split from the Golden Horde. The Crimean Khanate became an Ottoman vassal in 1478.
Part of what is now the northeeast of Ukraine was conquered by the Grand Duchy of Moscow (which became the Tsardom of Russia in 1547) in the beginning of the 16th century.
In 1648 Cossacks (East Slavic people who established democratic and self-governing authorities in what is now Russia) rebelled against Polish-Lithuanian rule, leading to the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate, which used a blue banner with a yellow border. On the banner was a cossack wearing yellow and holding a musket.
From 1639 to 1686 Ukraine faced the Ruin, a conflicts between hetmans backed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, hetmans backed by the Tsardom of Russia and, after 1669, hetmmans backed by the Ottoman Empire. The Ruin ended with the Eternal Peace Treaty signed by Russia and the Commonwealth, in which it was agreed that Ukraine would be split along the Dnieper River, with western Ukraine being part of the Commonwealth and eastern Ukraine (also including Kiev, which was west of the Dnieper). Southern Ukraine remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the end of the 1768-1774 Russo-Turkish War and the signing of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, in which the Russian Empire gained Southern Ukraine (excep for Budjak, annexed after the 1806-1812) Russo-Turkish Warand the Crimean Khanate gained full independence. The khanate was annexed by Russia in 1783.
After the Three Partitions of Poland took place most of Ukraine became part of Russia, except for its west, which became part of the Habsburg Empire.
In 1848 Lviv, a city then in the Austrian Empire and today in Ukraine, when the Main Ruthenian Council in the city flew a yellow and blue horizontal bicolor. That same year, Ukrainian divisions with a yellow and blue banner were formed in the Austrian army.

For the first time in the Russian Empire the blue-yellow flag was flown on March 25, 1917 in Petrograd during a 20-thousand people mass demonstration.[11] On the territory of the Russian Ukraine (Little Russia) the national flag of Ukraine was flown for the first time in Kiev on March 29, 1917 by soldiers.[11] On April 1, 1917 Kiev saw a 100-thousand people demonstration that carried over 320 national flags.[11] After that similar demonstration with Ukrainian flags took place across the whole Russian Empire even beyond the Ukrainian ethnic lands.[11] Numerous famous Ukrainian politician wrote their recollection about the April 1 demonstration such as Mykhailo Hrushevsky and Serhiy Yefremov stating that there were blue-and-yellow flags, while Dmytro Doroshenko claimed that there were yellow-and-blue.[11] The blue-yellow flag was flown at the First Ukrainian Military Congress on May 18, 1917

After the October Revolution in Russia, many Ukrainian states were declared, including the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Hutsul Republic, Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian's People Republic, all of which had a flag identical to Ukraine's current. However, one didn't: the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, which had a red flag with the abbreviation of the state's name written in gold on the upper hoist side. The area saw war, and by 1921, the SSR had taken over most of what is now Ukraine, except for parts of what is now its west, which became part of Poland, Czechsoslovakia, or Romania. On 30 Decmeber 1922 the Russian and Transcaucasian SFSRs and the Ukrainian and Byelorrusian SSRs united to form the Soviet Union.
After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed in 1939 southeastern Poland, along with Budjak and northern Bukovina (parts of Romania) were annexed by the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. After WWII's end Czechoslovakia ceded Carpathian Ruthenia to the Soviet Union.
The Ukrainian SSR adopted its last flag in 1949. The SSR's flag was red, with a golden hammer and sickle and a red star on the upper hoist side, and a blue stripe, symbolizing the mightiness and beauty of the people, in the bottom.
After the August Coup attempt in the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared independence on 24 August 1991. Ukraine kept its SSR flag until 28 January 1992, when Ukraine adopted its current.
Though when Ukraine's flag was first flown the colors didn't have that meaning, today the blue symbolizes sky and the yellow symbolizes wheat.
Rule 3: Blue and yellow. Good colors.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: This flag is actually very similar or identical to some flags, so it's not distinctive.
Part 2[/b]
Ukrainian SSR (1919-1929)

Spoiler

Early SSR flags were terrible.
Ukrainian SSR (1929-1937)

Spoiler

I like this font less than the previous one.
Ukrainian SSR (1937-1949)

Spoiler

The hammer and sickle makes it more interesting than other SSR flags. Still not too interesting.
Ukrainian SSR (1949-1991), Ukraine (1991-1992)

Spoiler

The placement of the hammer and sickle is odd. Also, another Soviet republic with a blue flag.
Part 3
It's simple and looks good. It's not distinctive, however.

 

[badposter]

Flag of the United Arab Emirates

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 2 December 1971 (UAE established)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw this flag from memory.
Rule 2: The meaning of the Pan-Arab colors:

Basically, there are two set of Pan-Arab colors: the most used set uses red, black, green and white. These colors were first used in the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire and each color represented an Arab dynasty: black represented the Abbasids, white the Ummayads, green the Fatimids and red the Hashemites.
The other set uses red, white and black and is derived from the Arab Liberation Flag, which was used in the 1952 Egyptian Revolution which overthrew the country's monarchy.

In the beginning of the 19th century, there were seven sheikhdoms in what is now the United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, Umm al-Quwain, Dubai, and Fujairah, all of which had plain red flags, like most states in the Persian Gulf at the time. Due to the rampant piracy in the area, the first five sheikdoms signed the 1820 General Maritime Treaty with the United Kingdom, in which slavery and piracy were banned, and all ships in the emirates were to be registered with British forces. The sheikhdosm then became known as the Trucial States. After this treaty, white was added to the flags of the states. Dubai joined the Trucial States in 1835.
In 1853 the Trucial States permanetly allied themeselves with the United Kingdom in the Perpetual Maritime Truce of 1853, and became British protectorates in 1892.
Fujairah joined the Trucial States in 1952, after pressure from PCL (Petroleum Concessions Limited) to explore the entire eastern coast of the Trucial States (oil was actually inly discovered in the Trucial States in 1958. Before then the region's economy was based on pearl fisheries).
The UK announced that it wanted to end the protectorate. It was then agreed by the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai that they intended to establish an union of the Trucial States, Bahrain, and Qatar. However, heavy-handed British intervention led Qatar, Baharain, and Ras al-Khaimah dropping out of talks. On 1 December 1971 the British protectorate over the Trucial States ended, and the next day the United Arab Emirates were established. The newly-independent country adopted a flag with Pan-Arab coors, symbolizing Arab unity.
One day before the end of the protectorate ended, Iran seized the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from Sharjah, leading to Ras Al Khaimah to join the United Arab Emirates
Rule 3: Red, green, white, and black. I actually like how the colors look like on this flag.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: This flag can easiy be confused with other Pan-Arab flags.
Part 2
The United Arab Emirates has never changed its flag since being established.
Part 3
I think this flag looks good, but it's definitely not distinctive.

 

[badposter]

Flag of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

Ratio: 1:2 (normal)
Adopted: 1 May 1707 (current version adopted on 1 January 1801)
Part 1
Rule 1: A child could draw this flag from memory, though they may not draw St. Patrick's Cross perfecty.
Rule 2: After Roman rule ended in Britain in the early 5th century, many kingdoms were established in Great Britain and Ireland (this period in England was known as the Heptarchy, for seven kingoms in the area, though in fact the actual number fluctuated). The Kingdom of Scotland is traditionally said to have been founded by Kenneth MacAlpin, king of the Picts, in 843, though most historians today consider Constantine II (reigned 900-943) as Scotland's real first king.
In England, the Kingdom of Wessex began dominating in the 9th century, starting with the reign of Egbert (reigned 802-839). Æthelstan managed to conquer England and become KIng of the English in 927.
Ireland never managed to unify, and Wales only unified briefly under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn from 1055 to 1063. From 1169 to 1171 the Normans (who had been ruling England since 1066) invaded Ireland and succesfully conquered it. Afterwards, the Lordship of Ireland was established. Its lord was the King of England, though there were some parts of Ireland which were not controlled by England.
In 1216 the Council of Aberdyfi established the Principality of Wales, which at first was practically independent despite its prince swearing fealty to the kingdom of England. However, England conquered Wales after two campaign in 1277 and 1282, and in 1301 the heir to the English throne became the Prince of Wales.
In the year 1188 the kings of England and France went on crusade. It was agreed that France would use a red cross, while England would use a white one. For unkown reason, England's cross became red in the 12th century. The cross was at first not associated with Saint George, as England's patron saint at the time was Edward the Confessor (king of England from 1042 to 1066, and also the patron saint of difficult marriages. I'm not joking). St. George became the patron saint of the Order of the Garter when it was founded in 1348, and Saint George's Day (23 April) became a "double major feast" in 1415. St. George finally became England's primary saint during the English Reformation in the 16th century.
Now let's talk about St. Andrew, one of the apostles. According to legend, he was crucified on an X-shaped cross (a saltire), as he considered himself unworthy to be crucified in the same type of cross as Jesus. Though he never visited Scotland, legend says his remains were brought from Constantinople to St.Andrews, Scotland, and he is Scotland's patron saint. Icons featuring St. Andrew being crucified appeared in 1180. St. Andrew's crucifixion appeared in various seals in Scotland in the 13th century, including those of the Guardians of Scotland (heads of state of the kingdom from 1290 to 1292 and 1296 to 1306). A simplified version of the cross, withouth St. Andrew, began appearing in the 14th century. In 1385 the Scottish Parliament was decreed that Scottish soldiers serving in France (allied with Scotland in the Hundred Year's War) would wear a white St. Andrew's Cross. It is said that the cross began to be used on a white background in the 15th century, though the first known instance of a flag identical to Scotland's current appears in the Register of Scottish Arms, written in 1542. According to legend:

in 832 A.D. Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles, led by Æthelstan, near modern-day Athelstaneford, East Lothian. The legend states that whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland; Andrew then appeared to Óengus that night in a dream and assured him of victory. On the morning of battle white clouds forming the shape of an X were said to have appeared in the sky. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in terms of numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the crux decussata upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend.

After the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 was passed Wales was formally incorporated into England, with Wales adopting the English legislative system and having members in the English parliament.
After the Irish Parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 the Kingdom of Ireland was established. Its king was England's king, and Ireland was an English client.
In 1603 Elizabeth I, reigning queen of England, died. She never married and had no children, so James, her first cousin once removed and the king of Scotland since 1567, became king of England. England and Scotland have had the same monarch since, though both countries remained independent at first. In 1606 a flag which was a mix of England's and Scotland's was adopted as the maritime flag of both countries.
In the late 17th early 18th centuries Scotland attempted to established a colony in Panama. They didn't succeed:

Agriculture proved difficult and the local Indians, though hostile to Spain, were unwilling to trade for the combs and other trinkets offered by the colonists. Most serious was the almost total failure to sell any goods to the few passing traders who put in to the bay. With the onset of summer the following year, malaria and fever led to many deaths. Eventually, the mortality rate rose to ten settlers a day.[7] Local Indians brought gifts of fruit and plantains, but these were appropriated by the leaders and sailors who mostly remained on board ships. The only luck the settlers had was in giant turtle hunting, but fewer and fewer men were fit enough for such strenuous work. The situation was exacerbated by the lack of food mainly due to a high rate of spoilage caused by improper stowing. At the same time, King William instructed the Dutch and English colonies in America not to supply the Scots' settlement so as not to incur the wrath of the Spanish Empire.[7] The only reward the council had to give was alcohol, and drunkenness became common, even though it sped the deaths of men already weakened by dysentery, fever and the rotting, worm-infested food.

The failure of the scheme ruined Scotland's economy, leading to Scotland and England signing the Treaty of Union in 1706. The English and Scottish parliaments then passed the Acts of Union 1707 on 1 May of that year, and the Kingom of Great Britain was established. Its flag was the same as the last sea flags of Scotland and England.
Now I'm gonna switch the topic to St. Patrick. St. Patrick was a missionary who is said to have brought Christianity to Ireland, and due to this he is Ireland's patron saint. The type of cross associated at first with St. Patrick was the cross pattée . However, when the Order of St. Patrick, and Anglo-Irish chivalric order, was founded in 1783, its badge featured a red saltire on a white background. This type of cross, while previously associated with Ireland, had not been associated with St. Patrick.
After the Acts of Union 1800 (which took effect the first of day of 1801) passed in the British and Irish parliaments, Great Britain and Ireland united to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, whose flag was like Great Britain's, but with St. Patrick's cross added.
Ireland began a war for independence in 1919, leading to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and most of Ireland gaining independence of 6 December 1922. However, the UK kept Northern Ireland, and so St. Patrick's Cross remains in the flag.
The Local Government Act 1972 treated England and Wales as separate, and Wales got its own government in 1998. Despite this, Wales isn't represented in the UK's flag.
Rule 3: Red, white, and blue. This color combination may be overused, but it wasn't when this flag was adopted, and besides it isn't bad.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems.
Rule 5: The United Kingdom had the largest empire history (unforunately creating British colonial flag), and today is one of most well-known countries in Europe and the world. This flag is distinctive.
Part 2
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1801)

Spoiler

I think this flag looks better than the current (I'm neutral on Irish reunification).
Part 3
Not as good as Great Britain's flag (imo), but it's not bad. Definitely better than British colonials flag.