User:JRM/Notes/List of national flags in red, white and blue
An unusual number of countries have flags whose colors consist only of red, white and blue. For some, this is obvious (Australia's flag is based on the flag of the U.K., for example) while for others there seems to be no relation. Here is a biased list of countries that sport more-or-less original designs, composed according to the following rules:
- The flag must be based on fields that are red, white or blue (and it must include all three colors), but it may include details (like a heraldic weapon) in other colors.
- Flags based on other flags (like Australia and various territorial flags) don't count. "Based" here means a clear visual inspiration: it could be claimed that the U.S. flag is "based" on the U.K. flag in its choice of colors, but that doesn't count, as the Stars and Stripes does not bear any other relationship to the Union Flag. (There are claims that the U.S. flag was based on a flag used by British merchants, but this is by no means undisputed.) On the other hand, the Liberian flag is an obvious tribute to the U.S. flag. Dubious cases like Chile (certainly not based on the flag of Texas, despite the similarity, but quite possibly based on the U.S. flag) are given the benefit of the doubt.
- Even if they're not clearly visually similar, territorial flags (like American Samoa) don't count.
Notes
[edit]- Guam and Haiti don't count because only red and blue feature prominently as fields; the white is only part of a detail.
- No fewer than four countries use a flag based on horizontal stripes that are, from top to bottom, red, white and blue: Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Paraguay. Serbia and Montenegro has the order reversed, but a new flag design that doesn't involve white is awaiting endorsement.
- Red, white and blue are the Pan-Slavic colours, explaining the large number of Slavic countries using those colors in their flags.
- See Also List_of_countries_by_colors_of_national_flags
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