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Pan-slavene colours

Discussion on Pan-slavene Colours and the Flags of Republics in Former Yugoslavia

See also: Yugoslavia

On July 3 James asked about a flag for Montenegro. I don't know about a post communist flag but Whitney Smith's classic book on flags gives a seperate flag for Montenegro that is the same as the flag of the former Yougoslavia but with the order of the stripes changed (red-blue-white instead of blue-white-red). Of course most of the republic flags from that era were the state flag but with the order of the stripes changed. However, since Montenegro has stayed with Serbia it is possible that their current flag is the same as the old but with the star removed.
It is interesting to note that, with the exception of Bosnia, the new flags of the breakaway republics are the same as their old ones but with new badges. In other words the stripes, or in the case of Macedonia the field (red), remains the same while the star is removed and replaced with another symbol.
Nathan Augustine 03-AUG-1995

In former Yugoslavia this (the permutation of federal colours) seems to be correct assumption, but it is not. For example, Slovenian national flag (white-blue-red) had and still has the same colours but it originates from the middle of 19th century (it far predates any Yugoslavia). Regarding flag red-white-blue, this is Croatian national flag (used to be and it still is).
Andrej Brodnik 03-AUG-1995

Actually I was not assuming that the republics of the former Yougoslavia were copying the federal flag. In fact I had assumed that the flags of the republics and of the federation were all derived from the pan-slavic colors that are also seen in Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechia, Slovakia and Russia. The origins of the pan-slavic colors, BTW was during the reign of Peter the Great, early 1700s (according to Whitney Smith).
Nathan Augustine 03-AUG-1995

In case of Yugoslavia and Slovenia in particular your explanation and assumptions are incorrect. Slovene national colours originate from the coat of arms of Carinthia: originally golden eagle with red claws on a blue background; eagle later got a crown (Habsuburg put it there as a sign of gratitude when Carinthian knights had helped to rescue Vienna before Turks, I beleive) but changed colour into silver. From these three colours, silver, blue and red, was also made the first Slovene flag -- I believe sometime in fourties of previous century. In conclusion, neither Slovene flag nor its colours per se have nothing to do with Peter the Great.
Andrej Brodnik 03-AUG-1995

With all due respect to a much esteemed colleague of the vexophilic list, I must point out that Hungary is in fact not a slavic nation, in spite of the outcome of the war in 1919. Magyars and their language are not related, even, to the Indo-European language and peoples, but find their origin among the free and often terrifying peoples of the Steppe, such as Huns, Tatars and Turks, and also among the indiginous peoples of what is now Russia -- the Finns and Ogric people. Moreover, the flag of Hungary is green, white, and red. There is no blue on it.
It is to be hoped, however, that the Magyar people will find a new age of cooperation and co-prosperity with their Slavic neighbors, especially Croatia and Slovakia, as the central European economic recovery continues.
Alex Justice 04-AUG-1995

Actually I was aware of the ethnic origins of the Magyars, my mistake.
In stating that the flags of this region, eastern (mostly slavic) europe, used pan-slavic colors, I intended to show a relationship between the flags of the area, not to state that the colors were chosen for their "pan-slavism" alone.
Each country that chose these colors did so for reasons of its own and in accordance with its own traditions. However, the point is that these colors are the predominant ones in the region. Of the 12 slavic nations, half have red-white-blue flags. The exceptions being: Poland (red and white), Romania and Moldavia (red-yellow-blue), Ukraine (yellow and blue) and Belorussia (red and white or the new/old red-white-green) and Bulgaria (red-white-green). Each of these exceptions uses either two of the colors or a variation on one of them, yellow is similar to white and green is similar to blue. Ukraine is the most non-standard of the group using only two colors and yellow instead of white.
I've excluded Hungary since they are not ethnically slavic and Bosnia and Albania since they differ significantly in their culture. The other nations that I consider (perhaps erroniously or incompleatly) slavic are: Russia, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Yougoslavia.
The use of pan-slavic colors is similar to the pan-african colors "taken" from the Ethiopian flag. Each country that has these colors has them for their own reasons, and their own interpretation of their meaning. They also often add additional colors or change one of the colors to one that is similar and more in keeping with their own traditions. Several Carribian nations have also chosen these colors because of their cultural affinity with Africa (eg. Jamaica and Guyana).
I did not intend to slight either Slovenia or Hungary or their traditions/ethnic origins. I had intended only to point out a trend that I had noticed.
Nathan Augustine 04-AUG-1995