In this painting of the battle of Grunewald we can see a standard displaying this element
And it's amazing how over 600 years later the symbol still represents the military forces of Lithuania
Every country has their own flag. Some even have two. It's how they identify each other in the world
Colors, patterns and symbols that we immediately associate with a specific country, although some
don't really make it easy for us. Looking at Romania and Chad who should just figure it out
The origin of flags as a form of representing countries is diverse, but in many cases they
come from the need to represent a specific ruler or a specific country's troops in battle. In the
play Henry VI, the character of Edward, Prince of Wales, has a line that states
sound trumpets, let our bloody colors wave, and either victory or else a grave. The use of flags
as field ensigns apparently emerges in Asia, possibly in either China or India. In Achaemenid
Persia, each army division had its own standard, and all officers had banners over their tents
In this ancient painting, we can see the Mughal army saluting the nine standards of the leader
of the Timurid empire. Some used other symbols to the same effect, not necessarily being a flag in
the sense of it being a piece of fabric, for example the Roman eagle standard or the dragon
standard of the Sarmatians. So this got me thinking, if a great deal of flags have their
origin in battle standards, what do countries' military flags look like today? Most countries
have their national flag, but also various others. The presidential standard, the flag
of the king in cases of monarchies, the government flag, the sea flag, and many others whose purpose
is to represent a specific institution inside the country. But not all of them still have
specific and especially significantly different battle flags. So in this video, we're focusing on
one of those, the military flags of some countries around the world. Some countries have flags for
the three branches of the armed forces, the ground forces, the army, the naval forces
the navy, and the air force. I already did a video on naval flags once, so in this video
I'm going to simply focus on the ground forces, the army itself. Although sometimes there is
common usage of the same flag by all three branches. Like I mentioned, not all countries
have military flags, and even some who do have somewhat boring ones, just similar to the national
one. Portugal's is just the national flag in a square shape with a symmetric background and some
extra things around the sphere. France's seem to be the national flag itself, also in a different
shape, and then adding some symbols in the center depending on which military figure it represents
Some seem to not even have specific army flags, like Spain for instance, just having emblems to represent it nowadays
Or Nordic countries which use a pennant version, differently shaped, but of their same national flags
But let's focus on the ones that do look interesting, starting with the ones on the thumbnail
Ukraine has a fantastic war flag. Not only does it look good because of the symbol and war combinations, but the color choice itself is remarkable
There are very few flags throughout the world that use the color purple or pink, and it's
really original that they chose to do so. It depicts in the center the symbol and colors of the Ukrainian court of arms It is a representation of the sealed trident of Volodymyr the Great Grand Prince of Kiev from 980 to 1015 In this ancient coin of the time we can see the
same trident present. It's fantastic how the symbol has lasted from so early on until today
at the time representing a national and military leader, and today, still the country and its
military. Next is Lithuania's. It almost looks like a Roman Empire standard due to the colors
and the leaves forming a circle. In the center is the symbol of the columns of Gediminas
one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and its historical court of arms. They were used in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, initially as Duke Kestutij's personal insignia, since 1397
appearing on his seals and coins, and then as a state symbol of all of Lithuania at the time
In this painting of the Battle of Grunewald in 1410, down the center we can see a standard
displaying this element. And it's amazing how over 600 years later, the symbol still represents
the military forces of Lithuania. Estonia follows a similar idea, using the symbol of their coat of
arms as the flag for their defense forces. Again, using a symbol that's been around for hundreds
and hundreds of years. The three lions derived from the coat of arms of Danish King Voldemort
II who had conquered Northern Estonia in 1219. The lions then became a part of the seal of the
the city of Tallinn, the center of Danish government in Estonia. With Estonian independence
they remained as a symbol of their nation. The emblem that a military leader once used as he
disembarked on those lands with his troops. And in this painting, we can see exactly that
present on his shield and on banners carried by soldiers. A fun fact is that the Danish flag
itself actually also comes from these same Danish invasions of Estonia. Legend says it descended
from the skies at the time. And then the Dutch military flag. As we go on looking at these
it becomes evident that in many cases, the military emblem is a representation of the
nation's court of arms. Here, that is the case as well, of the golden lion on an orange field
The royal arms were adopted by the first king of the kingdom of the Netherlands, William I
using elements of his family's orange Nassau, court of arms. The orange color itself is also
connected to his family and Dutch culture throughout time. Right nearby, Belgium's ground
forces flag is super cool, but to be totally honest with you, I have no idea what it means
I couldn't find any information. The crown must represent the Belgian monarchy and the colors
are the Belgian national colors from their flag, but a sword and two arms are also present. I'm
not sure if they represent anything else other than the general concept of ground forces
Albania also has a pretty cool military flag since 2010. Contrasting with their national one
which is red and black, this one is green and gold, depicting two crossed rifles in the center
Hungary's is also cool, using the national colors with the coat of arms in the center
and Bulgaria follows the same logic. Bangladesh is very interesting and simplistic looking
but I like it especially because it's different from the national flag
Also starting with a B, Brazil, a white field with the army's coat of arms
whose origin I sadly also could not find but which looks very medieval
The army officially exists only since Brazil's independence in the 1800s, but the date on
the flag points to a battle that took place at the time when Brazilian people were mobilized in battle for the first time In addition the marine infantry flag is kind of bad especially when it has such
a cool looking shield on the top left. I took the liberty of attempting to redesign it and I think
this would be a much cooler option. The Colombian army's flag is similar to Brazil, depicting a
coat of arms and being very different than their national flag. I think this is for me what defines
the flags as being better looking. They're not just a slightly different reproduction of the
current national one, but a completely different standard, sometimes going back in history and
collecting other symbols and colors, which makes sense. If the need to represent troops in battle
is at the origin of flags, they should go back to the symbols of those times to use in their flags
now, when that makes sense of course. Another example back in Europe is Moldova. Their armed
forces flag is honestly even better looking than their actual national one, oddly looking like the
flag of the Olland Islands, except with a centered cross instead of a Nordic one. It uses the Moldovan
colors and then presenting its court of arms in large size in the center, except instead of holding
a branch and a scepter, as the eagle does in the National Court of Arms, here it is holding a sword
and a mace, representative of its military component. China's military flag is super simplistic
similar to the national one. The layout of it has a golden star on the top left corner and two
Chinese characters to the right of the star, placed on a red field. The characters literally
mean 8 and 1, and they are a reference to the events of August 1st, 1927, the 8th month
first day, when the People's Liberation Army was created at the start of the rebellion against the
Kuomintang government. Iraq's flag is okay, but it does follow a trend that I personally dislike
of representing the territory's outline on the flag. I feel like that defeats the purpose of
creating a flag which transmits the location's identity in itself. The Irish Defense Forces have one of the best looking flags ever for this purpose
The background field is black with a tricolored stripe of the Irish flag colors
In the center is the badge of the Irish Defense Forces, originally designed in 1913 for the
Irish Volunteers, which I think were a group who fought for Irish independence
The two letters, the double F, mean Fianna Fael. The word Fianna is the name of an ancient military organization from around the 3rd century AD
which then formed what corresponded to the standing army of the country
And the word Fai'il means destiny, apparently. In this case, the symbol is new, but the meaning of it
representing the name of that ancient army, represents the country's history as well
The military flags of the Republic of Korea are also pretty cool
gathering in them elements of all armed forces. They have specific flags for the ground forces and one for the naval infantry as well
Mongolia's army flag has a bunch of writing on it, which I find unnecessary
and it ruins the effect of the rest. I feel like the heirs of one of history's most feared military forces deserve a better flag to represent them
I did this alternate version, also without the text, just to see what it could look like
Pakistan's army has a cool flag because it uses two swords in a very simplistic manner
using some elements from the national flag. The Philippines ground forces standard is also okay but their armed forces one is even better combining the colors and symbols of the army navy and air force into one flag to represent them all Poland has a really cool red pennant
with their white crowned eagle. Russia has a great flag for the armed forces
but also a great one for the army itself. The Armed Forces one seems to reference some type
of Soviet style. Maybe I'm totally wrong here, but the red and the yellow plus the stars give
off that idea. And then also using the imperial double-headed eagle in the center, present since
the times of the Russian Empire. In the shield, St. George slays a dragon. The reverse side of
this flag also contains two pieces of text written in old style Slavic typeface. The top side of the
banner contains the inscription Fatherland and on the bottom, the inscription reads Depth of Honor
Serbia's flag is also interesting. The Serbian double-headed eagle crowned with its shield in
the center. It's weird how in military flags, a lot of times, monarchy elements are still present
even when the countries are now republics. Below are two crossed swords and two fleur-de-lis
There's also some text in the bottom but I couldn't find the meaning of it and I couldn't
write it down to translate it so if you know, please leave a comment telling me. I'm also not
sure why they use fleur-de-lis. Thailand used to be Siam and their old flag was super interesting
the elephant one, then changing it to a more westernized one if you will, which looks a lot
more basic, but the military standards kept the cultural elements that make them so interesting
The UK has a very basic navy and air force flags, but the land forces have an amazing one
A red field, and in gold, two crossed swords, and the British lion, and a crown
It's kind of weird that a crown is present, and then the lion itself is again crowned
but still, the naval infantry has a cool one too, as do the royal engineers
The naval infantry one is amazing, depicting a world map, and the words by sea, by land
And above the word Gibraltar refers to the capture of Gibraltar by a force of Anglo-Dutch marines in 1704
and the subsequent defense of the fortress throughout a nine-month siege against a much larger Franco-Spanish force
The United States one is okay, kind of underwhelming to be honest and at the same time way too detailed to be impactful
1775 was the year the Continental Army was formed. The armor symbolizes strength and defense
The musket, mortar and cannon represent the different divisions within the US Army at the time
The cap on the sword represents the cap of liberty, a symbol of revolution
And the snake is said to symbolize the readiness of the US Army
Although the Marine Infantry flag is much better looking. So, that was a general overview of some of the Army slash Armed Forces slash War Flags that exist throughout the world
It's interesting how some countries feel the need to have them, others don't. how some are truly original while others simple adaptations of the national flag. The practice of
representing a nation in battle is precisely what started implementing the usage of flags and perhaps
without it we wouldn't have them today. So it's interesting to see how these military forces at
the origin of the concept of flags represent themselves today. Thanks so much for watching
this video. Subscribe if you want and leave a comment below sharing your favorite military flag
or letting you know if I missed a particularly interesting one. I will see you next time for more general knowledge