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Flags of Countries that Barely Were

Ganesha

Active member
I'm a fan of countries that just barely existed - the short lived states that spring up in coups, crises, and civil wars but then are wiped from the map (and often the collective memory as well). They also sometimes have fun flags - here's a few of my favorites.

800px-Flag_of_Mindanao_(Alexander_Noble,_1990).svg.png

The Federal Republic of Mindanao existed for two days in 1990 in the southern Philippines. In the end, very few people were hurt and very little impact was made, but it did leave us with this unusual flag that combines a Christian cross, Islamic crescent, and... well, I don't know what the circle is, but it's cool.

800px-Flag_of_Louisiana_(February_1861).svg.png

The State of Louisiana seceded from the United States in late January 1861. In early February, it joined the Confederacy. In between, though, it called itself an independent country. This was their flag. With the red background and yellow star, it's almost reminiscent of a Vietnamese communist flag.


800px-Philippine_revolution_flag_pugadlawin.svg.png

This is one of the flags used in the Philippine Revolution of 1896, best associated with the First Tagalog Republic. The K.K.K. stands for the Katipunan, a revolutionary secret society and, in my opinion, one of the coolest groups to have ever carried out a revolution. All of the cliches and stereotypes that you might imagine a revolutionary secret society would have were there, and these guys were totally badass. The full name was Kataas-taasan Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, or "The Supreme and Most Honorable Society of the Children of the Nation."

What are your favorite flags from states that didn't make it?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
The flag of the short-lived North Caucasian Emirate (September 1919 to March 1920) was rather cheerful.

chechnya_by_mars_fm-d77584d.png


The K.K.K. stands for the Katipunan, a revolutionary secret society and, in my opinion, one of the coolest groups to have ever carried out a revolution.
Filipinos really need to work on their acronyms. When it's not KKK, it's MILF.
 
The flag of the short-lived North Caucasian Emirate (September 1919 to March 1920) was rather cheerful.

Looks like a great Jack-O-Lantern design!

One more flag: that of The Great Republic of Rough and Ready! This wonderfully named country consisted of a mining town (also named Rough and Ready, after Zachary Taylor) and environs, then and now located in Northern California. In April 1850, mainly in protest of a new gold-mining tax, the few thousand people of Rough and Ready voted to leave the United States. No one bothered to try to stop them, if indeed anyone found out. After several months of glorious independence, the town was making its usual preparations for the Fourth of July when it was pointed out that they couldn't properly celebrate America's independence day if they had just left America. And so the Great Republic of Rough and Ready rejoined the USA on July 4th, 1850 and passed into triviality. But they did leave us this flag:

Rough_and_Ready_Republic_1850_Flag.jpg

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Today I have another fun flag and country to share with you! Below is the glorious flag of the great country of Neutral Moresnet!

320px-Flag_of_Moresnet.svg.png


Neutral Moresnet was a small territory of 1.4 square miles on the Belgian-German border between 1816 and 1920. It was established at the Congress of Vienna as a joint co-dominium between Belgium and Prussia. The village of Moresnet (or Altenberg, in German) had a valuable zinc spar mine, so Neutral Moresnet was established to share the mine. Each state appointed a commissioner who jointly appointed a mayor.

The whole thing seemingly worked pretty well - the population boomed into the thousands, as there were lower taxes and an exemption from military service from both countries, and the mine provided plenty of zinc spar.

But in 1885, the mine ran out and other ideas had to be put forth for what to do with Neutral Moresnet. To quote Wikipedia:
The most remarkable initiative occurred in 1908, when Dr. Molly proposed making Neutral Moresnet the world's first Esperanto‑speaking state, named Amikejo ("place of friendship"). The proposed national anthem was an Esperanto march of the same name. A number of residents learned Esperanto and a rally was held in Kelmis in support of the idea of Amikejo on August 13, 1908. The World Congress of Esperanto, meeting in Dresden, even declared Neutral Moresnet the world capital of the Esperanto community.[10]

In the end, though, the idea didn't take, and following World War One, Neutral Moresnet was annexed to Belgium.

It's also interesting for one other reason - at Neutral Moresnet's northernmost point existed one of history's few true quadripoints - a place where you could be in four different territories at once. At that point, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Moresnet all met at a single point!

Their flag was pretty nice too.

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
I suspect that somebody who posted that on a Flag Thread would receive some fairly scathing feedback.
As I am fond of observing, most flags posted on AH flag threads are way too good be realistically something that one would find in OTL.

Most OTL flags are hastily stitched together in five minutes before the baddies show up to try to take the fort, or whatever.
 
As I am fond of observing, most flags posted on AH flag threads are way too good be realistically something that one would find in OTL.

Most OTL flags are hastily stitched together in five minutes before the baddies show up to try to take the fort, or whatever.

I remember distinctly after the Libyan Revolution began in 2011, literally thousands and thousands of pre-Gaddafi Libyan flags started showing up at rallies and protests... within days of the protests beginning. I often wondered where they all came from. Was there a secret cabal of underground Kingdom of Libya flag makers? Did everyone with a Singer sewing machine and some red/black/green cloth quickly stitch it together? Did an entrepreneurial flagmaker switch their factory setup pronto?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
As I am fond of observing, most flags posted on AH flag threads are way too good be realistically something that one would find in OTL.

Most OTL flags are hastily stitched together in five minutes before the baddies show up to try to take the fort, or whatever.
BTW I'm guessing that the text on top means "Death to the Bourgeoisie". Is there someone here who actually speaks Russian?

Another flag that probably wouldn't pass muster with the nitpicky vexillologists of AH.com: that of the Republic of Formosa (May to October 1895).

547931323_m.jpg
 
BTW I'm guessing that the text on top means "Death to the Bourgeoisie". Is there someone here who actually speaks Russian?

Another flag that probably wouldn't pass muster with the nitpicky vexillologists of AH.com: that of the Republic of Formosa (May to October 1895).

Very good Hendryk, yes, “Death to the Bourgeoisie”. I can’t speak Russian but I can just about read it (if not quite understand it, but it does have a surprisingly large number of cognates).
 
Kind of surprised they left out KOMUCH (June to November 1918), not that their flag was anything to write home about:

banderaar.png

I believe they've excluded all the Governments or Authorities that claimed to be successors or continuity states to the Russian Republic/Provisional Government - although there were so many different forces traipsing around the place that I am sure they'll have missed at least one or two off (there's no Siberian Government either - although, again, it was always ambiguous about whether or not they considered themselves a Government purely for Siberia or for the whole of the former Empire).
 
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