Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1915-01-28
STORIES OF FLAGS
Origins Of Some of the EmbIems
of European Nations.
THE TRlcoLoR OF BELGIUM.

Il Was Originally the Standard Of the
Duehy Of 6rabant-complex colors
of Austria and the Flags of Germany,
France, England and Russia.
Prior to the Franco Prussian war of
1870 the German empire was little
more than u group of scattered states.
When they combined into single en-
pire. however, traces Of all their flags
were combined in the resultant stand
ard.
To be sure. the colors of Prussia
black and white-and the Prussian
eagle enter very largely into ii. but it
must be remembered that this country
became ut that time the head and
ruler Of all the others. Besides the
smaller states. there were also the
flags of East and West Prussia TO be
included. That Of West Prussia was
black. white. black, three stripes Of
equal diameter, running the length of
the flag. That of East Prussia CON
sisted of two such stripes. the upper
black and the lower white. The
Jack" of the imperial navy consists
of three horizontal stripes. the upper
black. the middle white and the lower
red. The much priced iron cross dat.
ing back TO the end of the twelfth CEN
turyD is in the center. This red stripe
appears in the final war ensign of the
empire, in which the tricolor (black.
white. redD appears in the upper quar-.
ter. with the iron cross upon 1t, while
the remaining three-quarters are white.
with the royal arms in the center. A
black cross divides the whole flag into
quarters.
The flag Of Austria is very COM
plex affair. To begin with. the various
Austrian provinces have their own
flags. Bohemia is red-white, Tyrol is
white-red. Dalmatia is blue-yellow. Ga.
licia is blue-red, Croatia is red.white-
blue and Istria is yellow-wnite- blue.
Then again. Austria Fl hungary being a
dual monarchy. both Austria ana Hun
gary must be separately represented
and fully-on the flag. Fortunately
this combination was rendered more
easy by the fact that portions OF the
flags of both countries were Already
the same. Thus. the Austrian nag was
red white-red. the Hungarian was red
wLite-green. Compromise was erect
ed by dividing the lowest horizontal
stilpe In two. and leaving half red
Willie the remainder was green. The
arms OF both countries also appear on
the flag. This was decided upon March
6, 1859
The imperial standard of the czar of
all the Russias Is OF brilliant yellow.
In che center of which is a large Cou.
BILE headed black eagle. This flag dates
from the year 1872. when Ivan the
Great married Sophia. niece OF Con.
SITS ntine PalaeOlogus. and thence az.
suIned the arms of the Greek empire.
Oh the breast of the eagle ls an es.
cutcheon bearing on its red field in sill
vel the figure of st. George Staying
the dragon. the whole being surround.
ed by the collar Of the Order or st.
ALdrew. On the displayed wings of
the eagle are other shields hearing
tht arms Of Kiev, Novgorod, Vladi.
min, Kasan. etc. The Russian union
jack Is very similar to that or Eng
land. save that the principal crossDars
are blue instead OF red This Is the
well known Russian war flag. The
croas is that of st. Andr. W. the patron
saint Of Russia.
The well known tricolor or France
is made up Of three stripes-blue.
white and red-running not the length
but the width of the flag. II dates
from the era of the French revolution
and came into existence In 1889. 1t
has been the national flag since. with
but slight variations In 1874 the tri
coloe was also made the jack or the
French navy.
Tie union jack Of Great Britain is
composed of the three crosses of St
George, st. Patrick and st. Andrew
That of the first was broad red cross
dividing the white flag into four white
squares; the white cross OF st An
drew, on a blue background. ran from
corner to corner diagonally. while the
red cross Of ST. Patrick ran in the same
direction If the union jack be exam
ined 1t will be found to be composed
of these three crosses. as stated. The
flag was first unfurled in 1901. on the
union in that year of Great Britain
England, Scotland and Wales' and
Ireland.
The flag of Belgium is composed OF
a tricolor-black. yellow and red run
ming up and down-that is. the width
and not the length Of the flag The
royal standard has the arms placed In
the center of the yellow strip This
was adopted as the national flag In
1881. being originally the colors of the
duchy Of Brabant.
From 147T until 1906 Belgium be
longed to Austria. but on the latter