Flag of Slovakia

The current form of the national flag of Slovakia was adopted by Slovakia's Constitution, which came into force on 3 September 1992. The flag, in common with other Slavic nations, uses the colors white, blue and red.
==History==
Slovakia's flag in its current form (but with another coat of arms on it or without any arms) can be dated back to the revolutionary year 1848 (see: The Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas). It was also used semi-officially in Czechoslovakia before World War II, by the Slovak Republic during World War II. 
In 1990, the Interior Ministry tasked Ladislav Čisárik, a painter and heraldic artist, and Ladislav Vrtel, a expert in heraldry, with creating a new coat of arms and national flag. Čisárik and Vrtel based their designs for a modern coat of arms and flag on an existing 14th Century coat of arms. However, Čisárik and Vrtel chose to enlarge the double cross three times to emphasize it as a national symbol. In addition to the national coat of arms and the national flag, the duo also designed a new presidential standard, which incorporates the double cross as well.
The new flag was finally adopted (initially without Čisárik's and Vrtel's coat of arms) on 1 March 1990 as the flag of the Slovak Republic within Czechoslovakia. The coat of arms was added on 3 September 1992 and a special law describing the details of the flag followed in February 1993.
==Design==
The colour of the triangle in the flag of Czechoslovakia was taken from the blue strip in Slovakia's flag, representing its presence in the union. When Czechoslovakia dissolved, the Czech Republic simply retained the flag, in direct violation of the 1992 Act on the Division of Czechoslovakia, which explicitly forbid state symbols to be used by the two successor states.Ústavný zákon č. 542/1992 Zb. o zániku Českej a Slovenskej Federatívnej Republiky, Čl. 3 ods. 2(Constitutional act. No. 542/1992 Col. on the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, art. 3 sect. 2)
Since the Slovak flag without the coat of arms is identical to that of the modern flag of the Russian Federation, and can also be compared to the modern flag of Slovenia, the Constitution of Slovakia added the national coat of arms in September 1992.
==Flags==
===Historical flags===
File:Red flag.svg|Flag of the Slovak Soviet Republic
File:Flag of First Slovak Republic 1939-1945.svg|Unofficial flag of Slovakia before 1938. Official flag of the autonomous Slovak land within the Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939), WWII Slovak Republic (1939–1945) and Slovak Socialist Republic within Czechoslovakia (1960–1992)
File:Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg|Flag of Czechoslovakia (1920–1992)
File:War ensign of the First Slovak Republic.svg|War Ensign of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
===Presidential standard===
File:State President Slovakia 1939.svg|Standard of the President (1939–1945)
File:Flag of the President of Slovakia.svg|Standard of the President (1993–present)
===Other flags===
File:Flag of Slovakia vertical.svg|Vertical version of the flag of Slovakia
File:Flag of Slovakia, construction sheet.png|Construction sheet
==See also==
*Coat of arms of Slovakia
*Pan-Slavic colors
== References ==
== External links ==
* Slovakia Flag
* Zákon NR SR o štátnych symboloch Slovenskej republiky a ich používaní
Category:Flags with crosses
Category:Flags introduced in 1992
Flag
Category:National flags