Flag of Slovenia

The national flag of Slovenia features three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red, with the Slovenian coat of arms located in the upper hoist side of the flag centred in the white and blue bands. The coat of arms is a shield with the image of Mount Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, in white against a blue background at the centre; beneath it are two wavy blue lines representing the Adriatic Sea and local rivers, and above it are three six-pointed golden stars arranged in an inverted triangle which are taken from the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje, the great Slovenian dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.The Government's site about the flag
The flag's colours are considered to be Pan-Slavic, but they actually come from the medieval coat of arms of the Duchy of Carniola, consisting of a blue eagle on a white background with a red-and-gold crescent.http://www.dz-rs.si/index.php?id=112 The existing Slovene tricolor was raised for the first time in history during the Revolution of 1848 by the Slovene Romantic nationalist activist and poet Lovro Toman on 7 April 1848, in Ljubljana, in response to a German flag which was raised on top of Ljubljana Castle.Celebration of the Slovene Tricolor (In Slovene: "Praznik slovenske trobojnice"), MMC RTV Slovenia, 7. april 2013
The civil and state ensign for ships has the same design as the national flag, but a different shape (2:3 instead of 1:2). (Boats up to 24 metres use the national flag as an ensign.Slovenia: Civil and state ensigns and administrative signals) The naval jack uses colours of the coat of arms, a white, blue, and yellow horizontal tricolor.Regulations of registration and signalization of vehicles, air- and water-vessels of the Ministry of Defence (in Slovene)
==Historical development==
===Origins===
The white-blue-red Slovenian flag was first exposed on April 7, 1848, on a building between Congress Square and Prešeren Square in Ljubljana, by a group of nationally minded students led by the renowned national conservative activist and poet Lovro Toman. Despite opposition from the local Ethnic Germans it was subsequently recognized by the Austrian Government as the official flag of Carniola. This formal recognition, albeit on a regional level, was an exception to the policy of the Austrian Government which tended to persecute national symbols of the non-German nationalities in the Empire. In addition, Austrian authorities saw all tricolours as basically nationalist and potentially revolutionary symbols, so Austrian provinces (as the Empire itself) were only allowed to use bicolours (the only exception being the flag of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, since it was interpreted to be a combination of the Croatian and Slavonian bicolours). So the official recognition of the Carniolan white-blue-red tricolour instead of the traditional white-blue bicolour was seen as a major achievement by the Slovenes and it quickly became the symbol representing the idea of United Slovenia. In the second half of the 19th century, the Slovenian national tricolour became the only truly all-Slovenian symbol, representing all Slovenes, regardless of the historical region in which they lived.
The tricolour flag continued to be associated with Slovenia during the country's incorporation into Yugoslavia, although officially the whole kingdom including Slovenia had the same flag, in this case, the blue-white-red. In the interwar period, it was also used by the Slovenes of the Julian March that were annexed to Italy, where it was prohibited and persecuted by the fascist regime.
===Slovenian flags during and after WWII===
During World War II The Slovene national colours were used both by the Partisan Resistance Movement (usually with a red star in the middle) and by the Slovenian Home Guard, the voluntary anti-Communist militia sponsored and supported by the Nazi German occupation forces.
In 1945 a red star was officially placed on the flag of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, a constituent of the Socialist Yugoslavia.
===Flag of independent Slovenia===
Following Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia, the red star was removed and the new coat of arms, designed by Marko Pogačnik, was added. The flag was officially adopted on June 27, 1991, following a long and controversial dispute about the coat of arms of the new Republic.
===New flag proposals===
In 2003, a campaign started to partially or completely alter the flag in order to enhance Slovenia's international recognition, and especially to differentiate it from those of Russia and Slovakia. An eleven-striped design won the official contest.Znani Nagrajenci Za Nove Drzavne Simbole Public opinion seems to be strongly against changing the flag at the moment.
	
==Government (maritime) flags==
These flags are used on naval vessels only.
Flag	Use 	Description
 	President of Slovenia 	
 	President of the National Assembly of Slovenia	
 	Prime Minister of Slovenia 	
 	Minister of Defence of Slovenia 	
 	Chief of the General Staff of Slovenia 	
	
==Colours==
Scheme 	Blue 	Red 	Yellow 	White
CMYK 	100  60   0  10 	  0 100 100   0 	  0  10 100   0 	  0   0   0   0
SCOTDIC Code 777—Int'l Colour Codification System (2034)	N46 N722509 	N23 N074014 	N6 N197512 	N1 N95
*Source: Uradni List RS (5th and 6th page) 	*Source: Uradni List RS (5th and 6th page)	*Source: Uradni List RS (5th and 6th page)	*Source: Uradni List RS (5th and 6th page)	*Source: Uradni List RS (5th and 6th page)
==References==
==External links==
* 
* Slovenian flag proposals
* Britannica.com
Category:National symbols of Slovenia
Slovenia