Belarus

The National Flag of Belarus
Сцяг Беларусі,Stsyah Byelarusi

Belarus has been through many spells as an independent nation, and under the control of a more powerful neighbour. During Belarus' short-lived independence in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire, they used a white flag. Belarus' longer name of Byelorussia translates as "White Russia." However, to stop the flag looking like a flag of surrender, a red stripe was added, running through the centre of the flag.

This flag was scrapped after the Communist armies if Russia moved in, and brought Belarus under the Soviet umbrella, creating the new Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. This Soviet republic went through several different design changes. The first, with a combined Lithuanian-Bylorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) saw the use of a simple red banner in 1919.

When this combined SSR was split, with the Bylorussian SSR being born, the letters "SSRB" (ССРБ) was added towards the end of 1919

In 1937, the flag went another minor update, with the Soviet hammer and sickle mounted with a gold star being placed over the SSRB lettering.

In the 1940's the hammer and sickle was removed, and a simple gold border round the lettering was added, and this design remained until a revamp of the flags of all the SSR's was undertaken in the 1950's.

The Soviet Union wanted its constituent SSR nations to have visually different flags, especially for those who had seats at the UN. On December 25, 1951, Belarus adopted a new design. On the hoist side, a strip running vertically was added. The strip features a style of Belarussian embroidery that was found on a hand towel back in 1919. The design pattern is entitled "The rising sun." A green strip was placed along the bottom of the flag. The lettering was left off the flag, and replaced with the Soviet hammer and sickle emblem.

Upon the breakup of the Soviet Union, the newly independent Belarus reintroduced the 1918 flag, the white banner with a red stripe. However, after a referendum in 1995, a new design was adopted. The winning design was a modification of the last flag used during Belarus' time as part of the Soviet Union.


The red stands for past victories of the Belarussian people, the green stands for the vast forests over the Belarussian landscape, and the pattern running vertically is a common folk design, found on towels, called Rushniks. These are used for presenting food, and in many other walks of life in Belarus.