Greece

The Blue and White

Κυανόλευκη

The Greek flag has its links dating back centuries to various other icons in Greek history, though one of the earliest flags used in Greece was during the time when Greece was part of Ottoman Empire. Combining the colours of the Ottoman Empire, red, with blue, the colour of Greek Orthodoxy. The flag was arranged into a horizontal tricolour.

During the Russo-Turkish war, the Russians sent emissaries to Greece to encourage an uprising in order to weaken the Ottoman Empire, and succeeded in doing so. In 1769, the historic blue cross on white was risen in revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

Once Greece had gained its independence, the new government wanted to show that Greece was a nation-state to be taken seriously, so they set about unifying Greece under a central administration. On land, they decreed that Greece to have a new flag. This flag was blue, with a white cross.

At sea, Greece introduced a flag with 9 blue and white stripes, and a white cross on a blue field in the upper canton. Just like the Greek flag of today.

Over the years with various republics and monarchies, the Greek flag saw the addition and removal of royal emblems many times. Then, in 1967, Greece underwent a military coup, with the Greek military junta taking power from 1967 to 1974. they decided to scrap the land flags, and make the sea flag as the sole flag of Greece, and changed it to a very dark shade of blue.

The land flag came back once the junta was forced out of power, until 1978, when the Greek government opted to use the sea flag as the sole flag of Greece, but with a lighter shade of blue. The old land flag has not disappeared entirely, with many private citizens still flying it.