The Republic of Croatia

The National Flag of Croatia

The Croatian flag, since the early 1800's, has used the pan-Slavic colours of red, white, and blue in a horizontal tricolour design. The early 1800's saw the use of a flag being very similar to the current flag of the Netherlands.

During Croatia's time as part of the Austrian Empire, The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia was placed at the centre of the flag. 

Then in 1868, the coat of arms where dropped, reverting back to the plain red, white and blue.

The flag was maintained after the First World War, with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. However, during the Second World War, a new flag was used by the Partisan movement. Which was half Croatian, and half Serbian.

In 1943, with the creation of the new Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a new flag was introduced. This save the tricolour maintained, but a small red star was placed within the centre of the white stripe.

After the war, the Federal Republic set about unifying under Tito. A new flag for Croatia was adopted, this time, with a much larger red star, edged in gold.

In 1990, towards the end of Yugoslavia as a unified nation, the red star was dropped. It was replaced with a simple shield, using colours long associated with Croatia. A shield with a red and white checker-board design. A design that reputedly dates back to Stephen Drzislav, who created it back in the 10th Century.

Upon independence, a new flag was adopted. Again, keeping the red, white, and blue stripes, but with the new coat of arms at the centre.The shield maintains the checker-board red and white design, but is topped by a crown made of 5 shields that represent the 5 historical regions of Croatia.

The first is the oldest known shield of Croatia, with a crescent under a 6 point star. The second, 2 red stripes on blue, comes from Dubrovnik. The third, the 3 crowned leopards, comes from the arms of Dalmatia. The fourth comes from Istria, with the golden goat. the final shield is two silver stripes, and a running marten on a red band between them. This coat was recognised for Slavonia back in 1496.