Soviet Union Archives - Smoke Tree Manor

Russia

Flags / asia, economy, europe, flags, geography, history, political, Soviet Union, transportation

Following the creation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian tricolor was abolished, and its usage was preserved by the White Movement and the Russian state during the Russian Civil War. During the Soviet Union’s existence, it used the red flag with a golden hammer and sickle and a golden bordered red star on top while the Russian SFSR (a constituent republic of the USSR), used a defaced variant with a vertical blue bar at the hoist.

During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian SFSR adopted a new flag design that looked almost identical to the pre-revolutionary tricolour that was previously abolished in 1917 after the 1991 August Coup. The ratio of the new flag was 1:2, and the flag colors consisted of white on the top, azure in the middle, and scarlet on the bottom. The flag design remained the same until 1993, when the original Russian tricolour was fully restored as the current flag after the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis.

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Estonia

Flags / Baltic Sea, economy, europe, flags, geography, history, Soviet States, Soviet Union, transportation

The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white. In Estonian it is colloquially called the “sinimustvalge” (lit. ”blue-black-white”), after the colours of the bands.

First adopted on 21 November 1918 after its independence, it was used as a national flag until 1940 when the Soviet Union occupied Estonia. After World War II, from 1944 to 1990, the Soviet Estonian flag consisted first of a generic red Soviet flag with the name of the republic, then changed to the red flag with a band of blue water waves near the bottom. The Estonian flag, which was also used by the Estonian government-in-exile, was officially re-adopted 7 August 1990 one year before its official restoration of independence.

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Belarus

Flags / Eastern Europe, europe, flags, geography, history, political, Soviet Union

The national flag of Belarus is a red and green flag with a white and red ornament pattern placed at the staff (hoist) end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus, and is adapted from a design approved in a referendum in May 1995. It is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of symbols of communism (the hammer and sickle and the red star) and the reversal of the colors of the ornament pattern, from white-on-red to red-on-white. Since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by Belarusian government officials and agencies have been modeled on this national flag.

This design replaced the historical white-red-white flag used by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918, before Belarus became a Soviet Republic, and again after it regained its independence in 1991. Opposition groups have continued to use this flag, though its display in Belarus has been restricted by the government of Belarus, which claims it was linked with Nazi collaboration during the Second World War. The white-red-white flag is used in protests against the government and by the Belarusian diaspora.

Decorative Pattern:

A decorative pattern, designed in 1917 by Matrona Markevich, is displayed on the hoist of the flag. The pattern, derived from local plants and flowers, is a traditional type commonly used in Belarus. These patterns are sometimes used in woven garments, most importantly in the traditional ruchnik, a woven cloth used for ceremonial events like religious services, funerals, and other more mundane social functions, such as a host offering guests bread and salt served on a rushnyk.

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