Since medieval times, Europe has had a relatively long history when it comes to flags, banners that are formed to create a rallying point of a nation and its people, a sense of belonging, national (or local) pride and much more. Many of these flags are still in use today, to one extent or another (such as the flag of Catalonia and Denmark, which will be rightfully the subjects of their own articles), oftentimes depicting a much more “simplified” version of prior national/royal banners heavily inspired by the country’s coat of arms. Two exceptional examples of this are present in the flags of Belgium and Luxembourg (whose flags are virtually simplified versions of the nations’ coats of arms). However, when it comes to one country whose flag has had a massive influence, directly and indirectly in the world of both worldwide and European Vexillology, that would be the Flag of the Netherlands.
The story behind the Dutch flag is quite an interesting one, and one has to go back into the 16th Century to fully understand its backstory and the future influence it has had, and more precisely, to the Dutch revolt which triggered a near-century long war for freedom.
The Eighty Years’ War, integral part of the Dutch struggle for independence, was the conflict where the horizontal tricolour that became the national flag of the Netherlands first appeared, albeit in a noticeably different version from the one we all know today. This flag at the time resembled much more the flag of modern-day Luxembourg than any other (with both the blue and red being substantially lighter in colour), and remained so well into the very late 18th Century. However, this was not the sole iteration of it, as the flag itself originated with the Prince’s Flag, where the colour red was originally orange, reflecting the ancestral hometown of the Dutch Republic’s leader: the city of Orange, in Southern France. As for the blue colour, it represented the (main) colour of the house of Nassau’s coat of arms, yet another powerful family within the Dutch Republic at the time. The resulting flag was therefore a combination of the two family’s coat of arms into a more “stylised” form, an action done in vexillology at times both then, and more commonly now (as is also the case for the flag of Luxembourg, Belgium or Hungary). Due to difficulties in obtaining orange dye, however, the orange was later substituted with dark red dye by the authorities (and thus was also used a system of metaphorically curtailing the powers of the ruling family in the Thalassocracy). Although “retired” the Prince’s flag is still used occasionally by the Dutch far right (and due to this, it is seen with controversy in the country today) Unexpectedly, the Dutch found their flag’s colours as a form of inspiration for a very distant Empire, whose Sovereign had travelled from to Amsterdam for training, and laying the groundworks for reform in his native land.
Peter I of Russia had long sought to improve the international and internal standing of his country, the Tsardom of Russia, in a way that would match his counterparts in the west of the European Continent. In his tours of Europe in the attempt to learn and imitate them, he settled in the Netherlands, at the time one of the powerhouses and nascent great powers of Europe during this time. Peter was amazed by what the Dutch had managed to create in the small country despite the odds and being surrounded by enemies, especially when it came to their ability in shipbuilding, where the Tsar learnt extensively and eagerly, impressing even his teachers in this field. However, it was not just the knowledge of building new and/or improved watercrafts that had a lasting effect on him. To in a way mirror the might of the Dutch Republic even further, he decided to change his Kingdom’s flag on that of the Low Countries as a form of inspiration; the colours were changed slightly (for example the use of red instead of orange, which was already gaining ground in the Netherlands at the time as well as the naval ensign already depicting this colour pattern) as well as the positioning of the colours, which, with a few exceptions, remained the same to this day (see below a comparison of the Dutch flag and the Russian one).
This use of white-blue-red flags however did not remain exclusive to the late Tsardom/Russian Empire. The Russians, in being the largest empire of Slavic origin ever to exist, began to see their flag colours “borrowed” as the colours of all Slavs, within the concept of Pan-Slavism (similarly how the colours white, red, green, black and sometimes gold/yellow are considered Pan-Arabic colours). The Imperial authorities did not seem to mind this as much as it suited them, as calling the Russian Emperor “Protector of all Slavs” implied that it would back any insurrection of Slavic peoples against foreign rulers. To an extent, this was indeed to take place, as can be seen in the Russian Empire’s backing of Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire; however, in certain scenarios, this notion of being the protectors of Slavdom would be completely fall flat when taking into consideration the century-long Polish-Russian rivalry (as a matter of fact, Poland has a flag that predates the Pan-Slavic colours, and therefore is one of the few that stand out in this regard). That is a period in European History that deserves rightfully so its own article in time, as the rivalry between the two still continues to this day.
Now, where were we… Ah, yes! The flag colours… The Pan-Slavic colours would later be taken up by multiple different Slavic people across the continent, using the same exact colours or (rarely) variants of them (as is the case of Bulgaria that changed the colour blue to green): the Sorbs, the Czechs, Slovaks, Croatians… All used the white-blue-red colours on their national flags, and continue to do so today. The drive to promote these colours received a massive boost in the turbulent yet hopeful year of 1848, as the Pan-Slavic Congress of Prague aimed to unite, or at least foster accord, between the various Slavic peoples, whether they were independent or under foreign control (or even under control of fellow Slavs). The Congress was cut short by Austrian authorities clamping down violently on its members, but its legacy lived on.
It was not just the Slavs who took much inspiration for their colours from the Dutch flag. During the era of Imperialism and New Imperialism, as European global powers expanded their colonies, the Dutch themselves were at the forefront of such. Due to their Naval traditions, they had a large maritime advantage that was virtually second only to the British. Such naval power and prowess allowed them to take control of lands far flung and far away from each other: if one was in the Caribbean or in Southeast Asia, there the Dutch flag was flying. Naturally, this is no longer the case, as in Indonesia, one of the Dutch’s largest colonies, the Netherlands was beaten back by Indonesian freedom fighters, and with time, former Dutch colonies in the Caribbean have bit by bit obtained independence as sovereign states or have a much more “devolved” government akin to what one could find in Wales or Scotland within the framework of the UK. In the Caribbean in particular, there were (and are) a number of countries and nations with flags that have a degree of derivation from Dutch flags. The Flag of the Netherlands Antilles, a former constituent country of the Netherlands, used to have a cross-shaped flag with colours that can be argued reflected that of the Dutch. This constituent country no longer exists, but a couple of successors, Saba and Sint Maarten continue to use the red-white-blue colour system.
If you thought this was it, however, you are very much mistaken. Even in countries that were either controlled by the Dutch for a relatively short amount of time or had a large number of Dutch emigrants and people of Dutch descent, the Dutch flag still left its mark. Based off the Prince’s flag (Orange-White-Light Blue), are the flags like that of Manhattan, Schenectady County, or the flag of Apartheid South Africa. Unlike the first two, once controlled by the Dutch as the colony of New Amsterdam (now New York), South Africa itself was never directly controlled by Amsterdam, but there were so many settlers of Dutch origin that arrived in the area (today known as Afrikaners), that they eventually were the main white minority rulers that governed the country after its independence from British rule until the end of apartheid. The modern flag of South Africa continues this day to have a clear Dutch reference, while blending it with Pan-African colours of the native peoples of the land. And how can I forget the flag of Ireland? The orange stripe in the Irish flag is a direct reference to the Dutch Prince of Orange, whose dynastical colour became the colour worn by Irish Protestants after the Dutch Prince William aided England in defeating the Irish and Jacobite rebels at the battle of the Boyne in 1690, a crucial moment in the History of the Island of Ireland.
The influence of this flag, as seen above, has been massive. It is hard to think of flags that have had this much widespread adaptation and variation, both inside and outside of the European continent. Even countries that were not mentioned have some semblance of, or were directly inspired by, this fairly simple yet easily recognisable flag design, going all to show what a flag, a representative of a nation and people, is capable of doing. Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think as well, I’d be interested to hear your own opinions and viewpoints on this flag, its history, and/or the flags that it has inspired in turn. Thank you once again, and have a lovely day!
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