Last modified: 2013-06-01 by alex danes
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These flags were used as military colours and naval ensigns.
Alex Danes22 September 2008
These were the first flags that should have followed the provisions of the 1872 law for establishing the coat of arms (and the flags) of Romania. All of them were manufactured at Collani & Co. House in Berlin. Alltogether, there are three subtypes/issues of these flags, each bearing small differences:
3:4, by Alex Danes, supporting lions after Răzvan Pala's outline
On 17 December 1896, the Minister of War sent an order to general Argetoianu, member of the Joint Comission and general inspector of the engineer corps:
"For many years, the flags and standards of our Army were provided by Collani & Co. House in Berlin, but the way they were manufactured, as well as the materials used leaves much to be desired, because the cloth breaks and tears easily.Therefore, the flags handed in 1897 were more closed to the provisions of the mentioned law than the previous models. The cloth was a rectangle with an approximate proportion of 3:4. In the middle of the yellow stripe there was the coat of arms of Romania (without any wreath around it) and in the corners the golden monogram of king Carol Ist, surrounded by silver laurel branches.
Because it is needed to order new flags for the 5th and 6th battalions of mountain corps, we've asked through our military attachés about the procedures of manufacturing and obtaining these flags for the foreign armies. The information received were presented in the documents attached below, which can be partially used for the description of the material, shape and coat of arms needed for our flags and standards.
Until now we didn't have a complete description of the flags and standards so that we could have imposed conditions to the contractor house.
I have the honor of asking you to take measures that the Joint Comission which you preside over will make a fully detailed description of the flags and standards, of the materials used for manufacturing them, of their dimensions etc.
In this matter, the Comission will take into consideration the law from 8 March 1872, published in Monitorul Oficial, nr. 57, page 714, which established the coat of arms and flags of Romania. [...]"
2:3, by Alex Danes, supporting lions after Răzvan Pala's outline
In 1902 new flags were handed both for new units and as a replacement for the ones granted in 1874 and 1877. Unlike the
1897 ones, the coat of arms was surrounded by a silver laurel wreath. More flags of the same pattern
were issued between 1908 and 1914. The last ones that shared this pattern were handed on 10 May 1914.
Alex Danes, 23 September 2008
2:3, by Alex Danes, supporting lions after Răzvan Pala's outline
On 10 October 1914 king Carol Ist died and his nephew, Ferdinand Ist, became the second king of Romania.
On late 1914 were issued the first flags under his reign, which were virtually identical to the 1902 ones, except the
monogram in the corners and the wreath in the middle, more rich and almost closed (similar to the one of
1872 flags). The flags manufactured in 1915 used an laurel wreath identical to the 1902 one, surrounding only half of
the coat of arms.
In 1916 Romania joined the Allies in the First World War with the flags issued between 1884 and 1916. More flags were granted
during the war. The flags manufactured between 1914 and 1918 had different dimensions (between 90 cm by 65 cm and
115 cm by 73 cm) and sometimes the wreath in the middle was golden rather than silver, but the materials and meanings of
fabrication were very scarce in those years, because of the war. All these flags were replaced in 1929.
Alex Danes, 23 September 2008
The civic guards were city militia units with defensive missions established in 1866 and disbanded in 1882.
Each one of these units received a specific flag in 1867, which followed the provisions of the
1867 law for establishing the coat of arms (and the flags) of Romania.
The flags are vertical blue-yellow-red tricolours, 114 cm by 95 cm, usually surrounded by a golden fringe.
In the corners, surrounded by oak wreaths, it's the unit's number in Roman numerals, and in the middle
of the yellow stripe - the coat of arms of the city, crowned with a mural crown with five towers Or.
All the shields have the "modern French" shape. They are divided into three fields: blue,
yellow and red, and overall is the symbol of the city. Under the coat of arms there is a blue ribbon with the motto
"Patria şi dreptul meu" in golden letters (meaning "The Homeland
and my right"), with two exceptions: the flag of Focşani city has the motto "Unirea face puterea"
(in English: "The Union makes the strength") and the flag of Craiova city has the motto
"Patria şi libertatea" (in English: "The Homeland and freedom"). These flags were
handed by king Carol Ist to the civic guard units on 22 September 1867.
Alex Danes, 22 September 2008
2:3, by Željko Heimer, based on National Geographic (1917)
The national tricolour with the coat of arms in the middle. As differing from
1922(?) pattern shown in Flaggenbuch, here there are the full arms, with crowned
mantle, in the middle. I used the image of the arms from Christian Siemer's site
(of course, for the royal flags as well).
Željko Heimer, 28 December 2002
The flag above was drawn according to the law provisions. I don't think it was ever used as such; the Army and the Navy
had different flags, presented above in this page.
Alex Danes, 23 September 2008
by Alex Danes, 23 September 2008, supporting lions after Răzvan Pala's outline
I've met the erroneous flag above in several sources as the war flag (or Army flag) of Romania: