Greece: History of the national flag. II - 1828-1970

Last modified: 2006-05-27 by ivan sache
Keywords: civil ensign | war ensign | naval ensign | war flag | state flag | jack | cross (white) | crown (yellow) |
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Flags of Greece, 1828-1970
Left, flag used at sea and on the coast - Image by Željko Heimer, 11 October 2001
Right, flag used on land - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 June 1995

• The two Greeks national flags
• Flags of the Kingdom of Greece (1832-1924; 1935-1970)

See also:

• Greece
• Greece: Historical overview
• Greece: History of the national flag. I - 1822-1828
• Kingdom of Greece: Laws on the flags
• Kingdom of Greece: Royal standards
• Greece: History of the national flag. III - 1970 until today

The two Greek national flags

From 1828 to 1970, Greece had two national flags. The cross and stripes flag was used outside the country, including at the coast, whereas the plain cross flag was used inside.
The flag used at sea and on the coast had nine horizontal stripes, in turn blue and white, and a white cross on a blue square field in canton. This flag is today the Greek national flag.
The former flag of the merchant navy was abolished in 1828, when it was decided that merchant ships would henceforth use the same flag as the Navy.

Source: Hellenic flags [kok97]

Roy Stilling & Norman Martin, 26 February 2000

Flags of the Kingdom of Greece (1832-1924; 1935-1970)

The use of the two national flags of Greece shown above remained unchanged from 1832 to 1970. However, additional flags with a crown were used by the Kingdom of Greece. The adoption date of these flags is unknown and they were most probably not used during the First Republic (1924-1935). All these flags were abolished in 1970.

War ensign - Image by Tom Gregg, 27 December 2004, after Flaggenbuch [neu92]

The war ensign was the civil ensign with a yellow crown placed in the midle of the cross.

State and war flag - Image by Tom Gregg, 27 December 2004, after Flaggenbuch [neu92]

Naval ensign - Image by Željko Heimer, 27 December 2004

The naval ensign was prescribed in 1858 by Royal Decree. It is similar to the national flag used at sea, with the Wittelsbach arms added in the middle of the cross. It was probably changed when the Oldenburg dynasty succedeed the Wittelsbach dynasty

Naval jack - Image by Tom Gregg, 27 December 2004, after Flaggenbuch [neu92]

The naval jack was a square version of the war flag.

Ivan Sache, 27 December 2004