Just One Change Trivia Quiz

Answer: Italy

The French flag, a blue, white and red tricolour, came about initially during the French Revolution, when the Paris militia adopted a cockade of blue and red, the city's traditional colours. White was added to this to make a national cockade for the whole of France, becoming part of the uniform of the National Guard. The colours were subsequently used to create a new national flag, adopted in 1790. Although the old Bourbon royal flag was used from 1815 to 1830, the tricolour was readopted in 1830 and has been used as France's national flag ever since.

The use of a green, white and red tricolour first came about in 1797, when the short lived Cispadane Republic was established in Northern Italy. The Cispadane Republic was quickly overthrown by the Duchy of Milan, which followed a similar pattern by using the red and white colours of Milan with the green used in the uniforms of the Milanese Civic Guard. At the same time, many small Italian states used flags similar in form to the French one adopted in 1790. During the early 19th century, "il Tricolore" became a symbol of moves to unite Italy, and was adopted as the national flag, with the arms of the royal house of Savoy in the centre, in March 1861 with the proclamation of a unified Kingdom of Italy. In 1946, upon the proclamation of Italy as a republic, the Savoy arms were removed, leaving the flag as it is today.

Answer: Iceland

The Norwegian flag was first instituted in 1821, when it was designed by Frederik Meltzer, a member of Norway's parliament. At the time, Norway was in a union with Sweden, which required it to display Swedish elements in its national symbols. Therefore, despite the Norwegian flag being adopted by both chambers of the Parliament, the King of Sweden refused to sign the new flag law; although he permitted its use as a civilian flag, it was not allowed to be used in relation to Norway's military forces. In 1898, the Parliament voted to remove Swedish elements from its national flag, leaving it as seen today.

Iceland's flag, although a reversal of the colours of Norway's, is not related to the Norwegian flag. The design was first adopted in 1915, when a red Scandinavian cross was added to the existing white cross on blue background, which had been in use since 1897. The 1915 flag was adopted as the new national flag when Iceland achieved independence from Denmark in 1918. The flag was then retained upon Iceland becoming a republic in 1944. The colours represent the fire of Iceland's volcanos (red), the ice and snow that covers the country (white), and the mountains of the island (blue).

Answer: Russia

The flag of the Netherlands dates from the 16th century as a variant of the orange, white and blue 'Prinsenvlag'. In the 17th century, the orange was changed for red, with the new flag adopted as the naval flag of the Dutch Republic. This flag was used as the national flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1813. During the 1930s, attempts were made, particularly by the Dutch National Socialist movement, to see the adoption of the old Prinsenvlag, which led to a royal decree of 1937 stating that the colours of the Dutch flag were red, white and blue. This was standardised to the current colours in 1949.

The flag of Russia was first adopted as a national flag in 1696, and remained as such until 1858, when Tsar Alexander II ordered a new tricolour of black, yellow and white be used. In 1896, Nicholas II reversed this and had the old flag readopted. This remained as the flag of the Russian Empire until the 1917 Revolution. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the new Russian Federation brought back the old imperial flag as the national flag, with its colours and proportions slightly modified. This remained until 1993, when the old flag was fully restored, remaining in use today.

Answer: Bangladesh

Although the flag of a red disc on a white field has been used as Japan's national flag since 1870, it has been used as a symbol of Japan, symbolising the rising sun, since the 7th century. The flag, known in Japan as 'Hinomaru', was first used as a national symbol representing the whole country when the ruling Tokugawa shogunate ordered that it be flown from Japanese merchant vessels in 1854. In 1870, the Meji Government, recognising the need for national symbols as the country opened itself to the outside world, ordered that the Hinomaru be utilised as Japan's national flag.

Bangladesh's flag was officially adopted in January 1972 following the country's independence from Pakistan. The red disc represents the sun rising over the land of Bengal and the blood of those who died for the country's independence, while the green field symbolises the lushness of the land and the eternal youth of the Bangladeshi people. The flag was based on one used by the country's liberation movement, which also featured a yellow map of the country inside the disc. The map was eventually removed, as it proved too difficult to render on both sides of the flag.

Answer: Côte d'Ivoire

Ireland's flag, known colloquially in the country simply as "the tricolour" ('an trídhathach'), first came about in 1848 when a group of French women sympathetic to Ireland's cause, presented it to Thomas Francis Meagher, one of the leaders of the Young Irelander Rebellion. The colours of green and orange were intended as a symbol for a hoped-for union between Catholics and Protestants. The flag first gained widespread use during the Easter Rising in 1916, when it was adopted by nationalists as the national flag of Ireland. Used by the Irish Republic in the 1919-21 War of Independence, it was adopted by the newly independent Irish Free State from 1922 onwards.

In 1958, the new French constitution provided that France's colonies be given the new status of 'autonomous states', permitted to adopt their own national symbols. As one of these autonomous states, Côte d'Ivoire elected to adopt a tricolour, but one that was removed from France's colours. So, it elected to adopt a flag with the colours of orange (for the colour of the earth and the blood of the people), white (symbolising peace) and green (as hope for others and for the nation). The flag was adopted in December 1959, and was retained when Côte d'Ivoire gained independence in August 1960.

Answer: Bolivia

Ghana's flag was first adopted on its independence in 1957. Designed by Theodosia Okoh, it utilises the Pan-African colours of red, gold and green in a horizontal tricolour. In this, red symbolises the blood of the nation's forefathers and their struggle for independence, gold represents Ghana's mineral resources and the wealth of the nation, while green is for the country's forests and agricultural resources. The black star is intended to represent the emancipation of Africa and its unity against colonialism. The flag was used until 1958, when Ghana and Guinea joined in a loose federation called the Union of African States (UAS), which saw a second star added. A third was then added when Mali joined the union. The UAS broke up in 1964, and Ghana returned to a single star, replacing the gold with white. The original flag was readopted in 1966.

The flag of Bolivia was first adopted in October 1851 during the presidency of Manuel Isidoro Belzu. The symbolism of the colours was first made explicit by a presidential decree of 1888, which stated that the red "represents the blood shed by our heroes for the birth and preservation of the Republic"; the yellow "represents our wealth and resources."; and the green "represents the richness of our natural areas as well as hope, a foundational value of our society". The variant flag utilised by the state on government buildings and official occasions features the country's coat of arms in the centre.

Answer: Romania

Mali's flag was originally adopted in 1959, featuring a tricolour in the Pan-African colours of green, gold and red. The original flag also featured a black stick figure, known as a 'kanaga', in the centre. Due to opposition, the kanaga was removed in 1961, to leave the flag in its present form. The colours symbolise fertility of the land (green), purity and mineral wealth (gold) and the blood shed in the struggle for independence (red).

The blue, yellow and red tricolour was first used in Romania during the 1848 Wallachian Revolution, when it was adopted by the revolutionaries. Following the restoration of order, horizontal tricolours were used as Romania's flag until 1866, when the vertical tricolour was adopted as the national flag of Romania, a status it held until 1948, when, upon the declaration of a socialist people's republic, the coat of arms was added to the centre of the national flag. The coat of arms was changed four times between 1948 and 1989, when, following the Romanian Revolution and overthrow of the Ceausescu regime, the original flag was restored to its status.

Answer: Sierra Leone

In 1958, Gabon achieved the status of an autonomous country under the new French constitution, and began the process of adopting a new national flag. The new design that was adopted the following year featured a narrow yellow band (representing the equator, which runs through Gabon) in the centre, separating larger bands of green (symbolising the country's natural resources) and blue (symbolising the sea), with the French tricolour in the canton as a symbolic link to France. In 1960, a week prior to Gabon gaining full independence, the flag was modified to its current form, with the yellow band made equal in size to the green and blue, and the French tricolour removed.

The flag of Sierra Leone was originally designed in 1960 by the College of Arms in London, in anticipation of the country's independence from Britain in 1961. The colours were taken from the new coat of arms that was designed at the same time, with the green representing the country's natural resources, white symbolising unity and justice, and blue evoking both the hope of world peace, and the natural harbour of Freetown, the country's capital. The new flag was first raised on 27 April 1961, the date of Sierra Leone's independence.

Answer: Indonesia

White and red were adopted as Poland's national colours in 1831, but have been associated with the country since the Middle Ages. The colours were first used as a national symbol in a cockade used by the Polish Army, as well as freedom fighters and insurgents throughout the 19th century. The first appearance of a white and red flag came during a demonstration in Warsaw in 1916. The flag was subsequently adopted after the First World War by the newly restored Republic of Poland, following its independence from Russia. Since then, despite a slight alteration of the shade of red, it has remained as Poland's national flag.

Indonesia's flag uses colours that trace their lineage back to the banner of the Majapahit Empire in the 13th century. Red and white were traditional colours for textile manufacture throughout the islands that now make up the country, and were taken up in the 20th century as an expression of nationalism against the Dutch colonial power. The modern flag was first flown in Java in 1928, after which it was banned by the Dutch. In August 1945, upon the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, the flag was adopted as the new national flag of Indonesia.

Answer: Myanmar

Lithuania first adopted its flag upon gaining independence from Russia in 1918. The colours are believed to have been suggested by Lithuanian exiles, based on the traditional colours used in folk weavings and traditional dress. The 1917 Vilnius Conference proposed a flag of red and green, with a narrow strip of yellow in the middle, but could not gain agreement on the idea and so submitted it to a special commission. This put forward the current flag, which was adopted as the new flag of Lithuania. Upon the country's annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940, the flag was prohibited until 1988, when, as a result of the burgeoning independence movement, the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet adopted the tricolour as the flag of the Lithuanian SSR. The flag was retained as the national flag following Lithuania's independence in 1992.

The flag of Myanmar was adopted in 2010, replacing the previous flag that had been in use since 1974. The new flag was based on that of the State of Burma, one of the country's previous names, between 1943 and 1945. That flag featured a royal peacock in the centre, which the new flag replaced with a white, five-pointed star that was intended to symbolise the union of the country. The colours are intended to symbolise solidarity (yellow), peace, tranquillity and the lush greenery of the country (green), and courage and determination (red).