Lithuanian Flag

Lithuanian Flag

Lithuanian Flag

Lithuania became a unified nation at the end of the 12th century and was subsequently greatly enlarged by the 'grand princes' who annexed Belarussia (Belarus) and the Ukraine. When Grand Prince Jagiello married Queen Jadwiga of Poland in 1386, the two crowns were united, although Lithuania maintained its autonomy until czarist Russia gained control of the region in 1795. Revolts in 1832 and 1863 failed to win independence and it was only in 1918, following the Russian Revolution, that Lithuania became an autonomous state. Occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, Lithuania remained under Soviet control until 1991, when it became the first Soviet republic to break with Moscow and declare its independence.

On attaining independence in 1991, Lithuania readopted the tricolor of yellow, green and red for it's Lithuanian flag that it had flown between 1918 and 1940, but which had been suppressed following its annexation and occupation by the Soviet Union. The tricolor re-appeared in independence rallies in 1988, and in 1989 its use as the national Lithuanian flag was legalized. In 1918, a special commission comprising Jonas Basanavicius, Tadas Daugirdas and Antanas Zmuidzinavicius had selected these colors. The flags of the ancient Lithuanian grand duchy had been red, and the color was also said to symbolize the blood that had been shed in defense of Lithuania's freedom, while the yellow signified the country's fields of grain, and the green the great forests of the Baltic region.