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Lithuania Flag - Republic of
SKU: LTU35P
The earliest Lithuanian flags were recorded in 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald. The first,known as the Vytis, was a red banner with a mounted knight chasing an unseen enemy. It was carried by the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A second red banner displaying the Columns of Gediminas was flown as a sign of Lithuanian nobility. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania would fly the Vytis until annexation by Csarist Russia in the late 18th century. The origin of Lithuanian tricolore is believed to rest with Lithuanian exiles living elsewhere in Europe. The legends state that they admirered the French Tricolore and chose yellow, green and red based on the common Lithuanian dress and folk weavings. When the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament), debated the flag, a decision was made to distance it from that of the former Grand Duchy due in part from the fact that Poland, Belarus and the Ukraine were now individual nations seperate from the duchy. The Seimas also avoided using colours associated with Marx and Lenin who where beginning to build popularity. The yellow, green and red tricolore was chosen in 1918 after lengthy debates with heraldry experts. During World War II, Lithuania was occupied by Nazi Germany and subsequently 44 years of Soviet occupation. The Soviets began their stay by introducing a new flag consisting of a red field, golden hammer and sickle with SSR in gold above it. In 1953, this was modernized to a red field with a hammer and sickle, now with a star in the hoist and a white and green horizontal bar on the ground. In 1988, as the Soviet Union crumbled, the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet recognized the tricolor as the national flag of Lithuania. As independence followed in 1989 the tricolore returned to its former status when the Lithuanian population officially endorsed the national symbol in a referendum in 1992.
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