I’ve discussed Anglospheric Vexillology before, but I just came across another piece on the evolution of national flags, so I thought I’d repeat some of the story of the American and British flags.
The original, but unofficial, U.S. flag, which flew until June 14, 1777, was the Grand Union Flag, which features the British Union Flag in the first quarter — but that British Union Flag isn’t the flag we all know and love from early Def Leppard videos.
That’s because the British Union wasn’t done growing into the United Kingdom 1777, and its flag wasn’t done evolving.
It’s no accident that the red and white stripes aren’t symmetrical:
In 1801, an Act of Union which made Ireland a co-equal member of the United Kingdom made it necessary to add a symbol for Ireland to the flag, but without obliterating any of the existing symbols. If the St. Patrick’s cross had been centered on the diagonal stripes, then St. Andrew’s cross would have been relegated to an inferior position, basically serving only as a border for St. Patrick’s. But Scotland was the senior of the two kingdoms, so this was unsatisfactory. The solution was to divide the diagonal stripes diagonally, so that the red St. Patrick’s cross would take up only half of each stripe, and so that half devoted to St. Andrew would take the place of honor. Thus, in the two hoist quarters, the white St. Andrew’s cross occupies the upper position, and in the two fly quarters, the red St. Patrick’s cross occupies the upper position.
Read the whole article for some other crazy flag evolutions. The flag of the Philippines has gone through some wacky permutations.