Flag of Czechoslovakia

What the flag looks like

Two equal horizontal bands of white over red, with a blue isosceles triangle at the hoist reaching to the center; it is identical to the flag of Czechia today.

What it means

White and red are the colors of Bohemia; the blue triangle was added to set the flag apart from Poland's and is often said to stand for Slovakia and Moravia.

How to remember it

Czechoslovakia's flag is exactly the flag Czechia flies today: white over red with a blue triangle from the hoist, which the Philippines echoes in blue and red with a white triangle.

Fun facts

• When the country split on 1 January 1993, the dissolution law barred both successors from using federal symbols, but the Czech Republic kept the flag anyway.
• During the German occupation of 1939–1945 the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia used a horizontal white-red-blue tricolor instead.

Czechoslovakia at a glance

Existed

1918–1992

Flag used

1920–1992

Today

Czechia and Slovakia

Capital

Prague

Region

1918–1992

Languages

Czech, Slovak

Currency

Czechoslovak koruna (Kčs)

Flag adopted

1920

Flags often confused with Czechoslovakia

• Philippines: Czechoslovakia and the Philippines both have two horizontal bands with a triangle at the hoist. Czechoslovakia is white over red with a plain blue triangle; the Philippines is blue over red with a white triangle holding a sun and three stars.