Flag of Greece ensign Greek Orthodox merchants (better: merchants from the Greek-dominated Orthodox "millet") were allowed to fly on their ships, combining stripes with red (for the Ottoman Empire) and blue (for Orthodoxy) colours. After the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, Greek-owned merchant ships could also fly the Russian flag. During the uprising of 1769 the historic blue cross on white field was used again by key military leaders who used it all the way to the revolution of 1821. It became the most popular Revolution flag, and it was argued that it should become the national flag. The "reverse" arrangement, white cross on
Flag of the Soviet Union building of communism. The flag's design was legislated in 1955, which gave a clear way to define and create the flag. This resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. The adopted statute stated that: The final design of the flag was adopted in 1980. The design was kept the same except that the background colour was changed. The colour was brightened from a near-burgundy crimson to a light to medium red. That flag remained the national flag of the Soviet Union up until late 1991, when a tricolour was formally adopted by