Flag of Switzerland which was based on a white cross design. These flags usually showed a white cross drawn to the edge of the field in front of a background striped in the respective cantonal colours. From this type, the "flammé" military flag develops in the 17th century, which also came to be used by Swiss mercenary regiments by the end of the 17th century. The "flammé" design remained popular for military flags of the 18th and 19th centuries. A "flammé" flag was introduced as ordonnance for the Bernese troops in 1703. After the invasion of 1798, the authorities of the Helvetic Republic
Flag of the Soviet Union statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the colour was brightened to a lighter shade of red. The flag continued to be the official national flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its imagery is now the basis for the flags of many communist parties: a yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with