Flag of the Netherlands the 15th century, when the majority of the Netherlands provinces were united under the Duke of Burgundy, the Cross of Burgundy Flag of the Duke of Burgundy was used for joint expeditions, which consisted of a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned (knotted) branches, on a white field. Under the later House of Habsburg this flag remained in use. In 1572 provinces of the Low Countries rose in revolt against King Philip II of Spain, and William Prince of Orange (1533–1584) placed himself at the head of the rebels. The colour "orange" is a reference to the name of the
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