Every citizen of Russia who has a solid “four” in his school history certificate knows that the Russian tricolor appeared in our country thanks to Peter the Great. But if you went to school with an in-depth study of history, or your teacher was a vexillologist, then you know something completely different - the correct one. The first tricolor appeared in Russia earlier, during the reign of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich.
How did we get under this flag?
In 1634, an embassy from the Duke of Holstein Frederick III arrived at the court of Mikhail Fedorovich. In addition to diplomatic issues, the embassy also decided on the construction of ten ships on the Volga to travel to Persia. The first ship, the Frederick, was launched in 1636. The life of his ship was short, but he went under the Holstein flag, suspiciously similar to our current tricolor. So the tricolor flag was revealed to the eyes of the Russian people, but while it was not a Russian flag, it became Russian (or almost Russian) under Alexei Mikhailovich.
Alexei Mikhailovich chose this flag for the first Russian frigate "Eagle". Dutch engineer David Butler asked the tsar what flag to put on the ship. Russia did not yet have its own flag, and the frigate's team consisted entirely of the Dutch, so without hesitation it was decided to put up a flag identical to the Dutch one, which, of course, is at least strange. Going out under the Protestant flag to the sea for the then Russian sailors, who were 80 percent Pomors, was tantamount to taking an escort of women on board, bringing a solemn sacrifice of a seagull right on the deck, erecting several coffins in the hold and breaking other signs … One conclusion from this suggests itself: there was not a single Orthodox Christian on board the Eagle. Although, the ship is a ship. Ship flags used to be a complete formality, they were changed before entering ports,trade could not be threatened. In general, the tricolor first appeared on a Russian ship by accident, reaching the point of absurdity.
The appearance of the tricolor under Peter also cannot be explained by the wisdom of choosing a ruler. He just loved Holland very much. So much so that many courtiers, after the return of Peter I from the great embassy, thought that he had been replaced. In Rotterdam, Peter was awaited by a frigate built by Peter's order with a Dutch flag. Peter liked him so much that he decided not to change the banner.
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Why three colors?
The three colors on the Russian flag are associated with heraldic fashion that goes back to the Merovingians. On the banner of the Frankish king Clovis, there were three toads, denoting three mothers, three racial types, three psychological models of worldview: Freya, Lida and Findu. Later, the toads were replaced by lilies, symbolizing first the Virgin Mary and then the Holy Trinity. There is no single meaning of the symbolism of the colors of the Russian flag. Everyone is free to believe what he wants, but it is significant that the colors of the Russian flag could have been different. Initially, the Dutch flag was not red-blue-white, instead of red it was orange. According to the official version, the revolution in everyday life prompted the Dutch to change the orange color to red - the fact that the orange color, fading, acquired very interesting tones, up to green,and the flag was similar to the "rainbow flag" popular today in certain circles. Do we want a flag like this?
Why are other Slavs also under this flag?
Officially, there are three versions of why “our colors” are also present on the flags of other peoples who participated in the Pan-Slavic congress in the middle of the 19th century. Two of them are absurd, one is true. According to the first version, the colors are borrowed not from the Russian trade flag, but from the flag of France, and they represent, respectively, freedom, equality and brotherhood. Of course it is not. Nicholas I, who has his own idea of these three values (fundamentally different from the ideals of the French Revolution), would hardly have allowed such a genesis. The second version is even weaker: these colors went to the Pan-Slavs from the Duchy of Carniola, which is about three Moscow squares. Finally, the main version is “Russian genesis”. Sponsorship and support from Russia is the main reason for the tricolor in the national flags of the Slavic peoples.
Why did the Provisional Government choose this flag?
It actually did not choose him. It just didn't change it. At the Legal Meeting in April 1917, it was decided to keep the flag as national. At the May meeting of the Provisional Government, the issue of the flag was postponed "until the resolution of the Constituent Assembly." In fact, the tricolor remained the national flag until the October Revolution, legally until April 13, 1918. when it was decided to establish the flag of the RSFSR. During the Civil War, the tricolor was the flag of the Whites, the Soviet army fought under the red flag.
Why did Vlasov choose this flag?
ROA and RNNA consisted, by and large, of White emigrants. It is not at all surprising that the flag of Tsarist Russia was used by Vlasov. For the fight against Stalinism and Bolshevism (this is how Vlasov justified his betrayal), there was simply no better flag. Tricolor even participated in the ROA parade in Pskov on June 22, 1943.
Why did Yeltsin choose this flag?
The first to use the tricolor after Vlasov was Garry Kasparov. During the world championship match with Anatoly Karpov (who played under the Soviet flag), Kasparov performed under the red-white-blue flag. There was perestroika and Harry Kimovich, obviously, felt where and where the wind was blowing. By the way, Kasparov won that match. A year later, he won the flag. People with red-white-blue flags came to the putsch (an accident, probably). The veterans, who 20 years ago there were much more, and who were also in the crowd at the House of Soviets, experienced bewilderment: they remembered the history of half a century ago. One of the flags was on the tank with Boris Nikolaevich. It is interesting that the Yeltsin memorial at the Novodevichy cemetery is a huge tricolor. The flag returned with the 1991 putsch.