List of flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina

For more information on current and historical national flags, see Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This is a list of flags used in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For more information about the national flag, visit the article Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the White Fortress, Sarajevo.

National flag

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1998 – present	Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina	A blue field with a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow isosceles triangle abutting the band and the top edge of the flag.
	1998 – present	Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina (vertical)

Subnational flags

Entities

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1995–2007	Former flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina	A vertical tricolour of red (for the Bosnian Croats), white, and green (for the Bosniaks), with a coat of arms on the wide central band on which the green arms and golden fleur-de-lys represents the Bosniaks, and the checked shield the Bosnian Croats. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted against the use of the current flag of the Federation declaring it unconstitutional.[1] On 31 March 2007, the Constitutional Court placed its decision into the "Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina" officially removing the flag and coat of arms of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[2]
	1995 – present	Flag of Republika Srpska	A horizontal tricolour of red, blue, and white, very similar to the flag of the Misiones Province in Argentina, reversed flag of Russia, or the flag of Serbia without the coat of arms (with slightly differently coloured shades).

Districts

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1998 – present	Flag of Brčko District	Uses the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Military flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1992 – 1996	Flag of Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina	This flag of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted in 1992.
	1992 – 1996	Flag of Croatian Defence Council
	1992 – 1996	Flag of Police of Herzeg-Bosnia
	2004 – present	Flag of Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Light blue with the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the canton and the emblem of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the lower fly.

Cantons of the Federation

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1999 –	Flag of Una-Sana Canton	A horizontal tricolour of blue, white and green, charged with the canton’s coat of arms near the hoist.
	2000 –	Flag of Posavina Canton	A horizontal unequal tricolour of red, white and green, charged with the canton’s coat of arms in the centre.
	1999 –	Flag of Tuzla Canton
	2000 –	Flag of Zenica-Doboj Canton	A horizontal unequal tricolour of green, white and red, charged with the canton’s coat of arms in the centre.
	2001 –	Flag of Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde
	2003 –	Flag of Central Bosnia Canton
	2004 –	Flag of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
	1996–1998	Flag of West Herzegovina Canton	Deemed unconstitutional by the Federation Constitutional Court in 1997 because "it only represented one group".[3]
	1999 –	Flag of Sarajevo Canton
	1996–1997	Flag of Canton 10	Deemed unconstitutional by the Federation Constitutional Court in 1997 because "it only represented one group".[3]

Former flags of the Cantons of the Federation

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1997–1999	Former Flag of Una-Sana Canton
	1996–2000	Former Flag of Posavina Canton
	1996–1999	Former Flag of Tuzla Canton
	1997–2000	Former Flag of Zenica-Doboj Canton
	1997–2001	Former Flag of Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde
	1996–1998	Former Flag of Sarajevo Canton
	1998–1999	Former Flag of Sarajevo Canton

Political flags

Flag	Date	Party	Description
		Party of Democratic Action
		Alliance of Independent Social Democrats
		Flag of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Patriotic Party
		Democratic Youth Movement
		Democratic People's Union
	until 1990	League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ethnic groups flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
		Flag of Bosniaks (1)	The main national flag of Bosniaks which was used from 1992 to 1995 as the flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The republic remained composed of Bosniaks after the establishment of Republika Srpska and the Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.
		Flag of Bosniaks (2)	An other flag that represents Bosniaks, but it's not so popular. It has two green lines (symbolizing islam) with a white line in the middle. In the white line there's a crescent moon.(the main symbol of islam)
		Flag of Bosnian Serbs	The flag of the ethnic Bosnian Serbs with the Serbian tricolor (red,blue,white). It's also the flag of Republika Srpska and is the traditional Serbian national flag
		Flag of Bosnian Croats	The flag of the ethnic Bosnian Croats. It's similar to the flag of Croatia with a difference in the emblem. It was also the flag of the Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia from 1992 to 1996

Historical national flags

Flag	Date	Use	Description
The Bosnian Banate
	1154-1377	Flag of the Bosnian Banate.	Swallow-tailed, a blue field with a white cross pattée in the center.
The Bosnian Kingdom
	1377-1463	Flag of the Bosnian Kingdom possibly adopted during the reign of King Tvrtko I Kotromanić.	Swallow-tailed, a blue field with a white line in the center, included with 6 Bosniak lilies from the Kotromanić dynasty.
	1377-1463	Royal Flag of Tvrtko I of Bosnia.	a white field with 5 sestiere on the fly and the arms of Bosnia in the center.
	1377-1463	Military Flag of Bosnia.	Swallow-tailed, a blue field with a white cross pattée in the center.
The Kosača dynasty
	1448-1482	Flag of Herzegovina	A red field with 2 white crosses pattée off-centred toward the hoist and 3 sestiere on the fly.
Rama
	1618	Banner used for "Rama" at Ferdinand II's coronation as King of Hungary.	Swallow-tailed, a blue field with a shield in the center.
Ottoman Bosnia
	1517–1793	Flag of The Ottoman Empire	Red field with a Green Disc in the center and 3 golden crescent moons inside the disc.
	1793–1844	Flag of The Ottoman Empire	A Red Field with a white crescent moon and a 8-pointed star.
	1844–1878	Flag of The Ottoman Empire	A Red Field with a white crescent moon and a 5-pointed star.
	1800–1878	Imperial Flag of The Ottoman Empire
	1760s	Flag of Western Herzegovina used by Bosniak landlords in border parts in southern and western Herzegovina. The flag was most commonly used in wars. It also accompanied Bosnian troops during the second siege of Hotin.	Swallow-tailed; a green field with a white crescent and star pointing toward the hoist.
	1878	Flag of Bosnia. In 1878 Bosnia existed briefly as an independent nation.[citation needed]	Very similar to the flag used by Husein Gradaščević's revolt of 1830: a green field with a yellow crescent and star facing away from the hoist, but with a more curved crescent, like a typical Islamic crescent moon symbol.
Austro-Hungarian Bosnia
	1878–1918	Flag of Austria	A horizontal bicolour of black and yellow.
	1878–1915	Royal Flag of Austria-Hungary	A golden field bordered with golden, black, white and red triangles displaying The Austrian Royal Arms.
	1878–1918	Royal Flag of Austria-Hungary	A golden field bordered with golden, black, white, red and green triangles displaying both the Imperial crown of Austria and the Royal crown of Hungary.
	1878–1908	Flag of the Austro-Hungarian-occupied Province of Bosnia	A red and yellow horizontal bicolour with a shield. The Province of Herzegovina used a similar flag but with the colors reversed (a yellow and red bicolour).
	1908	Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina after Austro-Hungarian annexation.	A red and yellow horizontal bicolour.
	1878-1918	Flag of Herzegovina, during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia in Yugoslavia
	1918-1941	Flag of The Kingdom of Yugoslavia	A Horizontal Tricolor of Blue, White and Red.
	1922-1937	Royal Flag of The Kingdom of Yugoslavia
	1937-1941	Royal Flag of The Kingdom of Yugoslavia
	1941-1945	State flag of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH)	A tricolour of red, white, and blue with the Ustaše symbol in top-left corner (letter "U" surrounded by Croatian interlace) and the Croatian coat of arms (but with the first field white, as opposed to red) in the center.
	1946-1992	Flag of The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	A Horizontal Tricolor of Blue, White and Red with a red star in the center.
	1956-1963	Presidential Flag of The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
	1963-1992	Presidential Flag of The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
	1940-1946	Flag of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Partisans
	1946–1992	Flag of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Yugoslavia	A red field (symbolizing the national liberation movements) with the Yugoslav flag in the canton.
Independent Bosnia.
	1993–1995	Flag of Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia and Republic of Western Bosnia
	1992–1998	Flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina	A white field with a blue shield bearing six Bosnian Golden Lilies in the centre. It also was and it still is the main Bosniak national flag.

Proposed flags

Further information: Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina § Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1946–1992)

Proposals for the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	Proposed, never used	First proposal of a flag for the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15 November 1946.[4]	Federal flag of Yugoslavia with an additional five-pointed golden star imposed behind the existing red star, with their rays interchangeably positioned.
	Proposed, used in real life	Second proposal of a flag for the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1947.[4]	Variant of the flag adopted on 31 December 1946 with a much larger Yugoslav canton flag and a margin.

Proposals before Dayton Agreement

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	Proposed, never used	Bosnian Tricolor Proposal
	Proposed, never used	Bosnian Democratic Union Proposal
	Proposed, never used	Defenders of Sarajevo Proposal

First set of proposals

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	Proposed, never used	First alternative in the first set of proposals.	Similar to the flag of the Czech Republic. A green and red horizontal bicolour with a blue triangle in the hoist.
	Proposed, never used	Second alternative in the first set of proposals.	Similar to the flag of the United Nations. A light blue field with a branch of wheat.
	Proposed, never used	Third alternative in the first set of proposals.	A blue field with an outline of the map of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Second set of proposals

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	Proposed, never used	First alternative in the second set of proposals.	A red, white, and blue diagonal tricolour with a silhouette map of Bosnia and Herzegovina within a circle of 10 gold 5-pointed stars.
	Proposed, never used	Second alternative in the second set of proposals.	A red, white, and blue diagonal tricolour with a silhouette map of Bosnia and Herzegovina within a circle of 12 gold 5-pointed stars.
	Proposed, never used	Third alternative in the second set of proposals.	A red, white, and blue diagonal tricolour with a yellow silhouette map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in green within two green olive branches.
	Proposed, never used	Fourth alternative in the second set of proposals.	A red, white, and blue tricolour with a yellow silhouette map of Bosnia and Herzegovina outlined in green within two green olive branches.

Third set of proposals

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	Proposed, used briefly in 1998	First alternative in the third set of proposals (the Westendorp proposals).	Identical to the national flag that was adopted, but with a field of light blue that the flag of the United Nations uses.
	Proposed, never used	Second alternative in the third set of proposals (the Westendorp proposals).	A field of light blue that the flag of the United Nations uses with three gold and two white stripes, interleaved so as to form a rectangle in the centre.
	Proposed, never used	Third alternative in the third set of proposals (the Westendorp proposals).	A field of light blue that the flag of the United Nations uses with five gold and five white stripes, interleaved so as to form a triangle in the centre.

See also

• Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina – main article on the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national flag
• Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Flag of Republika Srpska

References

1. "Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina - End of 37th plenary session". Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
2. "Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina - 38th plenary session - second day". Archived from the original on 3 September 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
3. "U-11/97". Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
4. Heimer, Željko; Jerlagić, Velid-aga (2006). "Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Socialist Yugoslavia)". Flags of the World. Retrieved 10 March 2023.