5. Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
The current flag of the current iteration of Georgia is one that would be somewhat familiar to most English people, even if they might not have been aware of what it was for, as it is a red on white St. George’s cross with a further four St. George’s crosses – one in each canton. That flag was re-adopted in 2004 after having been out of use for c.500 years. In the interim period Georgia has had a number of flags, including the one included here. In 1921 Georgia became part of the Soviet Union and as was always the case in these instances it got a new flag. The field is Soviet red and the the yellow text is SSRG in Cyrillic. This flag existed until 1937 when a new flag with a brighter red and more lettering was introduced. This second Soviet flag was used until 1951 when a dynamic pale blue design with hammer and sickle replaced the text. Then in 1990 everything changed with the fall of the Soviet Union and the pre-Soviet flag was re-introduced, but this was unpopular and replaced with the red crosses. A good half a dozen flags in one century gives one some idea of the level of political change experienced.
