The aim was to design a flag for a state incorporating the Normandy Beaches and Flanders Fields.
1 said:Symbolism of the flag
The black in the flag represents the misery and trouble the region suffered and endured. Yellow represents the peace and it is both the colour of Normandy and Flanders. The two stars symbolise the Federation of United Flanders and Normandy; the two regions it comprises. They are red, which is a symbolic colour of Normandy, as well as a colour that indicates blood and war. Additionally, the dove with the laurel wreath is a pace sign, and the laurel wreath is green, symbolising the area's nature and green fields and meadows.
Brief history
The Federation of United Flanders and Normandy
After World War I, which devastated the regions of Normandy, Brittany and Flanders, as well as Cornwall and Wales, the Federation of United Flanders and Normandy was established. This buffer state was created, between France and the Netherlands, to prevent any disputes between the world powers France, the Netherlands and the German Empire from happening again in the future.
The German Empire, which comprised southern German states, such as Bavaria and Tyrol, as well as Nordic states, like Lapland, Norway and Sweden, and all other Germanic areas, had lost millions of soldiers in the war in the east against Muscovy. As a result of this, the war at the western front had been a disaster. Desperately, afraid of losing territory in the west, Germany started the fearsome bombardments of Cornish and Welsh cities and gas bombings of Brittany, Normandy's coast and the entire Flanders Fields. All this, was the idea of the German general Klaus, who was executed after the war.
In an attempt to stop this inhumane events, Britain quickly started negotiations. As a compromise, much of the German lands was fragmented into small nation-states. About the same happened with Britain, giving Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall independence. Flanders and Normandy were made one state and its economy was boosted by US loans. The US and Canada, namely, were the two world powers that intervened and at the same time forced Great Britain, France, Germany, Muscovy and the Hungarian Kingdom to negotiate.
2 said:Normandy-Flanders
3 said:During World War 2, the lands bordering the shores of the atlantic were heavily militarised by the german who finaly detached them from their former countries but to better control the local population, these were presented as "autonomous protectorates" and not (in theory) annexed to germany.
Shown here is the flag of one such, the Reichsprotektorat Normandie-Flandern.
4 said:The Grand Duchy of Normandy-Flanders was formed out of the eastern portion of the British Occupation Zone, after disputes broke out among the victorious Great Powers (Great Britain, Austria, Italia, Iberia, Poland and Canada) over the interpretation of the Treaty of Madrid, marking the final defeat of the Empire of Franco-Germania. To the general surprise of all parties, the Grand Duchy and the other Franco-German successor states hurriedly set up as the provisions of the Treaty were ignored, flouted, or irrationally adhered to (depending upon who was doing the interpretation) have been at peace with themselves and their neighbors for over fifty years, and their governments have been surprisingly stable.
5 said:In 1758, the Third Treaty of Versailles excludes the possibility of a Southern Netherlands state ruled by the Duke of Parma. Instead, in 1763, Emperor Francis I installs his eldest and favourite daughter, Archduchess Maria Anna, as ruler of the region, to follow her mother's footsteps as an independent ruler. She was accompanied by her sister Archduchess Maria Elisabeth, and they effectively shared rulership of the state of the Burgundian Netherlands (Burgundian here being a reference to the Burgundian Circle). Archduchess Maria Anna took a consort, preserving the Habsburg line, and bore two children: Francis Peter / Frans Pieter (1766) and Frances Maria / Fransiska Maria (1769). Francis Peter took the throne of Archduke of the Burgundian Netherlands upon his mother's death in 1789, and was ruler when the French Revolution broke out. He allied with the First Coalition, and was, with support from French Loyalists and the British, able to advance along the Channel coastline, liberating Artois, Picardy, Eu and Normandy, but was unable to link up with the Loyalist forces in Vendée and Brittany. As the war continued, French successes forced Burgundian troops out of France, and Burgundy itself was invaded in Spring of 1794. The Burgundian forces fought valiantly but were overwhelmed by the French, and the Archduke was captured and executed at the direction of the Committee of Public Safety. Archduchess Frances Maria escaped capture, and took refuge in Britain for the course of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, through which Burgundian forces fought alongside the British. Following the war, Burgundy was re-established, with the additions of the Principality of Liège and of Artois, with the Archduchess acting as regent for her brother's only child, Charles Francis.
Colour of the First Regiment of the Duchy of Brabant:
6 said:NORMAN & MOLL
Following the death of his father, William the Bastard, in the Battle of Seaford (1066) Richard became Duke of Normandy and turned his attention away from England to expand into territories along the Channel coast. Over the next 300 years Normandy came to control the entire coast from Brittany to Calais, where it met up with the resurgent Lotharingia. Its coastal expansion stopped for the time being, Normandy turned its attention to the hinterland, acquiring a large northern portion of what some scholars are still wont to refer to as Gaul.
The Duke Robert (1307-1327) invaded England in 1311, almost 250 years after the ill-fated attempt of William the Bastard. The invasion was only a partial success, the Normans being generally welcomed by the ‘oppressed’ Anglo-Saxons but bitterly resisted by the Norse rulers and their kinsfolk. It was not until the middle of 1313 that a lasting peace was reached (Treaty of Cambridge) by which Normandy acquired a large portion of southern England..
The disputed succession in Lotharingia became a civil war (1497-1501) Normandy at various times armed and supplied mercenaries to both sides. A weary nation succumbed to the Partition of Lotharingia (1509) by its neighbours, in which Normandy acquired much of western Lotharingia.
Normandy became a kingdom in 1515, its first monarch being Richard I. The kingdom encompassed the continental possessions but its English territory became a principality outside the kingdom. The principality was incorporated into the kingdom in 1701, upon the coronation of Henry IV, at which time the nation became the United Kingdom of Lamanchia.
The flag shown below was adopted in 1714.
7 said:Union de la Côte / Unie van de Kust
Following 3 disastrous European wars in the first 50 years of the 20th century, the EW3 Allies (principally USUK, Nordic Union, Russian League) decided to recast many of the nations of western and central Europe. The Paris-Berlin Axis had conquered much of Europe during WW3 and left it in ruins. The Chef de l’Etat De Gaulle in his refusal to consider surrender had laid utter waste to much of France; the condition of Germany and the Low Countries was little better. The victorious Allies were determined to prevent a repetition of French and/or German aggression and the proposals originated by Commander Dennis Wheatley (USUKAF), who had served on the Federal Planning Staff during EW3, for ‘redrawing the map’ were in large part accepted and implemented.
The self-governing “Union de la Côte / Unie van de Kust” was created from Allied Occupation Area E-W1 on 1st January 1956 and achieved full independence 4 years later. It comprises an area from Brittany to Flanders, is a republic and has 5 autonomous Regions. The national flag has 5 stripes, 3 white and 2 black, commemorating the markings used by the Allied forces in the invasion of Europe (1948) plus a red canton bearing a bi-coloured lion inspired by the heraldic lions of Normandy and Flanders.
National Flag
8 said:Arising from the ashes the Yaygınimha conflict, Society 11 of the European Syndicalist Bond was created from the northern third of France, the west of Belgium and a strip of the coast of the Netherlands. Its capital is Pougetville (formerly known as Le Havre). In its 42 year history it has provided two Chairman of the European Central Syndicate including the current incumbent Marcel La Plume.
9 said:The current flag of Picardy derives from the banner of William IV of England & Ireland while he was the Red Prince of Picardy [1] and heir to the thrones of both England and Ireland.
The Red Prince’s banner was based on that of his uncle Eustace, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Normandy, Count of Flanders, the Black Prince [of Picardy]; said banner flown during his campaign in Brittany to claim the Ducal Crown by right of wife [2]. Eustace’s death made the underage William heir presumptive to England, being the only son of Eustace’s sister Emma and King William III of Ireland, and led to the union of the crowns since King Eustace I of England created his 3rd son William King of Ireland [3].
William’s banner may also be considered to be the first merging of the English Red Cross of St George with the Irish Gold Cross of St Patrick [4] as it was later in William IV’s reign that the various Dual Monarchy flags are first seen, though flag most common in Normandy-Flanders (or Picardy as it became known) was the quartered crosses.
Variants of the Red Prince Flag surfaced during the occupation by the Burgundian Empire until the AngloIrish-Danian Coalition restored Picardy to the Regency.
A centred version of the flag served as official flag of the region until its appropriation by the Zirconists as the flag of the Zirconist Protectorate of Picardy. Members of the Resistance used a Danian-style [5] Red Prince Flag; this became the Regional Flag after liberation and remained so when the Region voted to remain part of a newly federalised restored Regency – the United Realms – as the Lieutenant State of Picardy.
The flag’s asymmetry in contrast to the other Lieutenant States is a strong reminder of the region’s independent character.
[1] so called due to his flaming red hair
[2] Eleanor daughter of Duke William of Brittany
[3] Eustace’s 1st son Henry died shortly after being made co-Duke of Normandy; his 2nd became Stephen I of England; his 4th became Eustace I of the Latin Roman Empire
[4] often also bearing 4 crowns
[5] OTL Nordic as Sweden-Norway uses saltires TTL
