Weekly Flag Challenge: Discussion & Entries
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Fantastic. About time to close it too, unless @The Professor is almost done with his. :3
EDIT: Oh dear, hold on. I'll get the poll up ASAP. Been busy all Saturday. >_>
EDIT: Oh dear, hold on. I'll get the poll up ASAP. Been busy all Saturday. >_>
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Flag challenge #181: Arabia Unbreakable
“Arabia, once scattered, defeated, and left behind, has now reclaimed its place in the sun, and is widely admired for the progress they’ve made and respected as a great power“
Design a flag for a successful sovereign state formed by the a permanent union of three or more OTL or TTL Arab nations (perhaps even a couple of non-Arab nations as long as they aren’t the majority) . The union can be by peaceful or military means, but the result must be a stable and prosperous country. (This precludes the suppression of minorities)
The Arab-speaking World
You are advised, though it’s not mandatory, to provide a story.
Be creative. The use of OTL popular symbols, like the hawk of Quraish, the five-pointed star, and the shahada, is discouraged. Try also not to be a simple rearrangement of the OTL Arab Revolt flag or the Arab Liberation Flag, although its colours need not to be avoided. But those rules can be bypassed so long as an original flag is made.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 1 February 2018, 23:59, GMT+8
Voting Period: 2 February 2018 - 5 February 2018
“Arabia, once scattered, defeated, and left behind, has now reclaimed its place in the sun, and is widely admired for the progress they’ve made and respected as a great power“
Design a flag for a successful sovereign state formed by the a permanent union of three or more OTL or TTL Arab nations (perhaps even a couple of non-Arab nations as long as they aren’t the majority) . The union can be by peaceful or military means, but the result must be a stable and prosperous country. (This precludes the suppression of minorities)
The Arab-speaking World
You are advised, though it’s not mandatory, to provide a story.
Be creative. The use of OTL popular symbols, like the hawk of Quraish, the five-pointed star, and the shahada, is discouraged. Try also not to be a simple rearrangement of the OTL Arab Revolt flag or the Arab Liberation Flag, although its colours need not to be avoided. But those rules can be bypassed so long as an original flag is made.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 1 February 2018, 23:59, GMT+8
Voting Period: 2 February 2018 - 5 February 2018
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Is my challenge too difficult? Or should I get rid of the “no OTL symbols” criteria?
It's only been a few hours, and everyone's still at work or school. Give it time. :3
I would change the "no pan arab colours" to be "no flags based on the Arab Liberation flag" since I assume you mean no red-white-black tricolours rather than no red, white, black, or green at all!
The Union of Democrat Arab People's Republics(1958-?)
In this timeline ,in 1952 a nuclear missile test by the USA fails and the 10 Megatons nuclear warhead detonates near Anchorage, Alaska. The resulting radiation and fallout force the US to evacuate the state, however this leads to a bigger problem, the oil industry of the USA collapses, as many oil extraction facilities are rendered unuseable. Further down the chain the western market crashes, and the NATO member nations decide to increase their influence within the Arab penisula. This results in a general instability between local authorities, civillians, and NATO forces. The USSR sees this as an opportunity, and stages a coup, using the "invasive NATO forces" as pretext to recruit insurgents, in Saudi Arabia in 1953 leading up to a revolution which turns the country communist. NATO realized that this would be just the start of a Soviet scheme to turn the arab states into communist sattelites. Because of that they decided to increase the troops stationed within their borders even further, which only worsens the relations. This culminates with a terrorist blowing up a fuel depot in March 1955. Soon after this event the Arab War begins between Iraq, Syria, UAE and Yemen and the Communist Arabia, which invades the aformentioned countries. While NATO forces do attempt to aid the non-communist arab states, they deny their help, leading to their full annexation and the forming of the Union of Democrat Arab People's Republics in 1958. However by the early '60s the interest in oil by the western bloc has diminished, as hybrid engines and much safer and efficient nuclear powerplants have been developed to create electric war machines for a war for the arab peninsula, using limited resources. This means the cold war doesn't end as in our timeline, and instead it continues long after the 2000s.
The red star, already a symbol of communism, has 5 rays, each depicting one of the 5 memebers of the UDAPR, Arabia, Iraq, Syria, UAE, and Yemen. The 3 swords represent the separation of the 3 powers of the state, legislative, executive and judiciary. The green color and the cresecent represent the common arab culture and the shield that it must be protected.
In this timeline ,in 1952 a nuclear missile test by the USA fails and the 10 Megatons nuclear warhead detonates near Anchorage, Alaska. The resulting radiation and fallout force the US to evacuate the state, however this leads to a bigger problem, the oil industry of the USA collapses, as many oil extraction facilities are rendered unuseable. Further down the chain the western market crashes, and the NATO member nations decide to increase their influence within the Arab penisula. This results in a general instability between local authorities, civillians, and NATO forces. The USSR sees this as an opportunity, and stages a coup, using the "invasive NATO forces" as pretext to recruit insurgents, in Saudi Arabia in 1953 leading up to a revolution which turns the country communist. NATO realized that this would be just the start of a Soviet scheme to turn the arab states into communist sattelites. Because of that they decided to increase the troops stationed within their borders even further, which only worsens the relations. This culminates with a terrorist blowing up a fuel depot in March 1955. Soon after this event the Arab War begins between Iraq, Syria, UAE and Yemen and the Communist Arabia, which invades the aformentioned countries. While NATO forces do attempt to aid the non-communist arab states, they deny their help, leading to their full annexation and the forming of the Union of Democrat Arab People's Republics in 1958. However by the early '60s the interest in oil by the western bloc has diminished, as hybrid engines and much safer and efficient nuclear powerplants have been developed to create electric war machines for a war for the arab peninsula, using limited resources. This means the cold war doesn't end as in our timeline, and instead it continues long after the 2000s.
The red star, already a symbol of communism, has 5 rays, each depicting one of the 5 memebers of the UDAPR, Arabia, Iraq, Syria, UAE, and Yemen. The 3 swords represent the separation of the 3 powers of the state, legislative, executive and judiciary. The green color and the cresecent represent the common arab culture and the shield that it must be protected.
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It's nothing like the OTL, good! Glad that my "no five-pointed star" advise didn't constrain you.
Al-Maqaroon آل-معكرون
Al-Maqaroon, better known by the western world as Macaronesia in OTL, is the result of Arab nations in this ATL settling in the area instead of the Spanish and Portuguese. These two countries' places in the world stage are taken by Maghreb nations like Morocco and Mauritania, meaning that the colonial world, e.g. Africa, Oceania, America, etc. practices Islam instead of Christianity. Likewise, middle eastern cultures are much more widespread.
Although the Berber people have have resided in Al-Maqaroon for centuries, Moroccan settlers introduced the teachings of Allah to the previously tribal people in the Isles some time in the middle ages. While Morocco took Al-Kanuri and Al-Madira to themselves, the empire of Mauritania, Morocco's ally, brought their own settlers to Al-Akhdar shortly afterwards. Al-Uzur, still uninhabited for decades after Morocco and Mauritania already had their own islands, was eventually added to the realm of Al-Andalus, leaving Maraconesia with a combination of Iberian and Maghrebi cultures. The modern age brought the isles more and more autonomy until eventually the whole archipelago declared independence once muslim colonialism died away. Instead of forming a multitude of small and weak nations, however, Al-Maqaroon became a wide federation of far flung atlantic islands of both muslim and christian origin (the Christians being deported from Al-Andalus during the purge of Catholicism referred to as 'Al-Aistirdad' by the Iberians).
Al-Maqaroon's flag, appropriately enough, features red stars representing each island with their approximate location from north to south on the world map (the white outlines rendered strangely for some reason, but I kind of like them like this) as well as the crescent moon to the left, which is a common feature on flags in this ATL and doesn't necessarily have theocratic implications (like the crucifix/cross in OTL). The blue shading on it is also a subtle reference to the Atlantic ocean. The green background and gold outline is also a nod to muslim/middle eastern colours that are featured a lot on arab flags in OTL, although in this ATL it is, again, more of a traditional use of the colours instead of a religious one.
Al-Maqaroon, better known by the western world as Macaronesia in OTL, is the result of Arab nations in this ATL settling in the area instead of the Spanish and Portuguese. These two countries' places in the world stage are taken by Maghreb nations like Morocco and Mauritania, meaning that the colonial world, e.g. Africa, Oceania, America, etc. practices Islam instead of Christianity. Likewise, middle eastern cultures are much more widespread.
Although the Berber people have have resided in Al-Maqaroon for centuries, Moroccan settlers introduced the teachings of Allah to the previously tribal people in the Isles some time in the middle ages. While Morocco took Al-Kanuri and Al-Madira to themselves, the empire of Mauritania, Morocco's ally, brought their own settlers to Al-Akhdar shortly afterwards. Al-Uzur, still uninhabited for decades after Morocco and Mauritania already had their own islands, was eventually added to the realm of Al-Andalus, leaving Maraconesia with a combination of Iberian and Maghrebi cultures. The modern age brought the isles more and more autonomy until eventually the whole archipelago declared independence once muslim colonialism died away. Instead of forming a multitude of small and weak nations, however, Al-Maqaroon became a wide federation of far flung atlantic islands of both muslim and christian origin (the Christians being deported from Al-Andalus during the purge of Catholicism referred to as 'Al-Aistirdad' by the Iberians).
Al-Maqaroon's flag, appropriately enough, features red stars representing each island with their approximate location from north to south on the world map (the white outlines rendered strangely for some reason, but I kind of like them like this) as well as the crescent moon to the left, which is a common feature on flags in this ATL and doesn't necessarily have theocratic implications (like the crucifix/cross in OTL). The blue shading on it is also a subtle reference to the Atlantic ocean. The green background and gold outline is also a nod to muslim/middle eastern colours that are featured a lot on arab flags in OTL, although in this ATL it is, again, more of a traditional use of the colours instead of a religious one.
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Would you mind explaining what are the names of those islands IOTL?
sure:
Al-Kanuri and Al-Madira are the Canaries and Madeira respectively, Al-Akhdar is Cape Verde and Al-Uzur is The Azores.
Bonus: Al-Aistirdad is a reversed version of the reconquista.
The United Mashriqi Emirates
A Brief History of Modern Mashriq
With the establishment of the Egyptian Sultanate the Ottomans were forced to withdraw direct control over Mesopotamia. The Empire of Iran established a protectorate over Kurdistan and the British expanded their Gulf Federation. Proxy wars began among the Arab Emirates and Egypt solidified control over the Hejaz proclaiming itself the Caliphate.
As the proxy wars backed by the 4 Alliances [1] escalated, most notably between the Rashidi and Saudi Kingdoms, the Americans [2] called and mediated a Congress in the Free City of Jerusalem to avoid another global war among the great powers.
This resulted in 2 Arab confederations - the southern Arabian Sultanate and the northern United Mashriqi Emirates (also called the Mashriqi Republic). The UME is ruled by the Council of Emirs who rotate the Presidency (of the Council) between them. Whilst individual Emirs have discretion of rule over their emirates laws relating to military and state wide economics cannot be countermanded. As a result of the free movement of labour and high education the UME has become highly secular and boasts equality for women above some of the western powers themselves.
The Mashriqi Flag
The flag features 2 crescents representing both the 2 common forms of Islam and the historical Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the centre is a modified Rub Al Hizb representing the peace achieved at Jerusalem [3]. The 4 quarters represent the country as a crossroads between the 4 directions.
[1] These being the Franco-Russian Entente (2nd French Empire, Russian Empire, Ottoman Sultanate, and allies), the London-Frankfurt Pact (British Empire, German Empire, and allies), Kabul Accord (Iran and the Durrani-Moghal empire), and the Egyptian Caliphate
[2] The 3rd Republic of the USA being strongly neutral and pro stable government
[3] The outer ring is the Al Quds Star that represents Jerusalem, Al Quds in Arabic.
A Brief History of Modern Mashriq
With the establishment of the Egyptian Sultanate the Ottomans were forced to withdraw direct control over Mesopotamia. The Empire of Iran established a protectorate over Kurdistan and the British expanded their Gulf Federation. Proxy wars began among the Arab Emirates and Egypt solidified control over the Hejaz proclaiming itself the Caliphate.
As the proxy wars backed by the 4 Alliances [1] escalated, most notably between the Rashidi and Saudi Kingdoms, the Americans [2] called and mediated a Congress in the Free City of Jerusalem to avoid another global war among the great powers.
This resulted in 2 Arab confederations - the southern Arabian Sultanate and the northern United Mashriqi Emirates (also called the Mashriqi Republic). The UME is ruled by the Council of Emirs who rotate the Presidency (of the Council) between them. Whilst individual Emirs have discretion of rule over their emirates laws relating to military and state wide economics cannot be countermanded. As a result of the free movement of labour and high education the UME has become highly secular and boasts equality for women above some of the western powers themselves.
The Mashriqi Flag
The flag features 2 crescents representing both the 2 common forms of Islam and the historical Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the centre is a modified Rub Al Hizb representing the peace achieved at Jerusalem [3]. The 4 quarters represent the country as a crossroads between the 4 directions.
[1] These being the Franco-Russian Entente (2nd French Empire, Russian Empire, Ottoman Sultanate, and allies), the London-Frankfurt Pact (British Empire, German Empire, and allies), Kabul Accord (Iran and the Durrani-Moghal empire), and the Egyptian Caliphate
[2] The 3rd Republic of the USA being strongly neutral and pro stable government
[3] The outer ring is the Al Quds Star that represents Jerusalem, Al Quds in Arabic.
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Muhammad Ali's Egypt?
I like the idea of a Shiite-Sunni state, even if it may be nominal(?).
No, but a similar more ambitious ATL equivalent.
All forms of Islam are officially tolerated. Other religions depend on individual Emirates and Emirs.
My Mashriq covers some of the Levant - and the Arabic term mashriq does include the Levant - but not Lebanon itself as the Beirut Vilayet is still technically Ottoman.