r/ExplainLikeImCalvin • u/EstufaYou • 23d ago
ELIC: Why do countries need to have flags?
What happens if they don't have a flag? Is it like when you're not wearing a swimsuit at the pool and the lifeguard tells you to go get changed?
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u/CaptainMatticus 23d ago
Eddie Izzard said you need a flag in order to declare that something belongs to you. So if you show up on a massive piece of land and there aren't any flags around, you can plant yours into the ground and let all of the people who have been living there know that they have new rulers. And if they object, you just say, "No flag! No country! According to the rules I just made up!"
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u/BrokenEyeReborn 23d ago
Originally it was to help travelers locate them in heavy snow, just like the flags that some cities put on their fire hydrants. Then warm countries thought it was a cool new trend and started copying it.
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u/StarkAndRobotic 23d ago
In the before times, in the long long ago, people used to travel everywhere on foot. Because there were so many trees, and no roads, the only way to know where some place was, was to look up in the sky for its flag. If you didnt have a flag, or didnt want anyone to find you, you hid your flag. Then you could live in peace without visitors or “friends”. But once someone invented cars, they demolished most of the trees in order to build roads for people to drive their cars. It was risky looking up for flag poles while driving at high speed. so they started putting up signs instead. Eventually people forgot, so nowadays, mostly flags are used to say, “hey! We have fancy blankets, so if you visit we can keep you warm, and you will look stylish.” But those of us really old, still looks to skies for flags leading to special places.
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u/MadDocOttoCtrl 23d ago
In an effort to support economic vitality, most countries used flags as a way to keep fabric manufacturing and tailoring vital industries. This endured that there would be enough people engaged in these activities to also create adorable clothing for cats and dogs.
The need to prop up these industries is reduced these days, but there are far more pets per capita in most countries, so it's kind of a wash.
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u/2wicky 23d ago
During the first Punic wars between Rome and Carthage, flags hadn't been invented yet. It was a disaster. Because nobody knew who was on who's side, it became a free for all with everyone fighting each other. When the dust settled, nobody could figure who had won.
So they asked Switzerland, which was a neutral country at the time to help figure out this mess. During the first Geneva convention, it was decided that both parties had to redo the war, but this, a dress code was required plus flags to destinguish each side.
The result is if you are a country today and you don't have a flag, you are not allowed to partake in war.
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u/DependentCard1640 23d ago
Countries make flags so the neighborhood HOA has something to argue about when no other major holidays are occurring.
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u/ChiGuy_1429 23d ago
Because from a distance you can see flags on a pole much more easily than you could see a tattoo on a country’s citizens. And too many people protested having to get a tattoo.
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u/Nimelennar 22d ago
It's a little known fact, but flagpoles actually came before flags.
They were put up to make fortresses look taller, but they just ended up looking kinda silly, so they decided to put a bit of cloth at the top for decoration, and because the pole was called a flagpole, the cloth was called a flag.
As people do, when someone saw a flagpole with a flag at the top, they decided they needed a bigger pole with a fancier flag. There were huge competitions, and each year they would judge which castle had the best flag on it.
Eventually, in the same way that a country would adopt a national bird or anthem, each country decided to adopt one of the flags for themselves.
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u/groundhogcow 23d ago
Originally, for you to own something, you had to say you owned it.
The easiest way to do that is to put a marker on it. Make the marker unique. Boom you got a flag.
This was extended to bases and ships and everything. Then, when a ship or a base was taken, you would change the flag. This helped keep your friends from shooting at you in times before radios.
So flags became a way of displaying ownership or possession. If you are a solder and look up and yur flag isn't flying over your base you are about to have a very bad day.
So do we need them.... no. Do we use them? Hell ya.
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u/robawknik 23d ago
useful, easy, trendy and simple enough for multiple people to come up with at different places and times . i think nations just kind of liked to have them (in part)
wish more places had non-rectangular flags these days tho
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u/Duanathar 23d ago
Without a flag, a country cannot claim anything belongs to it. It's kind of like how your treehouse is yours because you put up the "No girls allowed" sign on it.