I know the title might be misleading at a first glance, but what I am going to do in this first article is absolutely peaceful. There are actually two more similar flags: Andorra’s flag and Moldova’s flag, but it is quite easy to distinguish between them as they possess a coat of arms.

On one hand, the flag of Chad consists of three colours: blue, yellow and red (from left to right), being basically influenced by the french flag. Blue was used to symbolise water, as Chad is named after the lake with the same name. Yellow usually stands for sunshine, but in this case it represents the desert, while red was used to remind of the blood shed in the fight for independence. Chad started using this flag since 1960 as they gained independence from France in the same year.

On the other hand, the flag of Romania has the same proportions as the flag of Chad, presents the same colour and arrangement. The colours are pretty much similar in terms of symbolism as blue represents the sky and the Black Sea, yellow is for sunshine and wheat, while red stands for blood shed by the military fighting for independence. Once again this flag was influenced by France (I must admit they are really great for culture victory in civ5) as revolutionaries from Wallachia used it in 1848 along with the catchphrase: “Liberty, Justice, Fraternity”. Later that year, the first version of this kind of flag was used as the banner of Wallachia. However, the flag was changed afterwards in 1859 and then changed back in 1867 as the flag of Romania. During the communist era, the Romanian banner adopted the socialist emblem from 1965 to 1989. If you feel like reading more about the Romanian flag, there is an entire wikipedia article here. And if you want to read even more about it, click here.

However, there is a small difference between the two flags and it is best visualised in this picture:

source: http://theslittyeye.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/funny-trivia-about-flags/

Basically, the only difference is that Romania’s flag present a lighter version of blue.

Anyway, it seems like people of Chad did not feel great about all this confusion. According to wikipedia, In 2004 Chad asked the United Nations to examine the issue, but then-president Ion Iliescu announced no change would occur to the flag. And, that’s pretty much it.