Adopted on December 27th, 1989 for national and civil usage, the flag of Romania dates back to it's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1859. The flag was created by combining the colors of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Ottoman Provinces that made up Romania. The blue in the flag, therefore, represents Moldavia, the yellow represents Wallachia and red was a color that was featured in the flags of both provinces and is the color of Romanian unity.
In 1867, the Royal Arms were set in the yellow stripe- and were modified many times over the years until the Communist regime took power in 1948 and replaced the arms with a Communist emblem- so it looked like this:
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When the revolution against Ceaucescu's** regime began in December 1989 at Timisoara, the emblem was ripped out of the flag, leaving flags that looked like this:
These flags were called 'the flag with the hole' and after Ceaucescu was overthrown, nothing was placed in the yellow stripe of the tricolor, leaving it in it's current configuration. In 1992, the old coat of arms was restored by the new Parliament:
The eagle is gripping an Orthodox Christian cross in it's beak- with the sceptre it's holding is the sceptre of St. Michael the Brave of Wallachia while the sword recalled St. Stephen the Great of Moldavia and the shield displays the arms of some of Romania's provinces.
So put your hands together kids and give it up for Romania! And remember, until next time keep your flags flying- FREAK or otherwise.
*Random bonus fact: Romanian is a Romance language! Coolest outlier ever, geographically speaking.
**If you don't know who this guy is, start here with the basics of Wikipedia. Not at all a nice man- which probably explains how quickly the Romanians got rid of him in 1989.
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