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Proposal No. 43 for the new Portuguese National Flag (1910-1911)

2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 Mar 2005
1:2 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 Mar 2005

Description of the flag

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Description of the flag

It should be noted that the many proposed designs were mostely created and published after the new flag was definitively approved (June 1910) and had very minor impact in the public opinion (though it is understandable why vexillologists are attracted by all those projects).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 Mar 2005

That's true, but I disagree with the idea that it had a very minor impact in the public opinion. The proposals and ideas for a new national flag to Portugal came up in the press, that was avidly consumed by the literate elites of the country (much more so than today), and back then, in the beginning of the 20th century, the public opinion was the literate elite of Portugal. Besides, with the turmoil that followed the republican revolution, with a lot of governments lasting very short periods of time, if some alternative project to the flag adopted in 1910 had managed to grab effectively the attention of a good portion of this public opinion, it would have had a good chance to replace the flag of 1910, at least for a while. And this, as we know, didn't happen, which is, I believe, significant
Jorge Candeias, 9 Mar 2005

The 1911 "flag war" was waged between the previous flag (blue-white), possibly with its crown removed, and the green-red flag with shield and sphere (minor details varying at first).
As known, the issue become moot after World War I, where Portuguese troops carried the new flag and died by the thousand. How the portuguese national flag eveolved in the people's and politicians' minds in 1910-1928 and later is worth of study.
Description will be given acc. to objectionable standardisation criteria and as illustrated in the original source as (differences parenthesized) :
On (dark) red, an off set dark green cross patty fleuryy throughout; on the cross' centre, a tilted square in hoist-to-fly ascending diagonal 6 blue and 5 white stripes (the middle one double width), superimposed by a "squarified" Samnitic shield. The shield is green with a red bordure, but this unheraldic in that the upper part is arched, not parallel to the shield's edge. On the green area five white escutcheons set in cross (1:3:1) each charged with five black roundels set per saltire (2:1:2); on the upper part of the bordure, a row of seven (golden) yellow stylized castles (vertically stretched to match the available space). Obviously it is a variation of the Portuguese arms, trying to compromise ancient and modern.
Sources: Museu República e Resistência 1994, image 43 and Teixeira 1991
António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 Mar 2005

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