History - Flag

1963 - present flag

Flag adopted 31 July 1963, "Allah Akbar" (God is great) in Arabic script in green added during the Gulf War, 13 January1991 for the purpose of a more Islamic portrayal of Saddam Hussein.

1959-1963 flag

The flag of Iraq that was adopted a year after the revolution of July 1958 is vertical black, white, green. In the white band an eight-pointed star with a white circle in the centre, and in the circle a yellow circle. Ratio 2:3.

1924-1959 flag

Iraq's first flag was inspired by the flag of the Kingdom of Hejaz, and was in use at the time of independence in 1932. The flag was actually used before independence, from 1924 to 1959.
The British occupied Baghdad on 10 January 1919. The allied supreme council created a British mandate on 25 April 1920 and the League approved it later. The British suppressed a major Arab insurrection in July-December 1920. Faisal, deposed king of Syria, arrived in June 1921, and the British proclaimed him King of Iraq on 23 August after a plebiscite voiced 96% approval. The British simultaneously changed the mandate into a Protectorate. The Iraq flag adopted by Faisal in 1921 slightly changed the Sharifian flag: It was a black-white-green tricolour with a red trapezoid in the hoist and two 7-pointed white stars in the red.

1920-1921 flag

The earliest flag of Iraq (then Mesopotamia) was based on the flag of the Kingdom of Hejaz, a horizontal tricolour, ratio 2:1, black over green over white, with a red equilateral extending from the hoist, carrying two seven-pointed white stars, one above the other.

Bibliography:

• FOTW Flags Of The World website at http://fotw.digibel.be/flags/
• Description of 1959 - present flags based on work by Mark Sensen and Alexander and W. Smith, 1992.
  
• Description of 1924-59 flag based on work by Vincent Morley and T. F. Mills, 16 December 1997
  
• Description of 1920-21 flag based on work by Alexander and W. Smith, 1992.