Flag Friday: Spain-ized USA Flag by 3tmp

Alternate designs for famous flags are a staple of Flag Friday and today is no exception. So without further ado, what if the United States flag was made to resemble the flag of Spain:

This is the "Spain-ized USA Flag" by 3tmp. As you can see the flag has three horizontal bands of red (top), white (double width) and blue, with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the white band, much like the current flag of Spain. Although as of late I've come to find flags that just slap on their coat of arms to be kind of lazily designed, I still enjoy the look of it. It is such an easy template to use that almost any flag could be redesigned to look like the flag of Spain.

That said, I have no idea if there is a timeline where a flag like this would arise. Maybe America has a second Civil War that leads to a Francoist style government arising in the 20th Century. Maybe Spain has nothing to do with this flag and instead a New Netherlands still exists and united with the English-speaking colonies to form a very different union that actually based their flag design off the Dutch flag. Or maybe this is what Crimea looks like if it was colonized by Americans. (Thanks for the commentators in Reddit for the ideas.) Where do you think this flag comes from?

Honorable mention this week goes out to "Communist Columbia" by gruff.jones.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Flag Friday: Fascist Flag of Spain by gruff.jones

I don't know why, but I always learn the most while writing Flag Fridays. Before I go any further, here is today's featured flag:

This is "Fascist Flag of Spain" by gruff.jones. It is one of two variants he created, but I personally liked this one the best. It uses arrows that gruff.jones describes as: the symbol of the shield of the monarchy of Ferdinand and Isabella and subsequent Catholic monarchs, representing a united Spain and the "symbol of the heroic virtues of the race."

Of course, some of you may be wondering: wasn't Spain fascist already? Well there appears to be some ambiguity about that if Wikipedia can be believed. Francoist Spain was certainly authoritarian and right-wing, but it seems the fascists were never a dominant force in the government. Native Spanish fascism, known as Falangism, actually did use the arrow symbolism, which makes me think that in the timeline where this flag comes from, Spain is unambiguously fascist. They may even be a minor member of the Axis powers if World War II happens on schedule.

How do you think history would have played out if Spain sided with the Nazis in WWII?

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Flag Friday: Royal Standard of Spain under the Hohenzollerns by Ramones1986

My birthday is on the same day as the start of the Franco-Prussian War. It is a historical coincidence that I always found fascinating, even if unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, its probably why I found this flag interesting:

This is the "Royal Standard of Spain under the Hohenzollerns" by Flag Friday alum, Ramones1986. Now for those who don't know, one of the causes of the Franco-Prussian War was Spain offering the Spanish Crown to Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern. Although Leopold declined the offer in our timeline, it still caused tensions between France and Prussia to increase and eventually led to war being declared. Perhaps in hindsight, Leopold may have accepted the offer knowing that war was inevitable.

There isn't too many changes from the current Royal Standard of Spain, besides the coat of arms of the king in the center being changed to reflect the Hohenzollern colors. Simple changes really, but effective. Still one wonders what a Spain with direct ties to the ruling house of Germany would be like in this alternate timeline...

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.