Flag of Vietnam
| Cờ đỏ sao vàng ('Red flag with a golden star') Cờ Tổ quốc ('Flag of the Fatherland') | |
| Use | Civil and state flag |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | 23 November 1940 (Cochinchina uprising) 2 September 1945 (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) 30 November 1955 (current version) 2 July 1976 (reunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam) |
| Design | A large gold five-pointed star centered on a red field. |
| Designed by | Nguyễn Hữu Tiến (disputed) |
| Flag of the People's Army of Vietnam | |
Quân kỳ Quyết thắng ('Determined to Win Military flag') | |
| Use | War flag |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Design | A golden star centered on a red field, and yellow words Quyết thắng (Determined to win) in the upper canton. |
| Designed by | Design is a variant of the flag of Vietnam |
| Flag of the Vietnam People's Public Security | |
Công an kỳ | |
| Use | Police flag |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Design | A golden star centered on a red field, and yellow motto Bảo vệ an ninh Tổ quốc (Protecting the security of the Fatherland) in the upper canton. |
| Designed by | Design is a variant of the flag of Vietnam |
| Ensign of the Vietnam People's Navy | |
Cờ Hải quân | |
| Use | Naval ensign |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | 15 January 2014 |
| Design | A white flag with an emblem referring the Vietnam People's Navy in the top with the red label Hải quân Việt Nam ('Navy of Vietnam') and a blue strip below. |
| Designed by | Vietnam People's Navy, with the influence from the naval ensign of the Soviet Navy |
The national flag of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Quốc kỳ nước Việt Nam), originally the national flag of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Quốc kỳ nước Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa, since 1955), also locally known as the golden-starred red banner (cờ đỏ sao vàng) or the "Fatherland flag" (cờ Tổ quốc), was designed in 1940 and first used during a failed communist uprising against the French colonialists in Cochinchina that year. The red background symbolizes revolution and bloodshed. The golden star symbolizes the soul of the nation and the five points of the star represents the five main classes in Vietnamese society—intellectuals, farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, and soldiers.
The earliest version of the flag was used by the Viet Minh, a communist-led organization created in 1941 to oppose Japanese military occupation and French colonialism. At the end of World War II, Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam independent and signed a decree on 5 September 1945 adopting the Viet Minh flag as the flag of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The DRV became the government of North Vietnam in 1954 following the Geneva Accords. The flag was modified on 30 November 1955 to make the points of the star straighter, which became the standard design for the current Vietnamese flag. Until the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the State of Vietnam and later the Republic of Vietnam (South) used a yellow flag with three red stripes. The red flag of North Vietnam was later adopted as the flag of the unified Vietnam in 1976. The flag of Vietnam is the only flag amongst ASEAN that does not contain the colour white, with red and yellow/gold being its historical national colours.