What happened to flags on 12 May
One flag in the atlas carries this date. The sentence under it is where that is written down, in its own article.
- Germany 1778
When Heinrich XI, Prince Reuss of Greiz was appointed by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor to rule the then-new Principality of Reuss-Greiz on 12 May 1778, the flag adopted by the Fürstentum Reuß-Greiz was the first-ever appearance of the black-red-gold tricolour in its modern arrangement in any sovereign state within what today comprises Germany – the Reuss elder line that ruled the principality used a flag whose proportions were close to a "nearly square"-shape 4:5 hoist/fly ratio, instead of the modern German flag's 3:5 figure.
From Flag of Germany on Wikipedia, as it read on 2026-08-29
How a day gets onto this site
A flag is here because a sentence in its own English Wikipedia article puts it on this date, and that sentence is printed above. Nothing was worked out from a year, and nothing was written for the occasion. Every sentence names the article it came from and the version of that article it was read in, so you can go and check it.
The calendar is still short rather than full. A third of the year has no page here, because a flag only gets a day when a sentence in its article puts something on one, and plenty of articles never do. Nothing is invented to fill the gap.