"Unity makes strength" is a motto that has been used by various states and entities throughout history. It is used by Belgium, Bulgaria, Haiti, Malaysia and Georgia on their coats of arms and is the national motto of Belgium, Bolivia, Malaysia, Georgia and Bulgaria.
The motto was originally used by the Dutch Republic as "eendracht maakt macht". It was derived originally from a Greek phrase (ισχύς εν τη ενώσει literally meaning power lies in unity) attributed to Homer, dating to roughly 850 BC, that later appears similarly in the Latin phrase concordia res parvae crescunt ("small things flourish by concord"), used in the Bellum Jugurthinum of Roman Republican writer Sallust.
The similar moral of the Aesopic fable "The Old Man and his Sons" has been rendered in various related ways: "All power is weak unless united" (1668), "Unity makes strength, strife wastes" (1685), "Strength lies in union" (1867), "Strength is in unity" (1887), "Unity is strength" (title), "Union gives strength" (moral) (1894), "Union is strength" (1912), "In unity is strength" (1919); although older versions are more specific: "Brotherly love is the greatest good in life and often lifts the humble higher" (2nd century), "Just as concord supplies potency in human affairs, so a quarrelsome life deprives people of their strength" (16th century).
Origins
Ancient Greek
The Iliad 13:237 has 'even weak men have strength in unity'.
Latin
One Latin version is vis unita fortior 'force united is stronger'. It was the original state motto of New Hampshire.
Uses
Belgium
The motto was used by Belgium after its Revolution of 1830, initially only in its French form "". Only when Dutch was made equal in status to French did the Belgian state also take "" as its motto, sometimes with the variant "". In 1830, this unity was identified with the unification of Belgium's nine provinces, whose nine provincial coats of arms are represented on the national arms, and the new country's unification of its liberal progressives and Catholic conservatives. Indeed, it was launched in 1827–1828 by newspapers published in Liège, which allied liberals and Catholics in the unionism which brought about the revolution and which then dominated Belgian politics until the founding of the Liberal Party in 1846. Although the motto is often used in Belgicist or unitarist circles (as a call to Flemings and Walloons, natives of Brussels and German speakers, all to maintain Belgium's unity), this is a historical misinterpretation; the motto is a unionist – not a unitarist – slogan. Its German version is "".
Bulgaria
Following the Bulgarian unification and after Ferdinand of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha took over the throne of the Principality of Bulgaria, the country adopted the motto () - Unity makes strength. It was the country's motto until 1948. After the fall of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the end of Communist rule in the 1990s, the parties debated what should be the country's new coat of arms, deciding on a modified version of its former royal coat of arms. However, the Bulgarian motto also represents the legendary last words of khan Kubrat, the founder of Old Great Bulgaria in 632 AD, and is likely rooted much earlier in Bulgarian symbolics than in other European states.
Canada
At the second national convention of Acadians in 1884, "L'union fait la force" was chosen as the national motto of Acadia and appeared in the coat of arms of Société nationale de l'Acadie in 1995.
Georgia
Dzala ertobashia (, "strength is in unity") is the official motto of Georgia.
Haiti
One of the oldest uses of the term written in the French language, is known since 1807, on Haiti's national coat of arms bearing the motto, "L'union fait la force". Although, it should not be confused with the national motto of Haiti, which according to the Constitution of Haiti is "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
Malaysia
The coat of arms of the Federation of Malaya (present day Peninsular Malaysia) in used between 1948 and 1963 adopted a variation of the motto, rendered "Unity is Strength" in English and "Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu" (literally "Federation Improves Quality") in Malay Jawi script. Following the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the English motto was replaced by "Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu" in Malay Latin (Rumi) script, while the Jawi motto remained unchanged.