After the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 it became necessary to institute the national emblem, flag, orders and medals of the state. In 1919-1920 years the competitions on

preparation of drafts of the national anthem, national emblem, state seal and orders were advertised in the press. 

On January 30, 1920 a decree on preparation of military orders was adopted. About 100 drafts of “Independence” order were introduced to the competition. Mainly, the tricolor flag, an eight point star, crescent, sword, Azerbaijani soldier and mosque were depicted in the drafts. Some of the best drafts are preserved in the personal archive of the prime minister of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic Fatali Khan Khoyski in the Moscow State Historical Museum. 

The authors of the drafts were the artists lived and created in Baku, as well as in Tbilisi. Artist experts and art critics paid great attention to the style of such artists as Azim Azimzade, Alesker Aliyev, also the artists of the magazine “Molla Nasreddin” Benedict Telingater (Beno) and Oscar Shmerling from Tbilisi. Artistically regarded, their pictures aroused great interest for their richness.   

Unfortunately, the downfall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on May 28, 1920 made impossible to see the started works through.

In 1990, in the fund of the Party archives of the Institute of Party History under the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Central Committee of the Communist Party) of Azerbaijan (the current Archive of political documents of the Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan), were discovered more than 100 first sketches of the orders of Azerbaijan, which have been presented at the contest.  In 1992, these sketches were printed in Baku by the Publishing House "Ishik" (Light) and were reflected in the album "The Symbols of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920)".