The German flag is a horizontal tricolor consisting of three equal bands of black, red, and yellow. The flag was first used as the flag of modern Germany in 1919, during the Weimar Republic. Here My Career will provide more details about the meaning, color scheme, and history of the German flag.

Use of the German Flag and Flag

The German flag is tricolor and consists of three equal horizontal bands displaying the country’s national colors of black, red, and gold. The tricolor was used to illustrate the continuity between the Weimar Republic and the new German state.

Some key points

• The flag is the civil flag of Germany. It is also used as a flag by non-federal authorities (for example, the governments of the German states use the German flag alongside their national flag).
• The German flag continues to be used by the highest federal institutions (Bundestag, Bundesrat, Bundesversammlung, Chancellor, Constitutional Court) as the national flag to show their connection with the German people. Other federal institutions use the Bundesdienstflagge  as the state flag.
• The German flag is used as a state flag by non-federal authorities. The federal government uses the Bundesdienstflagge  as a state ensign.
• The national flag is also used as a civil ensign.
• The Bundesdienstflagge is also used as a war flag . The German Navy uses the Bundesdienstflagge  as   a war flag on land and  the German Navy Flag   as a war ensign.
• The flag of the German Navy is also used as the Navy Jack.

Origin of the German Flag

There are several theories about the origin of this color scheme and its inherent meaning.

History of the German Flag

The first theory suggests that the black and gold combination is a reference to the colors on the semi-official coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire.

These two colors appear on the flag of the Austrian Empire, created in 1804 by the last ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Francis II.

Within two years, after Napoleon’s victory over Austria at Austerlitz, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist. From that point on, these two colors would be associated with the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty, known as the “Black and Gold Monarchy.”

The German association with black and gold emerged in the radical 1840s when the black-red-gold flag was used to symbolize the movement against the Conservative European Order established after the defeat of Napoleon.

The area known today as Germany was divided into a loose German Confederation, and republicanism was suppressed. This system preserved peace and maintained order in Europe, quelling the nationalist and liberal tendencies that had come to life during the Napoleonic Era.

It was only after the harsh economic conditions of the 1840s that the radicals and nationalists had a chance to usher in change. During the Spring of the Peoples, the radicals came to power, and a National Assembly was finally formed after serious consideration.

However, the movement disintegrated within a year. As the economy faltered, the radicals lost support and the monarchists regained power.

In addition, internal disputes and many disagreements hampered the new government, although it succeeded in drafting a constitution declaring the “Fundamental Rights of the German People.”

However, the liberals failed in their attempt to create what is often called a “Greater Germany.”

The Frankfurt National Assembly declared black-red-gold the official colours of the German Confederation, with the red in the tricolour most likely referring to the Hanseatic League and the yellow and black symbolising Austria, which, as its Empire, was considered German. ,” had an influence on southern Germany.

There are many theories circulating about the origin of the color scheme used in the 1848 flag. It has been suggested that the colors were those of the Jena Student?s League, one of the  radical Burschenschaften banned by Metternich in the Carlsbad Decree.

Another claim concerns the uniforms (mainly black with red facings and gold buttons) of the Lützow Free Corps, which consisted mostly of university students and was formed during the struggle against Napoleon’s occupying forces.

Mid-19th Century History of the German Flag

It was in the mid-19th century that the color red became synonymous with revolution and Karl Marx’s socialist vision.

Whatever the real explanation, these colours quickly became regarded as the national colours of Germany during this brief period, and especially after their reintroduction during the Weimar period, they became synonymous with liberalism in general.

There are several reasons why the revolutions of 1848 failed.

However, from the start, cross-party support was low, while the painfully slow deliberations, conflicting political views and divergent economic interests doomed the experiment to complete failure.

Conservatives, such as the Junker class, emerged as the winners.

There were other factors involved, including the incredible growth of Prussia, coupled with the gradual decline of Austria, which increased the frequency of power politics in Central Europe. However, it was Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, not the Austrians, who turned down the offer to become Emperor of Germany by the liberal Frankfurt.

At the same time, Austria’s status as a multi-ethnic empire complicated the dream of a unified Greater Germany – the Grossdeutsch solution . In the end, the Prussian leadership, largely influenced by Otto von Bismarck, opted for a Germany that excluded Austria.

An important step towards this kleindeutsch solution was the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Interestingly, the South German States aligned with Austria, including Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg, are said to have flown the black-red-gold flag, further illustrating the difference between today’s colour scheme and the northern, Prussian tradition.

After the conflict, this course was completed when the German Confederation was formally dissolved, and Prussia went on to establish its unofficial successor, the North German Confederation, in 1867.

On 25 June of that year, the confederation adopted a flag that blended the colours of its largest and smallest members, Prussia (black and white) and the Hanseatic League (red and white), into a new black-white-red (Schwarz-Weisse-rot) horizontal tricolour.

This flag would also be the flag of the subsequent German Empire from 1871 to 1918, eventually replacing the German Confederation.

After Germany’s defeat in World War I, this Imperial flag fell into disuse and the new Weimar Republic officially restored the black-red-gold sequence on 11 August 1919.

During the days of the Weimar Republic, there was a debate over which flag to use, causing heated controversy, with monarchists and conservatives advocating the return of the black-white-red flag.

In 1926, the old black-white-red flag was again allowed to be used, but only for German diplomatic missions abroad.

The post-Nazi history of the German flag

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the black-red-gold flag was completely abandoned and replaced with black-white-red. However, on September 15, 1935, they would replace almost all German government flags with designs based on the swastika flag that had been their party flag.

It has the same colors as the Imperial flag, but it is arranged as a red flag with a white disc in the middle with a black swastika.

The Nazis later banned the old black-white-red flag as “reactionary.” (See Nazi flag.)

After Germany’s defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the Allies. The Allied Control Council banished the existing national flags and issued a humiliating order designating the international signal flag representing the letter “C” (minus a cut-out triangle) as the provisional German civil ensign: the “C” stood for Surrender.

The Council declared that this “C-Doppelstander” (German,  C-Doppelstander ) “shall not be honored, and shall not be dipped in salute to war and merchant ships of any nation.”

After some debate, the black-red-gold flag was once again adopted as the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) on 9 May 1949.

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) originally used the same flag. However, on October 1, 1959, it introduced a communist symbol into the center of the flag: a hammer (symbolizing workers) and a pair of compasses (symbolizing intellectuals) inside an ear of rice (symbolizing farmers).

This remained almost until the territory of the former GDR was reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 (the GDR officially removed the emblem shortly before reunification).

The flag of the GDR was banned and any use of the flag was considered a crime in West Germany for much of the Cold War.

South, West and East Germany

As you can see, South, West and East Germany had their own flags after the Austro-Prussian War in the 19th century. The black, red and gold flag was flown in the Prussian tradition in the North and ensured that there was a clear distinction between the flag’s present-day colour scheme.

The union then began using a flag that combined the three colors of the regions.

The largest and smallest territories used black and white as their colours, while the Hanseatic League’s colours were white and red. These colours combined to create the horizontal tricolour flag of black, white and red used in the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.

German Civil Flag

Many countries have their own variations of the national flag, and Germany is no exception. The German tricolor is used as both a civil flag and a civil ensign.

It is also commonly used by authorities to show their affiliation with the federal government.

German Government Flag

The German government flag was introduced in 1950. It is a defaced civil flag and features the Federal Shield with a black and gold overlay. The Federal Shield is a variant of the German coat of arms. You will notice that it has a rounded base while the standard coat of arms is actually pointed.

This flag can only be flown by the government. If it is used without permission, the offense is punishable by a fine.

Vertical military flag

Germany also flies horizontal flags on public buildings such as city halls. Therefore, it is not uncommon in Germany to see two flags raised at the same time. Most of these flags are the vertical flag design, which was established in 1996.

A federal agency, the Bundesdienstflagge of the German armed forces, also uses the German war flag on land.

Hang the German flag

In Germany, you will find that there are many different uses when it comes to the public use of their flag and national symbols. The government mainly uses the German flag on special occasions. It can also be used publicly at sporting events.

Flag days are reserved for election time and other state specific flag days may exist in other states. When flying flags in Germany on flag days, you will see that they are flown at half mast and no vertical flags are lowered.

So what does the German flag mean?

The three bands of the flag, yellow, red, and black, represent their national colors. These national colors originated from the republican democracy proposed in the mid-1800s. Under this democracy, the colors symbolized German unity and freedom for Germany. During the Weimar Republic, the colors represented the centrist, democratic, and republican parties.