The Federal Republic of Germany

The Black Tricolour

The Black tricolour of Germany finally made an appearance in the 19th Century, and came to prominence during the 1848 Revolutions. These revolutions where loosely organised and spread around Germany. They where seen as a protest against the autocratic nature of the various German states, calling for greater freedoms, and declaring a feeling of pan-Germanic brotherhood.

In 1848, under the Frankfurt Parliament, a new united Germany was created, and the black/red/yellow tricolour was adopted as the new federations flag. The war ensign used the tricolour, and placed the Germanic black on yellow eagle in the upper hoist canton.

This new Germany collapsed under all sorts of internal strife, and led to the restoration of the German Confederation in 1850, under the presidency of the Austrian Empire. The tricolour was thus suppressed. 

The tricolour re-emerged once more as part of the debate over the creation of a "Greater Germany" including Austrian lands, or a "Lesser Germany" which would be created out of Germanic only lands. During the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, the southern German states who allied with Austria and took the tricolour as their colours in battle.

However, it was Prussia and its allies that won, and paved the way for the creation of a "Lesser Germany." In 1867, the German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia led the way in forming a new North German German Federation. The naval interests in the new federation led the way in asking for new united colours which they could use internationally. Virtually all shipping belonged to Prussia, or to the former Hanseatic city-states. Based on this, it was decided to create a merged flag of Prussian colours (black and white) and Hanseatic colours (red and white). The resulting tricolour has 3 bars, black, white, and red.

Following the Franco-Prussian war, the southern German states unified with the North German Confederation. This completed the unification of Germany, and the elevation of the King of Prussia to Emperor of the new German Empire. The German Empire adopted the black/white/red tricolour as its flag, which it maintained until the end of WWI.

After WWI, the Weimar republic needed a new flag, and decided to bring back the black/red/yellow tricolour as a sign of the republic, and a break from Germany's monarchistic past. However, the Imperial tricolour was kept with the new tricolour in the upper hoist canton as a civil ensign.

With the collapse of the Wiemar Republic in 1933, and the birth of the new Nazi Germany, Hitler swiftly moved to scrap the black/red/yellow tricolour, and replaced them with the old imperial tricolour, as well as the Nazi party flag.

However, in 1935, with Adolf Hitler taking the title of Fuhrer, the old imperial tricolour was dropped. It being an "honoured relic of the past." This left the Nazi Swastika flag as the only official flag of Germany. The Swastika was chosen to represent the first Aryan race from India, a symbol of the creation of a new pure people. It is worth noting that the Swastika you see in Buddhist temples usually faces left, whilst the Nazi Swastika, after 1920, usually faced right. Adolf Hitler opted to use red, white, and black as the colours for the flag by using the old imperial colours. Whilst the flag was seen as archaic, the colours where in homage to Germany's glorious past. Also, Hitler said in Mein Kampf that the red stands for the socialistic idea, white the nationalist idea, and the swastika represents the struggle for victory by the Aryan man.

After the war, the first act by the Allied Command was to ban the use of all related Nazi imagery. Leaving Germany without a flag. However, they needed a flag as a single, clear image for German shipping, so chose to use the international signal flag for the letter C.

After the war, with relations between the west and the Soviet Union deteriorating, the western Allies opted to unify their zones of control into what would become West Germany, whilst the Soviet zone would go on to become East Germany. 

The proposed constitution of East Germany introduced the black/red/yellow tricolour as the new flag for East Germany. In West Germany, this spurred debate on the creation of a new flag. The conservative parties where against the re-introduction of the old Weimar tricolour, and pushed a new flag. Using the colours from the tricolour, it rearranged them into a Scandinavian Cross.

However, the old Weimar Republic tricolour won the day, and under the new constitution of 1949, the tricolour was formally adopted. Also, they created a new state flag, with the tricolour being defaced with a modified version of the coat of arms slightly shifted towards the hoist of the flag. Though its use was limited to state buildings only.

There was now two separate German states, both using the same flag. In 1959, however, East Germany opted to differentiate their flag from the West, with the addition of their national symbol. A hammer and compass combination surrounded by wheat.

However, with the ending of the Cold War, and Germany's reunification, the state opted to continue with the flag of West Germany, and its popularity exploded during the 2006 World Cup, when finally the Germans lost their apprehension over waving their flag.