Germany has had many flags in history. One of the first widely recognizable German flags came from the Holy Roman Empire, a confederation of mostly German-speaking states from 800-1806. The most common flag used by the Holy Roman Empire contained a black German double-headed eagle in a yellow field with red talons. This made many future German flags adopt the black, red, and yellow colors. These colors were changed for the German Empire — which exchanged the yellow for white — and the Nazi flag, which continued using the colors of the German Empire. The black, red, and yellow color scheme returned after World War II to create the modern German flag.
The symbols of the Holy Roman Empire were deeply influential to later German symbols, including the Reichsadler seen here with Emperor Maximilian in 1515.
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Old German Flag
For much of history, there was no single flag that represented Germany. This is because the country was not a united nation until 1871. As a result, many national symbols were adopted from regional organizations that held influence over Germany. The Holy Roman Empire was so influential that its symbol of an imperial eagle, known as the Reichsadler, was adopted by many. This symbol was so popular that when the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, Emperor Frederick II changed the Austrian flag to include the yellow and black colors of the Reichsadler. An eagle has also featured prominently on other German flags, including that of Prussia, the German Confederation, and some variations of the modern German flag.
After the Holy Roman Empire was abolished, many German states sought to create another organization to promote cooperation and independence between the smaller German states. The German Confederation was created in response as a military alliance to protect the divided German states from outside influence. While the Confederation did not have a flag as it was not a state, it did operate a unified navy known as the Reichsflotte that used an ensign when sailing. The flag used by the Reichsflotte included an imperial eagle and a horizontal tricolor designed in 1848. This flag was highly important as it was one of the first times a flag was designed to represent Germans from several different states with universal symbolism.
One of the first widely used German flags was the flag of the Reichsflotte, the united fleet of the German Confederation.
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The Frankfurt Parliament Flag
In 1848, there were massive protests and revolutions in almost every country in Europe known as the Springtime of Nations. These revolutions had a deep impact on Germany as they saw the creation of the Frankfurt Parliament, a group that wished to make liberal reforms in German states. It was at this parliament that the modern German flag was developed as a black, red, and yellow horizontal tricolor. This iteration of the flag was not widely adopted as the revolution was put down, but the flag remained in the public consciousness for many years to come.
Flag of the German Empire
Starting shortly after the Springtime of Nations, the Kingdom of Prussia began looking to unite Germany behind its leadership. It did this through a series of unification wars in 1864, 1866, and 1870. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Germany was officially unified into the German Empire in 1871. The flag adopted by the German Empire borrowed the black and red colors from the Frankfurt Parliament, but it used white from the flag of Prussia instead of yellow. This flag became a widely recognizable symbol in German culture for the German monarchy, militarism, and nationalism present during World War I.
The flag of the German Empire had different colors than the 1848 design, but it was still a horizontal tricolor pattern.
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Flag of the Weimar Republic
After Germany's defeat in World War I and the abdication of the monarch, Germany was forced to adopt a democratic government. This resulted in the creation of what is now known as the Weimar Republic, named after the city that hosted the constitutional convention. During the drafting of the new constitution, the German Republic officially adopted the 1848 Frankfurt Parliament tricolor as its state flag. This act is largely the reason why many Germans associate the flag with democracy and why the flag was adopted again as the modern German flag.
The Third Reich Flag
The changes made by the Weimar Republic were mostly reversed by the Nazi Party when they took charge of the country in 1933. The Nazis originally changed the flag back to the black, white, and red flag of the German Empire before adopting their party flag as the official flag of the state in 1935. The Nazi flag used the same colors as the flag of the German Empire but abandoned the tricolor design for a flag with a red field charged with a black swastika in a white disc. The Nazi party also adapted the Reichsadler to make the wings straight and thin, with the eagle holding a swastika with its talons. This along with other Nazi propaganda made the swastika a new national symbol for Germany; it has since been outlawed due to its association with hate and violence.
Post-World War II German Flags
After Germany's defeat in World War II, the nation was divided and occupied by the victorious allied powers, including the Soviet Union, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each of these four occupation zones followed the laws set by their occupiers and as such meant that Germany lacked a central government from 1946-1949. During this time, international law required all ships to display a naval ensign for identification purposes, but due to the process of Denazification, there was no German flag. In response, the Allies decided that German vessels would fly the so-called C-Pennant to identify themselves as German ships. This flag comes from the international maritime code for the letter C, so it was a readily available and recognizable symbol for maritime use.
After World War II, Germany was occupied and had no national flag other than this C-Pennant used by German merchant ships.
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The West German Flag
In 1948, the Western allies began considering unifying their occupation zones into a sovereign German state as a potential ally in the Cold War. That being said, they had several designs they considered for a new national flag that had less history and negative connotation. After several rejected alternative designs, it was agreed in 1949 that the new West Germany would reuse the old Frankfurt Parliament flag. This flag was picked as it represented German democracy and was one of the first symbols to widely represent all Germans.
While a flag was adopted as the state flag of Germany, there were two Germanys that both adopted the same flag. In the west, the Federal Republic of Germany, which was capitalist, kept the black, red, and yellow tricolor, while the Communist German Democratic Republic in the east added their state emblem to the flag in 1959. This means that two different countries, East and West Germany, had the same flag from 1949-1959. After the two unified in 1990, the West German tricolor was adopted as the state flag of a reunified Germany.
