The Flag of Germany

Author's Note: I wrote this piece as a slight introductory research piece to start up my project for the history of Germany. I thought it would help me learn and understand the things that I am planning on learning in the project, just to give me a little head start. In this piece I am focusing on content and my conclusion.

The flag of Germany is a tricolor (weird name, I know) consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colors of Germany: black, red, and gold.

The black-red-gold "tricolor" first appeared in the early 19th century and achieved importance during the 1848 Revolutions. The short-lived Frankfurt Parliament of 1848–1850 proposed the tricolor as a flag for a united and democratic German state. Since the changing of flags on October 3, 1990, the black-red-gold tricolor has remained the flag of Germany.

The Modern and Current Flag of Germany

The flag of Germany has not always used black, red, and gold as its colors. In 1866, the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation adopted a tricolor of black-white-red as its flag.  Black, white, and red were reintroduced as the German national colors with the establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933.

The color schemes of black-red-yellow and black-white-red have played an important role in the history of Germany and have had various meanings. The colors of the modern flag are associated with the republican democracy formed after World War II, and represent German unity and freedom: not only the freedom of Germany, but also the personal freedom of the German people.