The Flag of the German Empire, or Imperial Flag, Realm Flag, (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Reichsflagge)'' is a combination between the flag of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

and the flag of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

. The flag was first used as the flag of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

which was formed in 1867. Later, during the Franco-Prussian War, the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

was founded (i.e., the South German states joined the Confederation).

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

would continue using it until the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 The German Revolution or November Revolution (german: Novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a dem ...

, which resulted in the founding of the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Republic did not use it as a

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

though it did see use within the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

. Immediately after the electoral victory of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in March 1933, German President

Paul von Hindenburg Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...

reinstated the flag by decree as the co-official

flag of Germany The national flag of Germany is a tricolour (flag), tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: Sable (heraldry), black, Gules, red, and Or (heraldry), gold (german: :de:Schwarz-Rot-Gold, Sc ...

. In 1935, a year after Hindenburg's death, the Imperial Flag was banned from use as the national flag in favour of the black-red-white swastika flag. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, German exiles in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

adopted it as their new flag for a free German state. Due to this, after World War II, it was proposed that East Germany adopted the Imperial Flag as their

Due to the ban on Nazi swastika flag in modern Germany, many German Neo-Nazis instead adopted the Imperial Flag. However, the flag never originally had any racist or anti-Semitic meaning, despite its brief use in Nazi Germany. The flag is almost graphically identical to the modern flag of the Republic of Yemen, albeit with the colours reversed and a different shade of red. The

flag of Upper Volta The national flag of Burkina Faso (french: drapeau du Burkina Faso) is formed by two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and green, with a yellow five-pointed star resting in the center. The flag was adopted on 4 August 1984. The flag uses the ...

, used in 1958–1984, had the same colour arrangement but with a slightly different shade of red. File:War Ensign of Germany (1867–1892).svg, War Ensign of Germany (1867–1892) File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg, Flag of the Imperial Colonial Office (1907–1919) File:War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933).svg, War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933) File:Flag of Germany (1933–1935).svg, Flag of Germany (1933–1935)

Groups that use the Imperial flag

Historical

National Committee for a Free Germany The National Committee for a Free Germany (german: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was a German anti-Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Union during World War II.The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occ ...

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...

German Party (1947) The German Party (german: Deutsche Partei, DP) was a National conservatism, national-conservative List of historical political parties in Germany, political party in West Germany active during the post-World War II, war years. The party's ideology ...

* German Empire Party *

Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany The Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany (German: ''Antifaschistische Komitee Freies Deutschland'', or AKFD) was an organization of former Wehrmacht soldiers modeled after the National Committee for a Free Germany. The organization was formed ...

Modern day

National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Party ...

Reichsbürger movement ("''Reich'' Citizens' Movement") or ("''Reich'' Citizen(s)", the German word is the same in singular and in plural) is a label for several anticonstitutional/ revisionist groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitima ...

References

{{German flags

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

North German Confederation German Empire

Nazi symbolism Neo-Nazism in Germany

Groups that use the Imperial flag

Historical

Modern day

See also

References