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Austria

by mark sensen.

Coat of arms

by zeljko heimer 18-NOV-1995

The red white red flag with the coat of arms is used as the Government flag and by the army.
zeljko heimer 18-NOV-1995

Whilst the eagle may have derived from the the Habsburgs, it wasn't a Habsburg eagle. The Habsburg eagle had two heads, an imperial crown, and a sword and orb in its talons.
The crown on the Austrian eagle's head is a civic crown - it looks like battlements, and stands for the burghers of Austria, as the hammer and sickle in its talons stand for artisans and farmers. These arms, which were adopted in 1918, also include a shield on the eagle's breast bearing the arms of the House of Babenberg. [The red-white-red arms of Babenberg, which also give the Austrian flag, are traditionally said to derive from the blood-stained tunic of Duke Leopold after the Battle of Ptolemais in 1191, the white stripe was the bit of the tunic covered by his belt!]
The broken shackles were added to the Austrian eagle's legs in 1945, and refer specifically to the liberation from the Nazis.
paul adams 28-JUL-1995

The flag was not used after the Anschluß, or the unification with Nazi Germany in 1938, but was restored with independence in 1945. steven shea 26-APR-1996