German Empire

Last modified: 1998-01-07 by rob raeside
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The merchant ensign is a black, white, red horizontal tricolor.


by Carsten Linke, 29-MAY-1996

The state ensign is white with a black cross with narrow white stripes near the edges (black cross on a white cross fimbriated black??). The cross is very slightly toward the hoist, much less than a Scandinavian cross. In the center is a white, black fimbriated circle with the imperial eagle on it. The canton is black white and red horizontally stripped with a black formy cross (Iron Cross) fimbrated white in the center (where the cross touches the white.

Nathan Augustine, 05-DEC-1995

This is the German imperial war flag of 1867-1918. Although this is really not a nazi flag, German neonazis use it, but I don't know why. They are surely no monarchists. Maybe because the design of the Third Reich's war flag based on it.

Pascal Vagnat, 29-MAY-1996

The schwarz-wei�-rot flag (black-white-red) German imperial flag Reichskriegsflagge) was adopted by the North-German Union in 1867, as a combination of the black-white of Prussia and the red- white of the Hanseatic League. In 1871 it was adopted as flag of commerce for the German Reich, and in 1892 promoted to national flag. The war flag (Kriegsflagge) from 1867 to 1921 was a white field, a black cross with in its middle a round escutcheon with the Prussian eagle, and the dexter chief quarter the black-white-red flag with an Iron Cross.

In 1919 the black-red-gold flag was adopted but as a compromise the black- white-red remained with a canton bearing the black-red-gold as commerce flag (and the war flag was the same plus an Iron Cross in the middle). The Nazis eliminated the red-black-gold in 1933 but continued to use the black-white-red (without the canton) as national and commerce flag until Sept. 15, 1935, when the more familiar Nazi flag was adopted uniformly (the war flag being a red field, black cross with swastika in the middle and Iron Cross in dexter chief.

So there is a connection between the black-white-red flag and the Nazis, since they re-introduced it as national flag in 1933.
Voslapp, 1997-12-11

War Ensign of German League

The war ensign of the German League (Deutscher Bund) was black-red-gold with a black eagle in a gold square in the canton (1848-1866). Without the canton it was the national flag and merchant ensign.(1848-1866).

Merchant Flag of North German League

The merchant flag of the North German League (Norddeutscher Bund) and of the German Reich was black-white-red (1867-1921). It was also the national flag (1892-1919).

War Ensign of North German League

The war ensign of these was white with a black cross (not centered) fimbriated white and black, with the Prussian eagle in a white disc fimbriated black in the centre, and a black-white-red flag with a black Iron Cross in the canton (1867-1921).

General State Flag

The general state flag of the German Reich was black-white-red with an Imperial Crown in a white disc in the middle (1892-1918).

Emperor's marine ensign

The ensign of the Emperor's marine (Kaiserliche Marine) was the same as the state flag, but with a crown and an anchor instead of just a crown (1892-1918).

The flags of German states were (generally horizontal stripes):

• Preussen: white-black
• Bayern: white-blue
• Sachsen (Kingdom): white-green
• Württemberg: black-dark red
• Baden: yellow-red-yellow
• Hessen: red-white
• Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz: blue-yellow-red
• Sachsen (Grand-Duchy): black-yellow-green
• Oldenburg: red St-George-Cross on blue
• Braunschweig: blue-yellow
• Sachsen-Meiningen and Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha: green-white
• Anhalt: red-green-white
• Reuss senior branch and junior branch
• Schaumburg-Lippe: white-red-blue
• Lippe: yellow-red
• Waldeck und Pyrmont: black-red-yellow
• Lubeck: white-red
• Bremen: four red and four white horizontal stripes, at the hoist checked in two rows
• Hamburg: white castle on red

• Brandenburg: red-white
• Hannover: yellow white
• Hessen-Nassau: red-white-blue
• Ostpreussen: black-white
• Pommern: blue-white
• Posten: white-schwarz-white
• Rheinland: green-white
• Sachsen: black-yellow
• Schlesien: white-yellow
• Schleswig-Holstein: blue-white-red
• Westfalen: white-red
• Westpreussen: black-white-black
• Hohenzollernsche Lande: white-black