Flag of the German Empire

The flag was first proposed and adopted under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck, where it would be used as the flag of the North German Confederation which was formed in 1867.[1] During the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire was founded (i.e., the South German states joined the Confederation). Germany would continue using it until the German Revolution of 1918–1919, which resulted in the founding of the Weimar Republic.[2]

The German People's party flying the Reichsflagge, campaigning for the Reichstag election of December 1924.

The Weimar Republic did not use it as a national flag though it did see use within the Reichswehr and by many paramilitary organizations including the Freikorps.[3] It would see usage by right-wing conservative and liberal political parties, including the German National People's Party and the German People's Party. Immediately after the electoral victory of the Nazi Party in March 1933, German President Paul von Hindenburg reinstated the flag by decree as the co-official flag of Germany.[4] 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.[5]

During World War II, German exiles in the Soviet Union called the National Committee for a Free Germany adopted it as their new flag for a free German state. Many members of this organization would play a role in the Soviet occupation and organization of the East German government. Due to this, after World War II, it was proposed that East Germany adopted the Imperial Flag as their national flag.[6][7]

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.[8]

The flag is almost graphically identical to the modern flag of the Republic of Yemen, albeit with the colours reversed upside down and a different shade of red. The flag of Upper Volta, used in 1958–1984, had the same colour arrangement but with a slightly different shade of red.

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  War Ensign of Germany (1867–1892)
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  War Ensign of Germany (1903–1919)
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  War Ensign of Germany (1903–1919) - Variant
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  Flag of the Imperial Colonial Office (1907–1919)
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  War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933)
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  Service flag of the Reich authorities at sea (1921–1926)
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  Flag of Germany (1933–1935)
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  Service Flag of the Reich (1933–1935)
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  Jack of North German Confederation and German Empire (1866–1903)

• German Reich
• State of the Teutonic Order
• German conservatism
• Freikorps