Germany

The flag of Germany is a tricolor consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colors of Germany: black, red and gold.

     The Black tricolor first appeared in the early nineteenth century and achieved prominence during the revolution of 1848. The brief Frankfurt Parliament of 1848-50 proposed the tricolor as a flag for a united and democratic German state. With the formation of the Weimar Republic after World War I, the tricolor was adopted as the national flag of Germany. Following World War II, the tricolor was designated as the flag of both West and East Germany. The two flags were identical until 1959, when socialist symbols were added to the flag of East Germany. Since reunification on October 3, 1990, the tricolor black-red-gold remained the flag of Germany.