Flag of France

The flag of France () is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour ().
The royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis (the Royal Arms of France) on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the city's traditional colours. According to French general Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, white was the "ancient French colour" and was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national, cockade.Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Lafayette (marquis de), Memoirs, correspondence and manuscripts of General Lafayette, vol. 2, p. 252. This cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, adopted in 1790. The only difference was that the 1790 flag's colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794. The royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830; the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830.
==Design==
The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which replaced a darker version of the flag. It has been in used from 1974 to 1981. The French constitution of 1946 mention in its article 2 that "the national emblem is the tricolour flag, blue, white, red, with three vertical stripes of equal dimensions." Nowadays, the darker blue is in use on national monuments, military buildings as well as for ships. Some diplomatic services abroad still use the light blue (reflex blue) version of the flag.
Flag colour scheme
Scheme 	Blue 	White 	Red
Pantone	Reflex blue 	Safe 	Red 032
CMYK 	100.92.43.52	0.0.0.0 	0.73.78.6
RGB 	(5,20,64) 	(255,255,255)	(239,65,53)
HEX 	#051440 	#FFFFFF 	#EF4135
NCS 	S 2565 R80B 	base colour 	S 0580 Y80R
Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height (i.e. in the proportion 2:3) and, except in the French navy, has stripes of equal width. Initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30 (blue), 33 (white) and 37 (red). Under Napoleon I, the proportions were changed to make the stripes' width equal, but by a regulation dated 17 May 1853, the navy went back to using the 30:33:37 proportions, which it now continues to use, as the flapping of the flag makes portions farther from the halyard seem smaller.
==Symbolism==
Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, used on the city's coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Saint Denis. At the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red cockades on their hats. White had long featured prominently on French flags and is described as the "ancient French colour" by Lafayette. White was added to the "revolutionary" colours of the militia cockade to "nationalise" the design, thus creating the tricolour cockade. Although Lafayette identified the white stripe with the nation, other accounts identify it with the monarchy. Lafayette denied that the flag contains any reference to the red-and-white livery of the Duc d'Orléans. Despite this, Orléanists adopted the tricolour as their own.
Blue and red are associated with the Virgin Mary, the patroness of France, and were the colours of the oriflamme. The colours of the French flag may also represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime (the clergy: white, the nobility: red and the bourgeoisie: blue). Blue, as the symbol of class, comes first and red, representing the nobility, comes last. Both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order.
Lafayette's tricolour cockade was adopted in July 1789, a moment of national unity that soon faded. Royalists began wearing white cockades and flying white flags, while the Jacobins, and later the Socialists, flew the red flag. The tricolour, which combines royalist white with republican red, came to be seen as a symbol of moderation and of a nationalism that transcended factionalism.
The French government website states that the white field was the colour of the king, while blue and red were the colours of Paris.
The three colours are occasionally taken to represent the three elements of the revolutionary motto, liberté (freedom: blue), égalité (equality: white), fraternité (brotherhood: red); this symbolism was referenced in Krzysztof Kieślowski's three colours film trilogy, for example.
In the aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks, many famous landmarks and stadiums were illuminated in the flag colours to honour the victims.
==History==
===Kingdom of France===
During the early Middle Ages, the oriflamme, the flag of Saint Denis, was used—red, with two, three, or five spikes. Originally, it was the royal banner under the Capetians. It was stored in Saint-Denis abbey, where it was taken when war broke out. French kings went forth into battle preceded either by Saint Martin's red cape, which was supposed to protect the monarch, or by the red banner of Saint Denis.
Later during the Middle Ages, these colours came to be associated with the reigning house of France. In 1328, the coat-of-arms of the House of Valois was blue with gold fleurs-de-lis bordered in red. From this time on, the kings of France were represented in vignettes and manuscripts wearing a red gown under a blue coat decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis.
During the Hundred Years' War, England was recognised by a red cross, Burgundy, a red saltire, and France, a white cross. This cross could figure either on a blue or a red field. The blue field eventually became the common standard for French armies. The French regiments were later assigned the white cross as standard, with their proper colours in the cantons.
The French flag of a white cross on a blue field is still seen on some flags derived from it, such as those of Quebec and Martinique.
The flag of Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years' War is described in her own words, "I had a banner of which the field was sprinkled with lilies; the world was painted there, with an angel at each side; it was white of the white cloth called 'boccassin'; there was written above it, I believe, 'JHESUS MARIA'; it was fringed with silk.".Whitney Smith, Flags through the ages and across the world, McGraw-Hill, England, 1975 , pp. 66-67, The Standard of Joan of Arc,after quoting her from her trial transcript he states: "it was her influence which determined that white should serve as the principal French national colour from shortly after her death in 1431 until the French Revolution almost 350 years later." Joan's standard led to the prominent use of white on later French flags.
From the accession of the Bourbons to the throne of France, the green ensign of the navy became a plain white flag, the symbol of purity and royal authority. The merchant navy was assigned "the old flag of the nation of France", the white cross on a blue field.
*"...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis..." .
*On the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)" .
*"The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour".
File:Oriflamme.svg|The Oriflamme, the banner of the Capetians
File:France Ancient Arms.svg|"France ancien", the early coat of arms of the French kings appeared circa 1211
File:Flag of France (XII-XIII).svg|Banner of the Kingdom of France during 12th to 13th century
File:France moderne.svg|"France moderne", a simplified coat of arms adopted in 1376
File:Pavillon royal de la France.svg|Blue Capetian flag was still used during the French Renaissance. It is now the flag of present-day Île-de-France. 
File:Pavillon royal de France.svg|Standard of the French royal family prior to 1789 and from 1815 to 1830.
File:Flag of the Kingdom of France (1814-1830).svg|Flag of the Kingdom of France from 1814 to 1830 (Bourbon Restoration) also naval ensign prior to 1789 and then from 1814-1830
File:Royal Standard of the King of France.svg|After the end of the French Wars of Religion (1598), the white Bourbon flag was commonly used.
File:Naval Flag of the Kingdom of France (Civil Ensign).svg|Naval Flag of the Kingdom of France.
File:Royal Standard of King Louis XIV.svg|Flag of New France.
File:Flag of Royalist France.svg|One of the flags used by Royalists during the French Revolution.
File:Flag of France (1790-1794).svg|Flag used by the Kingdom of France and the First French Republic from 1790 to 1794.
===The Tricolore===
The tricolour flag is derived from the cockades used during the French Revolution. These were circular rosette-like emblems attached to the hat. Camille Desmoulins asked his followers to wear green cockades on 12 July 1789. The Paris militia, formed on 13 July, adopted a blue and red cockade. Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, and they are used on the city's coat of arms. Cockades with various colour schemes were used during the storming of the Bastille on 14 July.Crowdy, Terry, French Revolutionary Infantry 1789–1802, p. 42 (2004). The blue and red cockade was presented to King Louis XVI at the Hôtel de Ville on 17 July. Lafayette argued for the addition of a white stripe to "nationalise" the design. On 27 July, a tricolour cockade was adopted as part of the uniform of the National Guard, the national police force that succeeded the militia.Clifford, Dale, "Can the Uniform Make the Citizen? Paris, 1789-1791," Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2001, p. 369.
A drapeau tricolore with vertical red, white and blue stripes was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 24 October 1790. Simplified designs were used to illustrate how the revolution had broken with the past. The order was reversed to blue-white-red, the current design, by a resolution passed on 15 February 1794. Despite its official status, the tricolore was rarely used during the revolution. Instead, the red flag of the Jacobin Club, symbolizing defiance and national emergency, was flown. The tricolore was restored to prominence under Napoleon.
When the Bourbon dynasty was restored following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the tricolore—with its revolutionary connotations—was replaced by a white flag, the pre-revolutionary naval flag. However, following the July Revolution of 1830, the "citizen-king", Louis-Philippe, restored the tricolore, and it has remained France's national flag since that time.
On 25 February 1848 Lamartine, during the Revolution of 1848, said about the Tricoloured Flag :"I spoke as a citizen earlier, Now listen to me, your Foreign Minister. If I remove the tricolor, know it, you will remove me half the external force of France! Because Europe knows the flag of his defeats and of our victories in the flag of the Republic and of the Empire. By seeing the red flag, they'll see the flag of a party! This is the flag of France, it is the flag of our victorious armies, it is the flag of our triumphs that must be addressed before Europe. France and the tricolor is the same thought, the same prestige, even terror, if necessary, for our enemies! Consider how much blood you would have to make for another flag fame!
Citizens, for me, the red flag, I am not adopting it, and I'll tell you why I'm against with all the strength of my patriotism. It's that the tricolor has toured the world with the Republic and the Empire with your freedoms and your glory, and the red flag was that around the Champ-de-Mars, dragged into the people's blood".Alphonse de Lamartine, Trois mois au pouvoir, Paris, Michel Lévy, 1848.
Following the overthrow of Napoleon III, voters elected a royalist majority to the National Assembly of the new Third Republic. This parliament then offered the throne to the Bourbon pretender, Henri, comte de Chambord. However, he insisted that he would accept the throne only on the condition that the tricolour be replaced by the white flag. As the tricolour had become a cherished national symbol, this demand proved impossible to accommodate. Plans to restore the monarchy were adjourned and ultimately dropped, and France has remained a republic, with the tricolour flag, ever since.
The Vichy régime, which dropped the word "republic" in favour of "the French state", maintained the use of the tricolore, but Philippe Pétain used as his personal standard a version of the flag with, in the white stripe, an axe made with a star-studded marshal's baton. This axe is called the "Francisque" in reference to the ancient Frankish throwing axe. During this same period, the Free French Forces used a tricolore with, in the white stripe, a red Cross of Lorraine.
The constitutions of 1946 and 1958 instituted the "blue, white, and red" flag as the national emblem of the Republic.
File:Flag of Paris.svg|Flag of Paris, source of the tricolour's blue and red stripes.
File:The french tricolor cockade.svg|The tricolour cockade, created in July 1789. White was added to "nationalise" an earlier blue and red design.
File:Flag of France.svg|The flag of France since 1794 (interruption 1815–30).
File:Flag of the Constitutional Kingdom of France (Proposed).svg|The French tricolore with the royal crown and fleur-de-lys was possibly designed by the Count of Chambord in his younger years as a compromiseLa France du Renouveau - Bourbon Royalist design.Whitney Smith. Flags through the ages and cross the world. McGraw-Hill Book Company. 1975. p. 75.
File:French-roundel.svg|From 1912 onwards to today, the French Air Force originated the use of roundels on military aircraft shortly before World War I. Similar national cockades, with different ordering of colours, were later adopted as aircraft roundels by their allies.Royal Air Force Museum 
File:VichyFlag.svg|Personal standard of Philippe Pétain, as Chief of the French State.
File:Flag of Free France (1940-1944).svg|Flag used by the Free French Forces during World War II; in the centre is the Cross of Lorraine; later, the personal standard of President Charles de Gaulle.
==Regimental flags==
File:Vigiles du roi Charles VII 32.jpg|The French soldiers started to use white crosses, during the Hundred Years' War, to distinguish themselves from the English soldiers wearing red crosses (battle of Formigny).
File:Rég d Auvergne 1635.png|A white-crossed regimental flag during the (here, ).
File:Rég de La Sarre 1685.png| Regiment ()
Rég du Roi 1757.png|King's Regiment ()
Rég de La Reine 1661.png|Queen's Regiment ()
File:Flag of Levis.svg|General 's Regiment Flag in North America. Now official flag of the city of Lévis, Quebec
File:Franche de la Marine1.jpg|The pre-revolutionary regimental flags inspired the flag of Quebec (here, the ).
File:Grenadier Pied 1 1812 Revers.png|Regimental flag of the 1st Regiment of Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard (1812).
File:Drapeaux 1RE et 2REI Paris 2003.jpg|Current regimental flags of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the French Foreign Legion
==Naval flags==
==Colonial flags==
Most French colonies either used the regular tricolour or a regional flag without the French flag. There were some exceptions:
File:Flag of Colonial Annam.svg|Flag of Annam, French Indochina
File:Flag of French Laos.svg|Flag of Laos, French Indochina
File:Flag of Togo (1957-1958).svg|Flag of the Autonomous Republic of Togo (1957–1958)
File:Flag of Gabon 1959-1960.svg|Flag of Gabon (1959–1960)
File:Flag of French Tunisia.svg|Flag used by some military units based in the French protectorate of Tunisia
File:Flag of the French Mandate of Syria (1920).svg|Flag of the French Mandate of Syria in 1920
File:Flag of Syria French mandate.svg|Flag of the French Mandate of Syria
File:Latakiya-sanjak-Alawite-state-French-colonial-flag.svg|Flag of the State of Alawites, later Sanjak of Latakia, in the French Mandate of Syria
File:Flag of the State of Aleppo.svg|Flag of the State of Aleppo, in the French Mandate of Syria
File:Flag of the State of Damascus.svg|Flag of the State of Damascus, in the French Mandate of Syria
File:Flag of Jabal ad-Druze (state).svg|Flag of Jabal ad-Druze, in the French Mandate of Syria
File:Flag of the Madagascar Protectorate (1885-1896).svg|Flag of Madagascar under French protection (1885–1895)
File:Civil ensign of French Morocco.svg|Merchant flag of the French protectorate of Morocco (1912–1956)
File:Flag of the Republic of Independent Guyana (1886-1887).svg|Flag of Republic of Independent Guyana (1886–1887)
File:Flag of Franceville.svg|Flag of New Hebrides (Vanuatu) under the Anglo-French Joint Naval Commission (1887–1906)
File:Flag of the Society Islands Protectorate.svg|Flag of French Polynesia under the Protectorate of France (1845–1880)
File:Flag of Lebanon during French Mandate (1920-1943).svg|Flag of the State of Greater Lebanon during the French mandate 1920–1943
File:Flag of Tay Dam.png|Flag of the Sip Song Chau Tai, French Indochina (1948-1955)
File:Drapeau du Royaume de Uvéa (1860-1886).png|Flag of the French Protectorate of Wallis and Futuna (Uvea) (1860–1886)
File:Flag of French Sudan.svg|Flag of French Sudan (1958–1959)
File:Drapeau Protectorat Français RuRutu (1858-1889).png|Flag of the French protectorate of Rurutu in French Polynesia (1858–1889)
File:Flag of French Governor in French Colony.svg|Flag of French Governor
==Other==
Many provinces and territories in Canada have French-speaking communities with flags representing their communities:
File:Flag of Acadia.svg|The Acadian flag used in Canada is based on the tricolour flag of France, but this flag was never used during French rule of Acadia. It was adopted in 1884, for more see Flag of Acadia. Acadians live mainly in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia
File:Flag of Quebec.svg|The current Flag of Quebec. The use of blue and white is characteristic of pre-revolutionary flags
File:Flag of the Franco Albertains.svg|Flag of Franco-Albertans
File:Franco-Terreneuviens.svg|The flag of Franco-Newfoundlanders
File:Flag of the Franco-Manitobains.svg|Flag of Franco-Manitobains
File:Franco-Ontarian flag.svg|The Franco-Ontarian flag used by Francophone Ontario since 1975 and officially recognised in 2001
File:Bandera dels Fransaskois.svg|Flag of Fransaskois or French speaking Saskatchewans
File:Flag of the Franco-Yukonnais.svg|Flag of Franco-Yukonnais
File:Flag of the FrancoTenois.svg|Flag of Franco-Ténois
File:Flag of the Franco-Colombiens.svg|Flag of Franco-Columbian
File:Flag of the Franco-Nunavois.png|Flag of Franco-Nunavois 
Many areas in the United States have substantial French-speaking and ancestral communities:
File:Flag of Acadiana.svg|Flag of Acadiana
File:Drapeau Franco-Américain.svg|Flag of United Franco-Americans
File:Drapeau français-américain.svg|Flag of New England Franco-Americans
File:Drapeau_de_l'Acadie_occidentale.svg|Flag of Aroostook county Franco-Americans
File:Drapeau_de_la_Louisiane_septentrionale.svg|Flag of Mid-West Franco-Americans
File:Flag of New Orleans, Louisiana.svg|Flag of New Orleans, Louisiana
Although part of France, the flag of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon does not incorporate the current national flag. The island's flag is based on the historic regional emblems of France. This flag lacks official status.
File:Flag of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.svg|Flag of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
==See also==
* List of French flags
* Flags of the regions of France
* National emblem of France
==Notes==
==References==
*
*
*
==Further reading==
* Flags Through the Ages and Across the World, Smith, Whitney, McGraw-Hill Book Co. Ltd, England, 1975. .
==External links==
* 
Category:National symbols of France
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