Everything about Flag Of France totally explained
The national flag of France (known in French as drapeau tricolore, drapeau bleu-blanc-rouge, drapeau français, never, le tricolore and, in military parlance, les couleurs) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red.
It is known to English speakers as the French tricolour or the tricolour.
Design
The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which replaced a darker version of the flag, are
Blue
| White |
Red |
| Pantone |
Reflex Blue |
Safe |
Red 032 |
| CMYK |
100.70.0.5 |
0.0.0.0 |
0.90.86.0 |
| RGB |
(0,85,164) |
(255,255,255) |
(239,65,53) |
| HTML |
#0055A4 |
#FFFFFF |
#EF4135 |
| NCS |
S 2565 R80B |
N/A |
S 0580 Y80R |
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). The theory behind this was that if they were equal then the white stripe, being brighter, would appear disproportionately wider to the human eye. 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 continues to use.
Symbolism
The blue and red were the ancient colors of
Paris, to which the Commander of the Guard,
Lafayette, reputedly, added the royal white.
The exact meaning of the colors has been added after the fact. It is sometimes said that the colors of the French flag represent the three main
estates of the
Ancien Régime (the
clergy: white, the
nobility: red and the
bourgeoisie: blue). Blue, as the symbol of the bourgeois class, comes first within the colour enumeration and red, representing the nobility, comes last. Both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order.
History
Middle ages
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 personal flag of
Charlemagne, given to him by the Pope in the
ninth century. Over time, it became the royal banner under the
Carolingians and 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.
The three colours first appeared together tied as ribbons, on the pontifical banner that Pope Leo III offered to Emperor Charlemagne in 796, the blue being the colour of the Church, the white that of virgins, and the red homage paid to Christian martyrs.
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. It should be noted that, in liturgical symbolism, gold is the equivalent of white. Many other examples could be given of the association of the three colours—blue, white and red—with the French kings and their households.
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 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.".
From the white flag to the drapeau tricolore
From the accession of the Bourbons on the throne of France, the green ensign of the navy became a plain white flag, being the symbol of purity and of royal authority (this flag also became the
de facto national flag of the Kingdom of France). The merchant navy was assigned "
the old flag of the nation of France", the white cross on a blue field.
The drapeau tricolor became popular at the
Revolution, the blue and the red being the colours of
Paris with the white of France. The final design was adopted in 1794.
After the restoration of the
Bourbon monarchy following the defeat of
Napoleon in
1815, the Tricolour — with its revolutionary connotations — was replaced by the white flag which had been in use before the Revolution. However, following the
July Revolution of
1830, the new "Citizen-King,"
Louis-Philippe, restored the tricolour.
The tricolour remained the national flag under the
Second Republic and
Second Empire. 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'd accept the throne on the condition that the tricolour be replaced by the white flag. As the tricolour had become a cherished national symbol, this 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 tricolour but also used as a presidential standard a version of the tricolour defaced with a
fasces and stars. During this same period,
Free French Forces used a tricolour defaced with a red
Cross of Lorraine.
Image:Île-de-France flag.svg|The flag of medieval France, still used for present-day Île-de-France
Image:Naval Ensign of the Kingdom of France.svg|The drapeau blanc (white flag), the national flag and naval ensign of the Kingdom of France until 1789 and from 1814 to 1830
Image:Pavillon_royal_de_France.svg|Standard of the royal family of France commonly used as the State flag of France prior to the revolution in 1789.
Image:PavillonLouisXIV.svg|Standard of King Louis XIV said to be the national flag in the 18th century
Image:Sans-culotte.jpg|Early depiction of the tricolour in the hands of a sans-culotte during the French Revolution.
Image:Flag of France.svg|The flag of France since 1794 (interruption 1814/15-1830.
Image:VichyFlag.svg|Presidential standard of Vichy France.
Image:Flag_of_Free_France_1940-1944.svg|Flag used by the Free French Forces during World War II.
Further Information
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