Flag of the German Empire
Locally Deutsches Kaiserreich
What the flag looks like
Three equal horizontal stripes of black, white and red.
What it means
Black and white were the colors of Prussia, and red and white those of the Hanseatic trading cities.
How to remember it
The Kaiser's Germany
was black, white, red from the top; turn it upside down and you get Yemen
, and today's Germany swapped to black, red, gold.
Fun facts
- The tricolor was first adopted by the North German Confederation in 1867 and kept when the empire was founded in 1871.
- The Nazi regime brought back the black-white-red tricolor in 1933, flying it alongside the swastika flag until 1935.
German Empire at a glance
- Existed
- 1871–1918
- Flag used
- 1871–1918
- Today
- Germany, with parts now in Poland and other neighbours
- Capital
- Berlin
- Region
- 1871–1918
- Languages
- German
- Currency
- German mark
- Flag adopted
- 1867
Flags often confused with the German Empire
- Yemen: The German Empire and Yemen both use plain horizontal stripes of black, white and red. The German Empire has black on top; Yemen is the other way up, with red on top.
- Germany: Germany and the German Empire are both horizontal tricolors with black on top. The German Empire runs black, white, red; Germany today runs black, red, gold.
- Russian Empire: The German and Russian empires both used horizontal tricolors with black on top. Germany's went black, white, red; Russia's went black, gold, white.