TheFlag of France is made of three vertical lines in blue, white and red.
It has been established as the official symbol of the French Republic and the only French flag since 1794.
Current flag of France
Origin
The history of the French flag dates back to the French Revolution, which began in 1789. At the time, revolutionaries wore a tricolor circle (called cocarde). , in French) to indicate who was in favor of the fight.
This symbol became so popular that the Constituent Assembly, in 1790, decided that these colors would replace the old white flag of the monarchy.
From that moment on, all warships and merchants were supposed to fly it, just as the flag was supposed to be present in public buildings.
Meaning
The colors of the French flag represent:
White – the monarchy;
Blue and red – the colors of Paris.
In this way, the three colors arranged vertically would symbolize the bond of eternal union between the people and the monarchy.
They also represent the three mottos of the French Revolution:liberty, equality, fraternity (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ).
Another interpretation points out that blue indicates legislative power; the white, the executive; and red, the people.
History
In 1794, during the Convention period, the tricolor flag was adopted as the official flag.
Initially, the order of French flag colors was red, white and blue. Legend has it that it was the painter Jean-Louis David (1748-1825), official painter of Napoleon Bonaparte, who chose the order of current colors:blue must always appear next to the mast.
For a period, the tricolor flag was replaced by the old Bourbon flag which was entirely white.
The blue, white and red flag would be recovered, precisely, in the July Revolution (1830), when the insurgents placed it on the barricades while fighting against King Charles X.
However, even among Republicans, the flag was not unanimous.
On February 25, 1848, supporters of a socialist republic wanted to change the three colors, replacing it with an entirely red flag.
It was the poet Alphonse Lamartine (1790-1869) who convinced them that the tricolor pavilion, loaded with stories of struggle against tyranny and war, also represented them.
Read more:
- France
- French Revolution
- Constituent Assembly in the French Revolution
- Neoclassicism
Flag of France Today
The Constitutions of 1946 and 1958 (Article 2) consecrated the blue, white and red flag as the national emblem of the Republic.
It must be present in all public buildings such as schools, embassies, town halls and barracks. In addition, it is unfurled in official ceremonies, civil or military.
When the Chief Executive, the President of the French Republic, speaks in public, the French flag must always be behind him.
Also know about other flags :
- Flag of Brazil
- Argentina flag
- Canada Flag
- Flag of Paraguay
- Japan Flag
- American flag
- England Flag
- Flag of Portugal
- Flag of Spain
- Flag of Russia
- Flag of Chile