The History of the Austrian Flag: From Nobility to Independence

Happy National Day to all Austrians who are celebrating on October 26, sixty-eight years of the country’s neutrality. A neutrality which stands out in a European Union with a NATO majority and in a continent plunged back into the horrors of war. THE National holidayancien Flag Day (Flag Day, in French) is a good opportunity to present the elegant Austrian tricolor red-white-red. Let’s look back together at the history of the Austrian flag.

When the coat of arms of a family becomes that of a territory

The red, white and red colors of the contemporary Austrian flag come from similar colors of the coat of arms of the Babenbergs, a noble family of southern Germany. The Babenbergs in fact had land in the territory which today includes southern Germany, eastern Switzerland and the Austrian Tyrol. The dynasty died out at the dawn of the 13th century. But if the lineage disappears, the prestigious coat of arms remains. They were in fact taken over by a house which was gaining influence in medieval Europe, the House of Habsburg.

The Habsburgs succeeded in uniting under their red-white-red coat of arms a set of territories which were united within the “ hereditary territories of the House of Habsburg », corresponding more or less to present-day Austria. The former territory of the Habsburgs was thus united with the provinces of Tyrol, Austria proper – that of the Babenbergs – and Styria. A domain which therefore becomes that of the Habsburgs, and which becomes one with the red-white-red coat of arms.

The yellow and black eclipse

With cannons, but above all with marriages and inheritances (“ others carry on the wars, you happy Austria in the cloud » [1]), the Habsburgs succeeded in making Austria a leading power on the European scene. The Archduchy, which very quickly became an Empire, thus brought together the territories of Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Hungary. The union of its territories by the empire therefore requires a flag. If the red-white-red tricolor represents the ruling family and the Austrian territories, it cannot represent all of the territories and subjects of the empire. A flag referring to the black eagle on a yellow background of the late Holy Roman Empire is therefore preferred. The two-tone black and yellow is preferred to the tricolor red-white-red.

The standard of the Habsburg Empire will not change. However, a small clarification should be made on the territories it represents. Indeed, in 1867, a compromise was signed between the Germans and the Hungarians of the Empire: the Austro-Hungarian compromise. The compromise allows the birth of the double monarchy, a two-headed state which makes Hungary an autonomous state with its parliament, its government, its administration, its laws and its flag. Thus, the two-tone black and yellow only represents the part administered by the Austrians, the so-called Cisleithane part.

The flag of Austria

Black and yellow remained the official flag of Austria until the fall of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918. In 1919, the dual monarchy was dismembered by the Treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Trianon, during Austro -Hungarian to the Treaty of Versailles. Austria then becomes, according to the terms of the treaties, an independent republic. The young republic quite naturally adopted the red-white-red tricolor as its flag. The latter represents in fact, the “ hereditary territories of the House of Habsburg » which correspond, as said, to Austria becoming a parliamentary republic.

The red-white-red tricolor has thus become exogenous to regimes and people. The flag, which has become that of Austria, symbolizes more a people, a territory – those of Austria – than a monarchy or a ruling family. This explains the perpetuity of the flag. The tricolor survives the establishment of the First Republic in 1919, the interwar dictatorships, the Nazi occupation in 1938, the occupation of the Allied forces, and finally the proclamation of the Second Republic, still in place.

Finally, if you come across an Austrian flag above a bridge on a walk, don’t be surprised. This is not the Alpine tricolor but a river navigation sign. The white-red-white signage means that the bridge is a passage prohibited to navigation and not that it is an old one. hereditary territory of the House of Habsburg.