The German flag features three colors, equally distributed into horizontal bands. The main colors are gold, black and red, which are the official colors of the country. Back in history, the flag of Germany did not feature these colors. In 1866, however, after the Austro-Prussian War, the North German Confederation, which was mainly led by the Prussians, featured a tricolor banner presenting white, red and black colors. It became the official banner of the German Empire and would stay up until 1918. After Nazi Germany was founded, the colors red, black and white were set up as the official tones.
During the start of the 19th century, the gold, black and red colors of the present banner were first featured. With the setting up of the Weimar’s Republic after World War I, the black tricolor was adopted as the main country flag of Germany. Afterwards, it became the flag of East and West Germany. The two flags were similar until the East flag was tarnished with the coat of arms of East Germany. After Germany was united once more, the gold, black and red tricolor was used until today.
The present colors of the modern day German flag stand for the republican democracy set up after World War II. Gold, black and red are deemed to represent German liberty and unity. Due to Germany’s rough history, the tricolor stood for the freedom of the nation as well as individual freedom. These continue to remind people of the country’s background and how driven they are in achieving unity and freedom.