Germany — Coat of Arms and Flag

Country	Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
Coat of arms adopted	20 January 1950 by Federal Decree; design by Tobias Schwab, originally 1928
Flag adopted	23 May 1949, Article 22 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz)
Tinctures (arms)	Or, Sable, Gules
Blazon	Or, an eagle displayed Sable, beaked, langued and membered Gules
Flag colours	Black (top), red (middle), gold (bottom), equal horizontal bands, ratio 3:5
Bundesländer	16 federal states (11 from the Federal Republic + 5 from the GDR after 1990 reunification)

Blazon and Description

Or, an eagle displayed Sable, beaked, langued and membered Gules.

The German coat of arms is a single eagle, wings spread (displayed), facing the viewer's left (heraldic dexter). The body, head and feathers are black (Sable) on a yellow-gold field (Or); the beak, tongue and talons are red (Gules). The eagle has no shield around it in the modern federal version — it floats freely as the national emblem.

The bird wears no crown, holds no orb or sceptre, and bears no breast-shield. This deliberate simplicity contrasts with all earlier German eagles, which carried various imperial regalia (crowns, sceptres, swords, shields with the arms of individual territories). The current austerity dates from the Weimar Republic's adoption of Tobias Schwab's 1928 design.

The Reichsadler — A Thousand Years of the German Eagle

The eagle is the oldest continuously used German national symbol. It traces back to the aquila of the Roman legions, adopted by the Frankish kings, then by Charlemagne (crowned emperor in 800), and finally codified by the Holy Roman Empire:

• 11th century — Henry IV begins using a single-headed black eagle on a golden field on his banner.
• 15th century — Sigismund of Luxembourg (r. 1410–1437) introduces the double-headed eagle as the formal arms of the Holy Roman Empire, distinguishing the Emperor from individual kings whose eagles remained single-headed.
• 1804 — Francis II, faced with Napoleon's empire, founds the Empire of Austria using the double-headed eagle. Two years later he abolishes the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1815 — The German Confederation adopts the double-headed eagle of the defunct Empire.
• 1848 — The Frankfurt Parliament keeps the double-headed eagle but in black on gold, as the symbol of a hoped-for united Germany.
• 1871 — Bismarck's German Empire reverts to a single-headed eagle (the Prussian style) with the Hohenzollern shield on its breast and the imperial crown above.
• 1919 — The Weimar Republic drops the crown and the breast-shield, retaining only the eagle. Tobias Schwab's 1928 redesign streamlines it further.
• 1933–1945 — Nazi Germany uses a militarised, stylised eagle (the Parteiadler) clutching a swastika in its talons. This version is forever banned in modern Germany.
• 20 January 1950 — The Federal Republic readopts the Weimar Schwab eagle verbatim, renamed Bundesadler to mark the constitutional break.
• 1990 — After reunification, the Bundesadler becomes the arms of the whole of Germany; the East German hammer-compass-grain emblem is abolished.

Variants in Modern Use

The Federal Republic uses three official variants:

• Bundeswappen — the eagle on a shield, used by ministries, courts and embassies
• Bundesadler (Bundestag version) — the famous "fat hen" (fette Henne) by Ludwig Gies, 1953, mounted on the wall of the federal parliament chamber. Wider, softer, less aggressive than Schwab's 1928 original.
• Bundeswappen on Bundesdienstflagge — the eagle on a shield, on a vertical strip in the centre of the federal services flag

Origins in the Napoleonic Wars

The colours Schwarz-Rot-Gold (black-red-gold) are not, despite popular belief, the colours of the Holy Roman Empire. Their origin is romantic and revolutionary, dating from the Napoleonic Wars of liberation (Befreiungskriege) of 1813–1815.

The volunteer corps of Adolf von Lützow — the famous Lützowsches Freikorps, which counted the poet Theodor Körner and the philosopher Friedrich Jahn among its ranks — wore black uniforms (improvised from dyed civilian coats), with red facings on the lapels and gold buttons. After the wars these colours were adopted by the Burschenschaften, the patriotic and liberal student fraternities that demanded German unification and constitutional government.

From the Hambach Festival to the Frankfurt Parliament

27 May 1832 — Hambach Festival. Some 30,000 demonstrators climb to Hambach Castle in the Palatinate carrying the black-red-gold tricolour as the flag of a hoped-for united liberal Germany. The Diet of the German Confederation responds by banning the colours.

18 March 1848 — Berlin Revolution. Liberal revolts sweep the German states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia, riding through Berlin under the black-red-gold banner, declares: "Henceforth Prussia merges into Germany."

9 March 1848 — Frankfurt Parliament. The German Confederation formally adopts black-red-gold as the national colours of a future German state. The revolution fails by 1849, but the tricolour remains the rallying symbol of liberal Germany.

Bismarck's Eclipse — Schwarz-Weiss-Rot

1867 — The North German Confederation, dominated by Prussia, adopts a different flag: black-white-red (Schwarz-Weiss-Rot), combining the black-white of Prussia and the red-white of the Hanseatic cities. This becomes the flag of the German Empire of 1871 and remains in use until 1919. Bismarck deliberately chose black-white-red against black-red-gold to mark the rejection of the liberal-democratic tradition of 1848.

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany also used black-white-red (alongside the swastika flag), claiming it as the authentic "national" tricolour. This is one reason modern Germany cannot rehabilitate black-white-red without political controversy.

The Weimar and Federal Restoration

1919 — Weimar Republic. Article 3 of the Weimar Constitution restores Schwarz-Rot-Gold as the national flag, explicitly choosing the colours of 1848 over those of the Empire.

1933 — Nazi reversal. The black-red-gold flag is replaced by the swastika.

23 May 1949 — Basic Law. Article 22 of the Grundgesetz of the Federal Republic of Germany states simply: "Die Bundesflagge ist schwarz-rot-gold" ("The federal flag is black-red-gold"). The German Democratic Republic adopts the same colours in 1949, adding the hammer-and-compass emblem in 1959. After reunification in 1990, the East German emblem is removed and the flag of the Federal Republic becomes the flag of the whole of Germany.

Other German Flags

• Bundesdienstflagge — same colours, with the Bundeswappen (eagle on shield) centred on the red band. Used by federal authorities only.
• Bundeskriegsflagge — the military version, in use 1956–2025.
• Standarte des Bundespräsidenten — a square golden flag bearing the eagle of the Bundeswappen surrounded by a red border. Used by the Federal President.

The Federal Structure

Germany is a federation of 16 Bundesländer (federal states), each with its own coat of arms, flag, constitution and parliament. The current 16 result from the unification of the eleven Länder of the Federal Republic (1949) and the five Länder reconstituted in the territory of the German Democratic Republic on 3 October 1990.

Three of the sixteen are city-states (Stadtstaaten): Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen.

Notable Länder

Each Land's arms reflect a distinct historical lineage — Imperial duchy, free city, kingdom, or post-1945 administrative creation. A selection:

• Bayern (Bavaria) — white and blue lozenges (the Wittelsbach dynasty), one of the most recognisable patterns in European heraldry
• Baden-Württemberg — three lions Or on Sable, derived from the medieval Hohenstaufen Duchy of Swabia
• Berlin — black bear rampant on a white shield, the city's emblem since 1280
• Hamburg — a triple-towered white castle on red, a Hanseatic city since the 13th century
• Sachsen (Saxony) — Barry of ten Sable and Or, a crancelin Vert — the historic arms of the Wettin dynasty
• Nordrhein-Westfalen — combined arms of the Rhineland and Westphalia, a post-1947 creation
• Hessen — lion barry of ten Argent and Gules on Azure, the Ludovingian lion of the Landgraviate
• Bremen — the Schlüssel (golden key) on a red shield — symbol of the city of Saint Peter

Why does Germany have an eagle on its coat of arms?

The eagle (Reichsadler, now Bundesadler) is the direct continuation of the eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, itself adopted from the Roman aquila by the Frankish and Ottonian emperors in the early Middle Ages. It has been associated with German sovereignty for over a thousand years, surviving the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), the German Confederation, the Empire of 1871, the Weimar Republic, and reappearing in the Federal Republic in 1950.

Why is the German flag black, red and gold?

The colours were popularised by the Lützow Free Corps in the Napoleonic Wars of liberation (1813–1815) — black uniforms with red facings and gold buttons. Adopted by the Burschenschaften student fraternities, raised at the Hambach Festival of 1832, then officially by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848 as the colours of a united liberal Germany. They were rejected by Bismarck's Empire (which used black-white-red) but restored by the Weimar Republic in 1919 and the Federal Republic in 1949.

What is the difference between the Bundesadler and the Reichsadler?

They are the same eagle in different political contexts. The Reichsadler ("eagle of the Reich") was used by the Holy Roman Empire, the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany. The Bundesadler ("federal eagle") is the post-war designation since 1950, identical in design to the Weimar version of 1928 by Tobias Schwab. The change of name signals the rejection of the militaristic eagle versions of 1933–1945 in favour of the friendlier Weimar form.

What happened to the black-white-red flag?

Black-white-red (Schwarz-Weiss-Rot) was the flag of Bismarck's German Empire from 1871 to 1918 and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The colours combined the black-white of Prussia with the red-white of the Hanseatic cities and the German Confederation. After 1949, the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic both rejected it in favour of black-red-gold, the liberal colours of 1848. The flag remains legal in modern Germany but carries strong far-right associations.

How many Bundesländer does Germany have?

Sixteen, since reunification on 3 October 1990. The eleven original Länder of the Federal Republic (West Germany), plus the five Länder reconstituted in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen. Berlin became the sixteenth as a unified city-state.

Why did Sigismund of Luxembourg add a second head to the eagle in the 15th century?

The double-headed eagle (Doppeladler) was a Byzantine import, used by the Palaeologos emperors of Constantinople from the 13th century. Sigismund (Holy Roman Emperor 1433–1437) adopted it to distinguish the Emperor's arms from those of the German King (who retained the single-headed eagle), signalling the dual claim to universal — Roman and Christian — sovereignty. After 1806, the double-headed eagle migrated to the new Empire of Austria, while German national heraldry returned to the single-headed form.

• Federal Decree of 20 January 1950 on the federal coat of arms and the federal services flag
• Article 22 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 23 May 1949
• Schwennicke, A., Das Wappen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Carl Heymanns Verlag, 1962
• Berghahn, V. R., Modern Germany: Society, Economy and Politics in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, 1987
• Filitz, F., Die Wappen der deutschen Länder, Frankfurt, 1956
• Diem, P., Die Symbole Österreichs: Zeit und Geschichte in Zeichen, Kremayr & Scheriau, 1995 — for the Habsburg double-headed eagle context
• Hattenhauer, H., Deutsche Nationalsymbole: Zeichen und Bedeutung, Olzog Verlag, 1990

Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 14 June 2026.