The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red. The Austrian flag is the second-oldest flag in use (which has been in use since 1230) after the Danish flag (which has been in use since 1219).
History
Origins
Duke Frederick II (1210-1246), the last of the Babenberg dynasty, who was nicknamed the "Quarrelsome" or the "Warlike", designed a new coat of arms in red-white-red in the year 1230 in his attempt to become more independent from the Holy Roman Empire.
Legend
According to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria (1157–1194) as a consequence of his fighting during the Crusades. After a fierce battle, his white battle dress was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth underneath was untouched by it, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colors and scheme as his banner.
Use during the Monarchy
Although the combination of red-white-red was, since the late Middle Ages, widely considered to be the "Austrian" colours and used by both the Babenberg and the Habsburg dynasties in connection with their Austrian territories, the national flag of Austria (in a modern sense) until 1918 was black-yellow. These were the family colours of the House of Habsburg, and were themselves in part derived from the Holy Roman Empire.
Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a Naval Ensign (Marineflagge) based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these flags became obsolete with the dissolution of the Empire in 1918, and the newly formed Republic of Austria adopted red-white-red as its national flag. |
