Kingdom of Prussia 1701-1918 (Germany)

Koenigreich Preussen, Königreich Preußen

Last modified: 2002-07-20 by santiago dotor
Keywords: prussia | preussen | preußen | kingdom of prussia | koenigreich preußen | eagle (black) | coat of arms | iron cross | cross: formy (black) | anchor: fouled (white) | pilot |
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3:5 | stripes 1+5+1
State Flag / Landesflagge 1892-1918
by Jaume Ollé

• Introduction
• Sources
• Civil Flag (Landesfarben)
• Kingdom of Prussia 1701
• Kingdom of Prussia 1750
• Kingdom of Prussia 1801 (reported as Brandenburg 1801)
• Kingdom of Prussia 1803 (reported as Prussia General Flag 1803)
• State Flag 1892-1918 (Landesflagge)
• Ensigns:
  • State Ensign 1834
  • State Ensign used on Inland Waters 1895-1918
  • Civil Ensigns 1701-1867
  • War Ensigns and other Naval Flags 1817-1867
  • State Services Ensigns 1863-1867 (inland waters services)
  • State Services Ensigns 1895-1918 (sea services)
  • Pilot Flag until 1866 (reported 1825, 1848 and 1862)
• Royal Standard and Flags 1701-1918
• Subnational Flags 1815-1918
• Military Flags 1701-1918

See also:

• Duchy of Lauenburg 1261-1918 (Herzogtum Lauenburg, to Prussia 1864)
• Principality of East Frisia (Fürstentum Ostfriesland, to Prussia 1744-1815)
• Prussia Historical Flags
• Germany
• Poland

Other sites:

• Coat-of-Arms of Prussia (scanned from Ströhl's Deutsche Wappenrolle) at Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website
• The Greater Arms of Prussia 1871-1918 (scanned from Ströhl's Deutsche Wappenrolle) at Adam Kromer's Polish Heraldry website
• The Lesser Arms of Prussia 1701-1918 at Adam Kromer's Polish Heraldry website
• The Kingdom of Prussia at Alan Pendlebury's Flags of the Napoleonic Wars website

When in 1660, the Duchy of Prussia became independent of Poland the way was opened to union with Brandenburg and thereby also the foundation of the Prussian state. In 1701, Prussia became a kingdom and from then till 1871, it was in a continuous stage of expansion until it came to be by far the largest German state, almost as large as all the others together.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

Frederick III, Prince Elector (Kurfürst) of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, proclaimed himself King of Prussia in 1701, with the acceptance of the Emperor and other German powers, partly in exchange for his support in the forthcoming War of the Spanish Succession. Thereafter all Brandenburg-Prussia possesions were generally known as "Prussia".

Santiago Dotor, 29 June 2000

With the overthrow of the monarchy in November 1918, Prussia, like Germany, became a republic. As a result, many of its old flags were abandoned. However, the constitution of 30 November 1920 continued use of the Landesfarben.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

Landesfarben

3:5
by Jaume Ollé

Black-white horizontal bicolor.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

An article by Dr. Whitney Smith, Gwenn ha Du (black and white) in Ar Banniel, 1999, mentions "4. Kingdom of Prussia - National flag until 1935 - Horizontal black-white."

Ivan Sache, 2 August 1999

Editor's notes:

1. the black and white colours were actually the livery colours of the Prussian coat of arms (a black eagle on a white field, basically)
2. see also the Landesfarben of the different Prussian provinces.

by Jaume Ollé

A white flag with a crowned Prussian eagle (a black eagle with the letters FR [Fredericus Rex] on the breast) with scepter and orb.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

by Jaume Ollé

A white flag with a crowned Prussian eagle (a black eagle with the letters FR [Fredericus Rex] on the breast) with sword and scepter.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

"Brandenburg 1801"

by Jaume Ollé

Similar to the 1750 flag, except for modest differences in the eagle, crown and scepter.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

"Prussia General Flag 1803"

by Jaume Ollé

Similar to 1750 flag, except for modest differences in the eagle, crown and scepter.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

Landesflagge

3:5 | stripes 1+5+1
by Jaume Ollé

The Landesflagge is black over white over black (c. 1:5:1) with a black eagle in the white stripe touching the black stripes. Source: States of 1897 in Arndt 1979.

Jan Kuhlmann, 5 December 1995

Like the 1863 civil ensign, but with redesigned eagle. Illustrated in Crampton 1990 p. 42, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 1912 vol. 4, facing p. 799, National Geographic 1917 p. 367, no. 1013.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

Yesterday I saw a documentary film about early 20th century holidays in Germany. The film said that one of the typical holiday destination was the Baltic Sea coast, which was illustrated with the view of a town square, or possibly a quay platform, on which two flags were flying: one was a bicolour Landesfarben (the film was black and white so no idea where did it belong to) and the other was obviously some kind of variant of the Prussian Landesflagge. It was black-white-black ca. 1:5:1 with a centred Prussian eagle, thus like the one in FOTW but with a centred eagle, rather than offset to the hoist. Alternatively, maybe the eagle was offset to the hoist but much more slightly than shown in the above image.

Santiago Dotor, 24 October 2000

3:5
by Jaume Ollé

White swallow-tailed flag with a crowned black eagle with gold scepter and gold orb.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

3:5
by Jaume Ollé

Editor's note: see also the Service Flag for other Government Vehicles (1867?).

Reported 1825, 1848 and 1862

1:1
by Ivan Sache

A white black-bordered flag.

Norman Martin, 20 January 1998

An article by Dr. Whitney Smith, Gwenn ha Du (black and white) in Ar Banniel, 1999, mentions "9. Kingdom of Prussia - Pilot ensign (until 1866) - White square with a black border."

Ivan Sache, 2 August 1999