On 9th May, 1919, the current flag of Germany was adopted. It consists of three equal, horizontal strips (a tricolour);black at the top, red in the middle and gold at the bottom. The colours are said to sybolise the uniform of the German soldiers during the Napoleonic wars; black uniforms with red braids and gold buttons.

In 1933, when Hitler came into power, he abolished the flag and introduced the swastika flag (a red flag with a black swastika in the centre on a white disc). Because of Germany being split due to the war (East and West Germany), Western Germany adopted the flag. On 23rd May, 1949, the German flag was re-adopted by Eastern Germany but changed it slightly so that in the centre of the flag was: a pair of compasses to represent the intellectuals, inside ears of grain to represent the farmers and a hammer to represent the workers. The German Parliament reintroduced the flag after some debate in 1950 as the official symbol for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Another theory is that the colours black and gold came from the semi-official coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire. Two years after Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz over Astria, the Holy Roman Empire no longer existed. From this time on, the colours black and gold were associated with Austria's Habsburg Dynasty which was later known as the "Black and Gold monarchy".

It is also said that the colours were declared as the official colours of the German Confederation by the Frankfurt Parliament; the red representing the Hanseatic League (An alliance that established a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea, most of the Northern Europe and an extent of the North Sea in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period between the 13th and 17th centuries), and gold and black representing Austria.