I'm Austrian and the way we were taught the legend of the bloody banner in school was a little bit different namely that a white tunic worn by an austrian nobleman in a battle had turned completely red from blood but when he removed a broad belt he had been wearing, after the battle there was a white stripe left in the middle of the tunic.
Yeah, I was also told that since there was a rumour that nobleman was critically hurt, that tunic was put on a long stick and presented to his followers so people saw that the blood didn't reach his belly/torso so he wasn't critically wounded (if any) and would live.
I am also Austrian on my father's side and I remember as a kid my Oma and Opa told me that same story, I remember them saying it was Duke Leopold V who was fighting the Ottoman-Turks and his white tunic was covered in blood and when he removed his belt it remained white in the middle which would inspire the Austrian flag.
2 points: in 1804 the Austrian Empire was proclaimed, making the last Roman Emperor, also the Emperor of Austria ... not a "King" and not a "Kingdom". Secondly, the 1st Republic ceased to exist with the Anschluss of Austria to the 3rd Reich. After WWII the 2. Republic was proclaimed, which is the state Austrians live in today.
by international law the First Republic only "paused" to exist. After the defeat of Nazi Germany - actually even a few weeks before - the defunct Republic was proclaimed to have never seized to exist and the same constitution as before was kept. A provisional government was declared and already in November 1945 a general election was held to form a new parliament and a new government. The term "Second Republic" is used only informally, legally it is the same Republic as before.
Just for clarification: After the dissolution of the HRE Austria became an empire in which the hungarians weren't treated like they were after the "Ausgleich" in 1867.
@@TheAxeaman1806 the whole thing was the Austrian empire. As Hungarians got stronger within the Empire they got an equal status in 1867 to the „German“ speakers. The problem was that Slavs were actually the biggest group and felt disadvantaged even more.
Worth mentioning that this only happened after Austria lost the Brothers War against Prussia and thus lost the power in the German Confederation. The “Ausgleich” with Hungary, which granted Hungarians same rights as Germans in Austria, was a compromise to stay powerful for the emperor. They would have rather chosen to keep ruling Germany.
it may not be accurate but I always liked the Crusaider legend of the Red and White Austrian flag. The one I have heard is that Duke Leopold V of Austria during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. Pretty badass.
I love flags with red that symbolize actual blood that has a story (rather than blood spilt generally). Turkish flag has a similar story. In a very bloody battle, commonly said to be battle of Kosovo and sometimes wrongly (but fittingly) battle of Sakarya, a river was flowing red with blood, with star and crescent reflected on it.
This is the only major inaccuracy I noticed in the new Napoleon trailer. In the brief scene where Napoleon is looking over a giant map of Europe on the floor you can clearly see among the flags of Europe you can clearly see instead of the then black and yellow flag of Austria, it shows the modern red and white of modern Austria. Another inaccuracy in the trailer was the battle of the pyramids actually taking place right at the pyramids and seeing them being hit by cannon fire which never happened and the battle actually took place many miles away from them but that’s a whole different topic for a different video.
I can't believe they did such an easy mistake, lol. I know there's a lot of confusion with the Austro-Hungarian "flag" (the civil ensign), but I didn't expect the producers to mistake the Habsburg Austrian flag for the modern one.
I look up the trailer again and I didn't notice the flag of Austria is wrong. It's just the current one and the producers and staff didn't know the bicolor flag of Austria.
If you look Ridley Scott's filmography like Gladiator, 1491 and Kingdom of Heaven, you'd know that he couldn't care less about historical accuracy, so don't go into that movie expecting anything less.
The Babenbergers did not just rule a part of Austria, they ruled the part that is actually the historic core of Austria (later "Marcha Orientalis" or "Ostarici", the Dutchy of Austria, essentially todays Upper and lower Austria including Vienna, later they aquired Styria as well). The rest are mainly other, separate realms that where incoperated later for one reason or the other (usually inheritance), such as Tyrol, Carinthia and much later Salzburg.
Another intersting detail: The yellow color of the black/yellow flag is still part in the flag of Brazil. It's used there since the marriage of Emperor Pedro I. of Brazil with Princess Maria Leopoldine of Austria. It is the yellow of the former Austrian flag and the color of the House Habsburg.
Slight correction about the name of Austria. The state's official name isn't First Republic of Austria since it's not in its first republic anymore. This is because Austria was technically refounded after becoming its own country again after World War 2. The names "First Republic of Austria" and "Second Republic of Austria" are used to distinguish between those two eras of austrian history, similar to the Weimar Republic when talking about germany. The official name is just "Republic of Austria" no First or Second present.
the hammer and the sickle are not sus like you missed the symbolism a bit. The eagle has broken chains, which were added in the second republic after ww2 and represent the liberation of Austria. The hammer represents the workers the sickle the farmers and the mural crown the burgers. The austrian coat of arms is added as well. it is pretty standard republican heraldry. you also mixed up the dates a bit. Austria-Hungary as a dual monarchy was created after the austro-prussian war in 1866 following the defeat of austria it managed to stabilize the internal situation in the nationialism plagued empire by granting more rights to the hungarians. In 1806 the Empire of Austria was declared with Franz I of Austria, who previously was Franz II of the Holy Roman Empire, after Napoleon defeated the Hapsburg armies. Overall good video on the flag :)
The Hammer and Sickle do of course hint at the fact that the Socialists where drivers of the foundation of the 1st Republic which they fought for, getting rid of the emperor.
“The hammer represents the workers and the sickle the farmers” that’s the point. The hammer and sickle are a communist symbol so it’s a bit odd that a non communist country has a communist symbol on their coat of arms.
@@vihanuyyuru6 "Bourgeoisie" or more precise inhabitants of cities that are no workers or farmers. It comes from a time where society was divided in these three classes.
The coat of arms is even older as the Babenberger got it from Traungauer who ended in 1190, who themselves inherited it from the Eppensteiner (Dukes of Carinthia) at the beginning of the 12th century which places its origin at 10th/11th century PS: and in 1806 you got the Empire of Austria, Austria-Hungary was not until 1866
The red-white colored german flags originate in the red white colors of the roman empire, which were taken over by the Langobards and later on by Karl the Great. The black-yellow flags originate in the personal colors of the holy roman emperor, which developed from the roman coat of arms, a black eagle on yellow ground.
The eagle on the Austrian official banner is special. It wears a crown representing the bourgeoisie, and holds a sickle (farmers) and a hammer (workers). There is also a broken chain that symbolizes freedom from the Nazi usurpation and the Allied occupation after the war.
@@VividFlash Bundes-Verfassungsgesetzt (Federal Constitutional Act) Art. 8a (2): "The coat of arms of the Republic of Austria (the Federal coat of arms) consists of an unfettered, single-headed, black, gilt-armed and red-tongued eagle on whose breast is imposed a red shield intersected by a silver crosspiece. On its head the eagle bears a mural crown with three visible battlements. A sundered iron chain rings both talons. The right holds a golden sickle with inward turned blade, the left a golden hammer." Official english translation of the german language version
Well, the truth is, most Austrians supported unification with Germany in 1938. Not because they supported Hitlers rule in particular, but unification itself.
@@hansmeier3287Well, technically the Anschluss voting wasn't rigged. The people actually voted yes. However, this was in front of soldiers who strongly suggested that voting no is not good for you.
That German Austria wanted unite with Germany after WWI explains a lot of why Hitler, who was Austrian, was accepted as a leader of Germany and the Anschluss that followed.
Well yeah us Austrians considered ourselves ethnic Germans back in the day, unlike nowadays where you will be beat with a stick if you call us Germans in our presence. Austria was after all a multi ethnic empire and people said "we are germans in Austria / Polish in Austria etc" So after the multi ethnic empire fell the German identity was way stronger than that of the small leftover state of Austria.
@@TheAustrianAnimations87 Ethnically Austrians are a mix of mainly the germanic people and slavs that got here in the time time of the great migrations Culturally they are german and for me cultural identity means much more then ethnicity of your ancestors
@Hawara4 Nobody speaks "Austrian". Maybe only you. :-) He spent 24 years of his life in Austria ( 1889 till 1913 ), 24 years in Germany 1914/ 1938), and 7 years in united Germany/Austria ( 1938-1945). Culture? Was mainly the same in Germany and Austria. So what do you want to tell us?
@@steirerbua5322Wir sind Deutsche. Dass wir einen eigenen Staat haben und eine Identität entstanden ist, die an diesen geknüpft ist, ist eine andere Sache. Der peinliche Antigermanismus, der in den Fünfzigern erstmals propagiert wurde und vor allem in den Siebzigern zunehmend salonfähig gemacht wurde, ist eine propagandistische Leistung, die außerdem mit Neid zu tun hatte. Wer das als Österreicher nicht versteht, hat seine eigene nationale Geschichte nicht begriffen.
In 1806 the Austrian Empire was proclaimed and it used the gold black flag, it wasn't until 1867 that Austria-Hungary was proclaimed. And only Hungary was a kingdom while Austria remained an Empire.
To be fair, no Austria-Hungary existed until the compromise of 1867. That which was proclaimed in 1806 was simply the Austrian "Kaiserthum" with no special privileges for anyone except the monarchy itself. There was no constitutionally protected idea of cislethania and translethania until the Compromise, and in fact Austria was in essence an absolute monarchy until the early 1860s. Love your videos, but what you said was pretty inaccurate!
Make a video about some of the oldest noble houses that are still present, it's a really cool topic, seing how they were able to keep their power and maybe talk about their lowest points in history.
The city of Leuven in Belgium has the exact same flag as the current austrian flag. According to legend it's origins go back to a guy named Arnulf of Carinthia in the 9th century, who was born in present day Austria (Carinthia).
That legend may not be that far off: The Babenberger dynasty inherited that flag from the Traungauer family (when they died out) which had inherited that flag from the Eppensteiner family. The Eppensteiner family had it as their feudal flag. And they were dukes of carinthia if i am not mistaken. Even though Eppenstein, where they resided, is not in todays carinthia, but in styria, which became an independent duchy from carinthia in the 1170's or so. (styria's german name also comes from a dynasty residing not in styria ;-) there's a patter here :-D but it still uses the same coat of arms since the 1170, so it has one of the coldest coats of arms continuosly used for the same thing in the world. with ony 2 very minor changes because of a female politician) So while we don't have evidence who used it before the Eppensteiner family, you see the legend you know seems not that unlikely...
Thanks for the video Hilbert, it would have been nice to have added the flag of Austria during the Interwar era under the Engelbert Dolfuss government, which was called the "Federal State of Austria". They used the Red-white-red banner with a double headed eagle in the centre. The government lasted from 1934-38 until the "Anschluss" with the Third Reich. The symbolism of that flag is also very inreresting since it fused post-war Republican Austria with the lore of the Habsburg past and Catholicism, which would give Austrians more of an identity seperate from Germany, which the Dolfuss government viewed as industrial, modern and Protestant Germans.
You missed one thing about the modern flag though that is seen as very important regarding its symbolism: the broken chains were added after WW2 when the second republic was founded in 1945 to symbolize Austrias liberation from dictatorship, fascism and nationalsocialism.
Great Video really liked it. The only thing wrong I noticed was at 5:35. Between WW1 and WW2 there was the First Republic yes. But after the second wolrd war, Austria was occupied by allied forces until 1955. There the State gained it's freedom again, because the last forces left the county therefore not ouccupieng the state anymore, (Thats why the eagle has a broken chain at its feet now) and became the second Republic.
The german state of saxony used to have the same black and yellow flag as austria and changed it to the current white and green one to distance itself from austria. However the german state of saxony-anhalt still has the black and yellow in its flag.
Because black and yellow (earlier blue and yellow) are the colours of the wettin noble family. This two colour combinations can be found everywhere in city coat of arms of their former dominion.
Although some Austrians (not all) thought it’s a better idea to merge with Germany in 1918 that’s not why they called it German Austria. The reason for calling it that way was it being the German talking part of Austria remaining from the empire. I know it’s complicated but the therm German is older than today’s Germany and therefore has different meanings.
Damn, you posted this video only 1 day after the 219th anniversary of the proclamation of the Austrian Empire. Btw, fun fact: Austria has the second oldest currently used national flag worldwide after Denmark. As someone fascinated by the Habsburg Monarchy, I prefer the black-gold/yellow flag, but the red-white-red flag is fine too.
The hammer and sickle in the eagles hands do mean "workers and farmers", but its not a sign of communism. It does mean the end of the monarchy, when the eagle had an orb and scepter in his hands. Since 1916 the power moved from the emporer to the people, it was changed to sickle(farmers), a hammer(workers) and a crown of bricks(citizens and democracy) on his head. The broken chain on his hands means regaining independece and rebuilding Austria after WW2.
Leopold V and 1260 doesn't really fit as he died before 1200 and the Siege of Acre in question where this most likely not true legend originates from was 1189-1191 so timewise it would fit.
As Austrian let me say that long story a bit shorter : Red White Red = colours of the "Duchy Austria" ever since taken from the coat of arms of the Babenberger dynasty who ruled the Duchy Austria as Dukes since it became a duchy in 1156 and ruled Austria before for almost 2 centuries since 976 as Margraves and who died out in 1246. Black Gold = the imperial colours of the Emperor ..in the HRE + and then since 1805 after the decline of the HRE used in the Austrian Empire/later Austrian-Hungarian Empire... After the decline of the HRE the rest of the "German Lands" (= which way later became Germany/German Reich respectively) had no Emperor from 1805 till 1871 so there was no issue for keeping the "HRE Imperial colours" exclusively for the new founded Austrian Empire. Although as regional colours/part of a regional flag you´ll find "Black+Gold" in Germany as well in those areas which were former so to say "Imperial areas in the HRE" which were areas /towns which weren´t part of an duchy but ruled by a State official of the Empire instead of a Duke. Disclaimer : Today´s Austria has 9 federal states but just 2 of those 9 "in terms of area" = the 2 in the North of the country named "Upper Austria" and "Lower Austria" + Vienna which is a Fed.City State of its own inbedded in "Lower Austria" = "technically 3 Fed. States in terms of Fed. States" are the former "Archduchy of Austria" = Is the actual "Austria" from 10th century till 1918. = which was represented with the Babenberger coat of arms 4 Fed. States were either own duchies inherited by the House of Habsburg, some sooner some later (like Salzburg and Tyrol and Styria) or were just - part - of a duchy inherited by the House of Habsburg = Fed.State "Carinthia" = was part of the "Duchy Carniola" (or Duchy "Krain" in German") which included today´s Slovenia + small parts of Northern Italy from the 10th century till 1918.. The last 2 Fed. States are "Vorarlberg" in the very west which was a Habsburg County (actual several former very small counties kinda like the size of Liechtenstein) since the 14th century at the Swiss border and "Burgenland" in the very east which was part of Western Hungary) All those have and always had their own coat of arms/flags but those are now since 1918 "the flags of the Fed. State" while the "coat of arms" of the former Archduchy Austria became "the national flag" End of disclaimer. Note: In the vlog there was said "Austrian King" but that´s not quite right at all.. "Austria" never had "a King" because it wasn´t "a kingdom" but an "Archduchy" since 1453 till 1918 and therefore ruled by an "Archduke" (who happened to be the Emperor of the Empire meaning both "HRE" and then "Austrian Empire"). Over the centuries the Austrian Archduke from the House of Habsburg managed by the means of clever marriage policy to become "King of Hungary" (= was outside the HRE) + "King of Bohemia" (= was inside the HRE) + uncountable other titels inside and outside the HRE according to the status those inherited realms had = kingdoms, duchies, counties which were all inherited "Habsburg´s crownlands" = additional titels like the already mentioned "King" to "Grand Duke" over "Prince" , "Duke" till down to "Count"....and all those titels with their holdings made "the Austrian Archduke" = "the Austrian Emperor" respresented with the colours "Black+Gold" in the 1805 founded "Austrian Empire" which later became "Austrian-Hungarian Empire" by dividing the executive power = basically since then the Hungarians ruled themselves in Budapest/had an own parliament and was not ruled from Vienna anymore.
well the eagle is there because the same ppl bloodlines still have power in the background like any other monachs they dont just vanish or are powerless like the royals in other countrys always claim to be just decoration nothing to see here guys ^^ to the eagle is like the "hidden in plain sight" analogy like we see in so many flags and symbols all over the world
Quite messy video: in short the Austrian flag has always been red white and red. The black and yellow banner represented the Habsburg Empire, that included Austria but also many other territories like Hungary, parts of Poland, parts of Italy and at least nominal power on all Germany until 1866. For Habsburg ruled Germany only they also added a red stripe in the middle, that "casually' is today's flag of Germany. After the loss of the German Confederation in 1866 Bismark strickly prohibited the black red gold banner because of the Habsburg connection.
Hi Hilbert, amazing vídeo as always! You should make a video about Dutch Brazil, as a Brazilian living in the Netherlands I’d love to watch it ! * Wilhelmus intensifies *
Hello Hilbert. Interesting to see what happened to the flag I was used to from Napoleonic wargames and to have something to mention to my girlfriend's relatives from Austria to pass the time.
The Austrian eagle has not only a hammer and a sickle but also a corona muralis or mural crown which is a symbol dating back to Roman times. It represents cities and by extension the Bürger or city dwellers aka the bourgeoise class. So it represents all 3 Republican classes and not just he farmer and worker classes which are represented by the sickle and the hammer respectively.
Big inaccuracies at 3:40. Emperor Franz proclaimed the Kaisertum Österreich (Austrian Empire) in 1804 as the forced end of the HRE was imminent. (no Kingdom of Austria, no Kingdom of Austria and Hungary... Austrian Empire in 1804, and a name change to Austria-Hungary much later in 1867). This was just a name change for the Habsburg monarchy, the territories had already been referred to as Austria for centuries. The key was the Habsburgs stayed emperors as they felt this title belonged rightfully only to them. The gold and black flag was used for the entire Austrian empire aka all Habsburg possessions. What you're talking about with demarcating the Austrian half of the empire is not relevant until the Ausgleich in 1867 and even after that the Gold and Black was the most commonly used flag for the empire as a whole. You're also mixing up Franz Joseph with Franz the second of the HRE, 1st of Austria. Franz Joseph was not HRE emperor. There is no Joseph in the period you're referring to. The flag today often associated with the HRE was also in the centuries before the Napoleonic wars mostly associated with Austria as the Holy Roman emperors fielded their troops under their imperial banner and the troops predominantly came from the lands of the Habsburg monarchy, not for example from Würtemberg or elsewhere for example, so the continuation of using black and gold was natural. Further inaccuracies as others have pointed out the first Austrian republic ended with the Anschluss in 1938, what Austrians today live in is the second republic.
Just as a fun fact. THE FAMIY CASTLE of the HOUSE OF HABSBURG is in GRAUBÜNDEN ( GRISONS in French and English ) It is a part of SwiTZERLAND Originally a part of the Habsburgian lands but the later Swiss people had kicked them out 2:56 THE EMPIRIAL WAR FLAG: That was not unisono the case. Also a very popular one had been the BLACK EAGLE on GODLEN IYELLOW ) Ground. THE EAGLE not not unly stood for the Heritage of the Roman Empire but also for the HOUSE of HOHENSTAUFEN The Doublehaeded Eagle stood for the Habsburgian Family and there various properties in the areas of the REICH and outside of it.
This is probably the video with the most inaccuracies in this series, but that's understandable considering that Austria Hungary was a very confusing...thing.
The yellow-black banner was an (unofficial) flag of the EMPIRE of Austria (the colours had been taken by those of the black double-headed eagle on a golden background of the Holy Roman Empire before, and of the Emperor of Austria after). The red-white-red flag was the flag of the ARCH-DUCY of Austria (before: Ducy of Austria, before Mark of Austria). It came from the colours of the shield of its first rulers (before the house of Habsburg): the house of Babenberg.
Very informative for non-Austrians. However, one major mistake: When the HRE is dissolved in 1806, the Austrian possessions are transformed into the „Austrian Empire“, NOT into a supposed „Kingdom“ of „Austria-Hungary“ as claimed. The Austrian Empire is reformed into the „dual monarchy“ „Austria-Hungary“ only by 1867 (consisting of both an Empire and a Kingdom).
I am also Austrian and I have to add that we are now called the Second Austrian Republic since the first one ended when we were (willingly) annexed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. After the war ended and we became an independent Nation again the Second Austrian Republic was established.
"[...] and following that it had to change its name to The First Austrian Republic, which is still the state of Austria that we know today". Wrong. The First Republic ended in 1939 when Austria reconnected to the German Reich under Adolf Hitler. After the end of WWII the Second Republic of Austria was founded. Greetings from Austria!
The coat of Lower Austria is from 985, and was the coat of the original Ostarrichi region. The Styrian coat was once the coat of the traungauers and became the coat of Styria when it became a Herzogtum in 1180.
@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn It does not. It's clearly harkening back in practice to glorious history of the Austrian Empire and centuries of being the home province of the Holy Roman Emperor before that, but officially it explicitly doesn't even symbolize that, but is just a generic republican symbol (for the same reason why eagles are all over U.S. seals and iconography). And either way, with symbols of the common people held in its claws instead of symbols of royal rule, the eagle is made decidedly opposed to Habsburg claims.
@@twincast2005 If you look closely, the eagle is wearing a crown. Usually, republican eagles don't wear crowns, as there would be no king to represent the crowns. Also, the coat-of-arms of republican countries don't have crowns, and usually have some liberty-related motto as well as the country name or date of independence; most countries that declared independence from European powers in Africa adopted such coat-of-arms. In monarchies, their coat-of-arms usually depict crowns sitting on top of their shields, and other crowns are used as well. They usually have French or Latin mottos as composed to mottos in their own language in republican countries. Also, some monarchist coat-of-arms can make the animal that supports the shield wear a crown.
@@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn The crown on the austrian coat of arms eagle is depicted to be made out of bricks like a wall, and is supposed to represent the "burgher" class. So anyone who didn't get counted to the farmers/agricultural class (= the sicle in the one hand of the eagle) and workers (= the hammer in the other hand). They aimed to represent these 3 classes of citizens, and since the eagle only has 2 hands they put stuff on his head. (no joke, that is the reasoning behind it) The liberty thing with the austrian one is the broken chain. And it exists since 1945 as the first republic didn't gain independence of any colonial overlord. Austria only really got independent once and that was 1945. There is no wording needed if you got broken chains as a symbol. (as being freed from dictatorship) As for monarchic symbols: To illustrate why you couldn't be further from the goal the people creating this coat of arms tried to achieve. With the 1st republic at the end of WW1, nobility "was banned" in austria (and is to this day). Meaning no nobility tittles or priviliges, and Habsburg family members close or far either had to get out of the country (whithout their posessions) or to give up most of their posessions and any titles etc. if they wanted to stay in the country. (the farther the family connection, the less they had to give up posessions and wealth, Kaiser Karl and his wife and children for example basically had to go with what fit in travel luggage and only survived a few years from donations of friends in exile and died relatively shortly afterwards) The "heir" of the austrian throne (Otto con Habsburg, interesting fellow!) was not allowed back into austria until 1966 (!) In 1961 he wrote an officially declaration to never try to raise any claim on austria. (not only for him but all his descendants) And still it took the spreme court decision and several years of pilitical delaying actions until he and his children were allowed to enter the country. And they are not able to run for any political office but head of state. And even that is only possible since 2011. Before that, there was a specific law that prohibited any family member from being able to run for that office too. (not much power in that office, mostly representing when other heads of state visit) That's how "monarchophobic" politicians were after WW1 in austria.
Schloss Wildberg wird gelegentlich auch als „Wappenschloss“ bezeichnet, da die Grafen von Hohenburg-Wildberg einen rot-weiß-roten Bindenschild als Wappen führten. Einzelne Historiker sind der Meinung, dass darauf der ab dem 13. Jahrhundert von den Babenbergern verwendete rot-weiß-rote Bindenschild zurückgeht, der später von den Habsburgern übernommen wurde und Ursprung der heutigen Nationalfarben Österreichs ist.
As austrian it's so cool how many details are added in the comments. I am very impressed cause I was still not sure if the world even knows were Austria is😂. Thanks for the really nice video👌🏻
Additionally at 5:55 there are also broken chains around the claws of the eagle as a symbol of having broken free. And the hammer and sickle are symbols of workers and farmers, two major parts of the Austrian people, at least at the time. Especially in the first republic, those two groups (or at least groups that identified with the idea of a split worker/farmer culture and politicized them) tried to gain the upper hand in politics and the power in the state. Only in prison during WW2 (since neither group was wanted by the German government at the time) did the leaders and other activists find common ground and thus they heavily worked together at the start of the second republic (and for some time thereafter). Thought that also birthed the "Proporz", where this 'working together' drifted into spheres of corruption and exclusion of other parties and stuff. Which surly beats fighting each others in the streets with guns, but is a topic of itself and I think I started to ramble and should just stop here. Anyway, the hammer and sickle isn't a sign of communism here (though it might've been a political move to include them to please the Soviet Union at the time), it symbolizes the two biggest peoples/factions of Austria (or at least how it was perceived) at the time.
The Holy Roman Emperor was not Joseph, but Franz II., who continued to rule as Franz I. of Austria. Joseph (II., I assume) was the successor to Maria Theresia and he ruled for only 10 years, from 1780-90.
The most interesting feature of the austrian eagle are the broken chains which occur in the coat of arms of the 2nd republic of Austria (after WW2) but not in the one of the 1st republic. They represent our liberation from Nazi-Germany by the Allies. Austria saw itself as the first victim until the late 1980s.
The original coat of arms of the Babenbergs was not red-white-red. Actually, this coat of arms was red-silver-red. But you can't really reproduce silver like gold in flags, so it became red-white-red.
@@KangaKucha Short version or the recent history: Because it was/is in the middle of the continent, and anything moving/migrating... east-west, north-south impacted it's history and pre history. Also for a long time it's rulers also were the rulers of the HRE, so it's history was strongly linked to what happened in and to the HRE. And thanks to the geography: mountainous in the west and center, and going flat in the east (of current austria) transforming into the hungarian (the a is important ;-)) plain it meant that attacks from the east on horseback were always a danger for centuries and lead to certain decisions in politics buildings, mindsets, weaponry... (two ottoman sieges of vienna, both "won" by the "defendants") And after WW1 loosing the majority of the rest of the country even german speaking areas, also meaning uncertainty if the agricutltural output would be able to feed the population, if the industry would manage to survive etc. most people thought merging with germany would be necessary. The WW1 winning Allies prevented that. And it turned out that Austria managed to survive alone, which turned the eager for merging with germany mostly off. That sentiment changed a little before 1938 (promisses for work and wealth by a certain german dictatorship party), and on paper to over 93% after the Anschluß in a non anonym vote with only yes or no choice and violent threats to anyone choosing no. (and exclusion of anybody certain to vote no) Then after WW2 an urge to forget everything fast and act innocent and get back on the feet as a country. With the good will of the allies and agreeing to the russian condition for austria to be neutral, the country got it's souvereignity back after 10 years of occupation. And economy got a boost by the marshal plan money and the will of the people to forget WW2 and dive into work and ingenuity, made it one of the richest countries of the world. (Or at least that's what we are told) After a few decades "not forgetting anymore" and "acting repsonsible for WW2 crimes" became doctrin, and so pupils learned about the atrocities austrians and germans commited during WW2 in depth, today plaques and encscriptions on houses and places tell of people who violently lost their place to live and lifes... And in recent history the geographical position and richness of the country lead to it becomming the target for illegal migration from Syria, Afghanistan... Between 2015 and today only sweden took more "refugees" per capita in europe than austria.
The title is actually wrong. As much as I like the black-gold flag, the red-white-red flag is much older. It dates back to the Third Crusade period and is the oldest flag still in use after the Danish flag.
To seperate themselves from earlier governments. (kind of the official reason) During the HRE the 2 heads were used, when Austria became it's own empire also 2 heads were on the eagle, when it became Austria-Hungary: 2 heads on the eagle (then implying somewhat that one is for the austrian and one for the hungarian part) 1st republic dropped one head to make it look different from the emperial one and gave him a sicle to represent the farmers, a hammer to represent the workers, and a crown made of bricks to represent the social class fo the "burghers" (-> a little more upper class than the two former ones mentioned). People saw it as "the head representing the hungarian part got dropped, even though that was not the official reason) This was kept until 1934 when austria got it's own little fascist dictatorship (albeit it not being an antisemitic one but a somewhat catholic one🤷♂). This short diactatorship again used a double headed one with a halo behind each eagleshead and no signs for the 3 groups.This ended in 1938 with a known historic event. And after WW2 the 1919 coat of arms was reinstituted but a broken chain was added to the eagles feet, symbolizing austria being freed from dictatorship.
The current flag of Austria shows the colours of the shield of the rulers of medieval March of Austria (originally a fief of the Babenberg house, only after some time become of the Habsburg's). A march then become a Duchy and then an Arch-duchy. The yellow-black flag (never official, indeed) reflected in a simole eay the colours of the banner of the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 and of the Empire of Austria after): a black double-headed eagle on a yellow (= gold) "field".
The infantile propaganda poster shown at 4:06 breaks my heart. It's doggerel, to be sure, but it represents a voice we have never been allowed to hear from a time that is no more. Thank you so much for making it available to me. I can't imagine seeing such an image anywhere else.
The red-white-red flag is older than the Babenbergs. Originally it goes back to the family of the Eppensteins, who were the dukes of Carinthia. After they died out, the flag went to the Styrian Otokars (Otokar I.) - Carinthia and Styria have a common history (Styria was originally part of Carinthia - Carantanian Mark, or Mark an der Mur). When the Otokars died out with Otokar IV, the Austrian Babenbergs took over the Duchy of Styria (laid down in the Georgensberg Handfeste, 1186) and thus also the red-white-red flag - the personal union of the two duchies was also the foundation stone for today's Austria.
In the more modern setting it is important to note the broken chains on the eagles feet. It is ment to represent that, to quote the famous words: Österreich ist frei! or in english Austria is free.
Honestly I am Austrian myself and although I knew the Habsburg eagle before I was not really aware of that black and yellow flag. Only know the regular red-white-red flag and the one with the eagle. And my home banners and flags of course, like the one of my village wich is a black bear on a white background holding a black and white shield.
But why is the Traungau/Eppstein/Babenburger coat of arms of a red field with a white bar on it exactly the same as the coat of arms of the county of Louvain, of modern Louvain (Leuven), attributed to the duchy of Lower Lorraine, to Godfrey of Bouillon and to the modern city of Bouillon? I have tried to research the origin of this other coat of arms but have not reached a conclusion yet. It is probably just a coincidence that the two coats of arms are the same, I have not found a link between them.
The Black and Yellow was never a national flag of Austria per-sé. The Cislethanian (Austrian) part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire included all of the Empire that was not Hungary, including Galicia, Bohemia, and Dalmatia. The core Archduchy of Austria kept the old/new flag, and it remained in use as the naval jack and on the coat of arms. It wasn’t so much a change as much as Austria proper being the last remaining piece of its former empire.
both flags, the red-white-red and the black-yellow ensign originate in the flags of the Holy Roman Empire. The older flag of the HRE was a white cross on red ground - like an inverted English flag of today. This flag became in fact the origin of many European flags, like the Danish Danebrog, the Swiss flag and the colours of Savoy and other north Italian states. As a variation of the flag of the HRE many territories and cities in the HRE adopted the red-white-red colours schemes in their coat of arms. These older colours of the HRE can therefore sill be seen in many German regions, in particular in North Germany where the red-white variation became the "hanseatic colours". For the same reason the duchy of Austria adopted this colour scheme for its territorial coat of arms (and eventual flag). The black-yellow flag goes back to the younger coat of arms and flag of the HRE - since the 13.th century the Emperors adopted this colour scheme as their personal ensign: the black eagle on yellow/golden ground. Both colours were shown side-by-side as ensigns of the HRE, symbolising "Kaiser und Reich" (Emperor and Empire). Since the 14th and particular the 15th century this black-gold ensign became the dominant ensign of the HRE, eventually replacing completely the older flag as the colours of the HRE. After the dissolution of the HRE in 1806 the Hapsburgs adopted the black eagle on yellow ground as their flag for the newly founded Austrian Empire (Kaisertum Österreich). In the abstract depiction this flag was simply shown as the black and gold stripes.
I'm Austrian and the way we were taught the legend of the bloody banner in school was a little bit different namely that a white tunic worn by an austrian nobleman in a battle had turned completely red from blood but when he removed a broad belt he had been wearing, after the battle there was a white stripe left in the middle of the tunic.
Yeah, I was also told that since there was a rumour that nobleman was critically hurt, that tunic was put on a long stick and presented to his followers so people saw that the blood didn't reach his belly/torso so he wasn't critically wounded (if any) and would live.
I am also Austrian on my father's side and I remember as a kid my Oma and Opa told me that same story, I remember them saying it was Duke Leopold V who was fighting the Ottoman-Turks and his white tunic was covered in blood and when he removed his belt it remained white in the middle which would inspire the Austrian flag.
Duke Leopold V according to Google
@@Taschip I thought so but I kept it broad because I didn't remember exactly. School was a looong time ago ;)
I was also reading about that funny enough in an old book about flags.
2 points: in 1804 the Austrian Empire was proclaimed, making the last Roman Emperor, also the Emperor of Austria ... not a "King" and not a "Kingdom". Secondly, the 1st Republic ceased to exist with the Anschluss of Austria to the 3rd Reich. After WWII the 2. Republic was proclaimed, which is the state Austrians live in today.
@@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn the austrians wanted to be incorporated into germany.
He probably got confused by the Kingdom of Hungary.
If you’re held at gunpoint to vote for annexation, would you say no?@@craig7405
No the first Republic ceased to exist with the take over by the austrof*scist d*ctator Engelbert Dollfuß
by international law the First Republic only "paused" to exist. After the defeat of Nazi Germany - actually even a few weeks before - the defunct Republic was proclaimed to have never seized to exist and the same constitution as before was kept. A provisional government was declared and already in November 1945 a general election was held to form a new parliament and a new government.
The term "Second Republic" is used only informally, legally it is the same Republic as before.
"Imagine changing your flag"this post was made by denmark gang
Afghanistan: where can I learn that?
Heh
“Imagine having a nation” this post was made by listenbourg gang
Northumbria represent
@@lactosetheintolerant.Afghanistan:
Somalia:
EpicGamerlandian Democratic People's Republic
Just for clarification: After the dissolution of the HRE Austria became an empire in which the hungarians weren't treated like they were after the "Ausgleich" in 1867.
Could you tldr what you’re talking about?
@@TheAxeaman KK. monarchie, nach 1867 K. u. K. Monarchie
@@TheAxeaman1806 the whole thing was the Austrian empire. As Hungarians got stronger within the Empire they got an equal status in 1867 to the „German“ speakers. The problem was that Slavs were actually the biggest group and felt disadvantaged even more.
Worth mentioning that this only happened after Austria lost the Brothers War against Prussia and thus lost the power in the German Confederation. The “Ausgleich” with Hungary, which granted Hungarians same rights as Germans in Austria, was a compromise to stay powerful for the emperor. They would have rather chosen to keep ruling Germany.
it may not be accurate but I always liked the Crusaider legend of the Red and White Austrian flag. The one I have heard is that Duke Leopold V of Austria during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood. When he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. Pretty badass.
I love flags with red that symbolize actual blood that has a story (rather than blood spilt generally). Turkish flag has a similar story. In a very bloody battle, commonly said to be battle of Kosovo and sometimes wrongly (but fittingly) battle of Sakarya, a river was flowing red with blood, with star and crescent reflected on it.
Latvian flag have a similar story lol
@@dzhemvrot guy mustve worn a thinner belt haha
This is the only major inaccuracy I noticed in the new Napoleon trailer. In the brief scene where Napoleon is looking over a giant map of Europe on the floor you can clearly see among the flags of Europe you can clearly see instead of the then black and yellow flag of Austria, it shows the modern red and white of modern Austria. Another inaccuracy in the trailer was the battle of the pyramids actually taking place right at the pyramids and seeing them being hit by cannon fire which never happened and the battle actually took place many miles away from them but that’s a whole different topic for a different video.
I can't believe they did such an easy mistake, lol. I know there's a lot of confusion with the Austro-Hungarian "flag" (the civil ensign), but I didn't expect the producers to mistake the Habsburg Austrian flag for the modern one.
I look up the trailer again and I didn't notice the flag of Austria is wrong. It's just the current one and the producers and staff didn't know the bicolor flag of Austria.
New Napoleon trailer?
@@leventekingvevo72 yeah look it up
If you look Ridley Scott's filmography like Gladiator, 1491 and Kingdom of Heaven, you'd know that he couldn't care less about historical accuracy, so don't go into that movie expecting anything less.
What a shame. Gold and black are such nice colors to have on a flag. Too many flags are red and white or red, white, and blue.
Check out the flag of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
all copying the netherlands
@@xenzis2431 france used those colours first
Agreed. Many oppressors and former colonisers of Europe (or countries of European descent) love red/white/blue.
@Zxxyn22
Wrong
The Babenbergers did not just rule a part of Austria, they ruled the part that is actually the historic core of Austria (later "Marcha Orientalis" or "Ostarici", the Dutchy of Austria, essentially todays Upper and lower Austria including Vienna, later they aquired Styria as well). The rest are mainly other, separate realms that where incoperated later for one reason or the other (usually inheritance), such as Tyrol, Carinthia and much later Salzburg.
Another intersting detail: The yellow color of the black/yellow flag is still part in the flag of Brazil. It's used there since the marriage of Emperor Pedro I. of Brazil with Princess Maria Leopoldine of Austria. It is the yellow of the former Austrian flag and the color of the House Habsburg.
Slight correction about the name of Austria. The state's official name isn't First Republic of Austria since it's not in its first republic anymore. This is because Austria was technically refounded after becoming its own country again after World War 2. The names "First Republic of Austria" and "Second Republic of Austria" are used to distinguish between those two eras of austrian history, similar to the Weimar Republic when talking about germany.
The official name is just "Republic of Austria" no First or Second present.
the hammer and the sickle are not sus
like you missed the symbolism a bit.
The eagle has broken chains, which were added in the second republic after ww2 and represent the liberation of Austria.
The hammer represents the workers
the sickle the farmers
and the mural crown the burgers.
The austrian coat of arms is added as well.
it is pretty standard republican heraldry.
you also mixed up the dates a bit. Austria-Hungary as a dual monarchy was created after the austro-prussian war in 1866 following the defeat of austria it managed to stabilize the internal situation in the nationialism plagued empire by granting more rights to the hungarians.
In 1806 the Empire of Austria was declared with Franz I of Austria, who previously was Franz II of the Holy Roman Empire, after Napoleon defeated the Hapsburg armies.
Overall good video on the flag :)
The Hammer and Sickle do of course hint at the fact that the Socialists where drivers of the foundation of the 1st Republic which they fought for, getting rid of the emperor.
“The hammer represents the workers and the sickle the farmers” that’s the point. The hammer and sickle are a communist symbol so it’s a bit odd that a non communist country has a communist symbol on their coat of arms.
Burgers?
@@vihanuyyuru6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie
@@vihanuyyuru6 "Bourgeoisie" or more precise inhabitants of cities that are no workers or farmers. It comes from a time where society was divided in these three classes.
The coat of arms is even older as the Babenberger got it from Traungauer who ended in 1190, who themselves inherited it from the Eppensteiner (Dukes of Carinthia) at the beginning of the 12th century which places its origin at 10th/11th century
PS: and in 1806 you got the Empire of Austria, Austria-Hungary was not until 1866
The red-white colored german flags originate in the red white colors of the roman empire, which were taken over by the Langobards and later on by Karl the Great. The black-yellow flags originate in the personal colors of the holy roman emperor, which developed from the roman coat of arms, a black eagle on yellow ground.
The eagle on the Austrian official banner is special. It wears a crown representing the bourgeoisie, and holds a sickle (farmers) and a hammer (workers). There is also a broken chain that symbolizes freedom from the Nazi usurpation and the Allied occupation after the war.
Not a crown, it's a stonewall
manfred deix had some quite interesting interpretations of the austrian eagle.
just google deix adler.
@@VividFlash Bundes-Verfassungsgesetzt (Federal Constitutional Act) Art. 8a (2): "The coat of arms of the Republic of Austria (the Federal coat of arms) consists of an unfettered, single-headed, black, gilt-armed and red-tongued eagle on
whose breast is imposed a red shield intersected by a silver crosspiece. On its head the eagle bears a mural crown with three visible battlements. A sundered iron chain rings both talons. The right holds a golden sickle with inward turned blade, the left a golden hammer." Official english translation of the german language version
Well, the truth is, most Austrians supported unification with Germany in 1938. Not because they supported Hitlers rule in particular, but unification itself.
@@hansmeier3287Well, technically the Anschluss voting wasn't rigged. The people actually voted yes. However, this was in front of soldiers who strongly suggested that voting no is not good for you.
Dude, this question has been in the back of my mind for a while
Same!
I think the hammer and sickle stands for the two common classes of postwar Austria, the farmers and industrial workers.
That German Austria wanted unite with Germany after WWI explains a lot of why Hitler, who was Austrian, was accepted as a leader of Germany and the Anschluss that followed.
Well yeah us Austrians considered ourselves ethnic Germans back in the day, unlike nowadays where you will be beat with a stick if you call us Germans in our presence. Austria was after all a multi ethnic empire and people said "we are germans in Austria / Polish in Austria etc" So after the multi ethnic empire fell the German identity was way stronger than that of the small leftover state of Austria.
Austrians have always been seen as ethnic Germans, so it was not hard for Hitler, who was born in Austria, to become a German leader.
@@TheAustrianAnimations87 Ethnically Austrians are a mix of mainly the germanic people and slavs that got here in the time time of the great migrations
Culturally they are german and for me cultural identity means much more then ethnicity of your ancestors
@Hawara4 Nobody speaks "Austrian". Maybe only you. :-) He spent 24 years of his life in Austria ( 1889 till 1913 ), 24 years in Germany 1914/ 1938), and 7 years in united Germany/Austria ( 1938-1945). Culture? Was mainly the same in Germany and Austria. So what do you want to tell us?
@@steirerbua5322Wir sind Deutsche. Dass wir einen eigenen Staat haben und eine Identität entstanden ist, die an diesen geknüpft ist, ist eine andere Sache. Der peinliche Antigermanismus, der in den Fünfzigern erstmals propagiert wurde und vor allem in den Siebzigern zunehmend salonfähig gemacht wurde, ist eine propagandistische Leistung, die außerdem mit Neid zu tun hatte. Wer das als Österreicher nicht versteht, hat seine eigene nationale Geschichte nicht begriffen.
In 1806 the Austrian Empire was proclaimed and it used the gold black flag, it wasn't until 1867 that Austria-Hungary was proclaimed. And only Hungary was a kingdom while Austria remained an Empire.
Austria was an empire not a kingdom
Semantics
To be fair, no Austria-Hungary existed until the compromise of 1867. That which was proclaimed in 1806 was simply the Austrian "Kaiserthum" with no special privileges for anyone except the monarchy itself. There was no constitutionally protected idea of cislethania and translethania until the Compromise, and in fact Austria was in essence an absolute monarchy until the early 1860s. Love your videos, but what you said was pretty inaccurate!
Make a video about some of the oldest noble houses that are still present, it's a really cool topic, seing how they were able to keep their power and maybe talk about their lowest points in history.
Your pronunciation of "Flagge Österreichs" was really good.
The city of Leuven in Belgium has the exact same flag as the current austrian flag. According to legend it's origins go back to a guy named Arnulf of Carinthia in the 9th century, who was born in present day Austria (Carinthia).
That legend may not be that far off: The Babenberger dynasty inherited that flag from the Traungauer family (when they died out) which had inherited that flag from the Eppensteiner family.
The Eppensteiner family had it as their feudal flag. And they were dukes of carinthia if i am not mistaken.
Even though Eppenstein, where they resided, is not in todays carinthia, but in styria, which became an independent duchy from carinthia in the 1170's or so. (styria's german name also comes from a dynasty residing not in styria ;-) there's a patter here :-D but it still uses the same coat of arms since the 1170, so it has one of the coldest coats of arms continuosly used for the same thing in the world. with ony 2 very minor changes because of a female politician)
So while we don't have evidence who used it before the Eppensteiner family, you see the legend you know seems not that unlikely...
Thanks for the video Hilbert, it would have been nice to have added the flag of Austria during the Interwar era under the Engelbert Dolfuss government, which was called the "Federal State of Austria". They used the Red-white-red banner with a double headed eagle in the centre. The government lasted from 1934-38 until the "Anschluss" with the Third Reich. The symbolism of that flag is also very inreresting since it fused post-war Republican Austria with the lore of the Habsburg past and Catholicism, which would give Austrians more of an identity seperate from Germany, which the Dolfuss government viewed as industrial, modern and Protestant Germans.
You missed one thing about the modern flag though that is seen as very important regarding its symbolism: the broken chains were added after WW2 when the second republic was founded in 1945 to symbolize Austrias liberation from dictatorship, fascism and nationalsocialism.
Great Video really liked it.
The only thing wrong I noticed was at 5:35. Between WW1 and WW2 there was the First Republic yes. But after the second wolrd war, Austria was occupied by allied forces until 1955. There the State gained it's freedom again, because the last forces left the county therefore not ouccupieng the state anymore, (Thats why the eagle has a broken chain at its feet now) and became the second Republic.
The german state of saxony used to have the same black and yellow flag as austria and changed it to the current white and green one to distance itself from austria.
However the german state of saxony-anhalt still has the black and yellow in its flag.
The german state of Baden Württemberg too.
Because black and yellow (earlier blue and yellow) are the colours of the wettin noble family. This two colour combinations can be found everywhere in city coat of arms of their former dominion.
Although some Austrians (not all) thought it’s a better idea to merge with Germany in 1918 that’s not why they called it German Austria. The reason for calling it that way was it being the German talking part of Austria remaining from the empire. I know it’s complicated but the therm German is older than today’s Germany and therefore has different meanings.
The current flag was also the flag of Bengal sultanate, one of the richest states in it's time
Fun fact is that a small ethnic group in northen Poland, the Kasubians are using same looking black-yellow flag as the Austria-Hungary.
Damn, you posted this video only 1 day after the 219th anniversary of the proclamation of the Austrian Empire.
Btw, fun fact: Austria has the second oldest currently used national flag worldwide after Denmark.
As someone fascinated by the Habsburg Monarchy, I prefer the black-gold/yellow flag, but the red-white-red flag is fine too.
AEIOU
and sometimes Y
ÄÖ
slight correction: we are now the 2nd Austrian republic not the first anymore
The hammer and sickle in the eagles hands do mean "workers and farmers", but its not a sign of communism. It does mean the end of the monarchy, when the eagle had an orb and scepter in his hands. Since 1916 the power moved from the emporer to the people, it was changed to sickle(farmers), a hammer(workers) and a crown of bricks(citizens and democracy) on his head. The broken chain on his hands means regaining independece and rebuilding Austria after WW2.
Leopold V and 1260 doesn't really fit as he died before 1200 and the Siege of Acre in question where this most likely not true legend originates from was 1189-1191 so timewise it would fit.
thanks for your work
As Austrian let me say that long story a bit shorter :
Red White Red = colours of the "Duchy Austria" ever since taken from the coat of arms of the Babenberger dynasty who ruled the Duchy Austria as Dukes since it became a duchy in 1156 and ruled Austria before for almost 2 centuries since 976 as Margraves and who died out in 1246.
Black Gold = the imperial colours of the Emperor ..in the HRE + and then since 1805 after the decline of the HRE used in the Austrian Empire/later Austrian-Hungarian Empire...
After the decline of the HRE the rest of the "German Lands" (= which way later became Germany/German Reich respectively) had no Emperor from 1805 till 1871 so there was no issue for keeping the "HRE Imperial colours" exclusively for the new founded Austrian Empire.
Although as regional colours/part of a regional flag you´ll find "Black+Gold" in Germany as well in those areas which were former so to say "Imperial areas in the HRE" which were areas /towns which weren´t part of an duchy but ruled by a State official of the Empire instead of a Duke.
Disclaimer :
Today´s Austria has 9 federal states but just 2 of those 9 "in terms of area" = the 2 in the North of the country named "Upper Austria" and "Lower Austria" + Vienna which is a Fed.City State of its own inbedded in "Lower Austria" = "technically 3 Fed. States in terms of Fed. States" are the former "Archduchy of Austria" = Is the actual "Austria" from 10th century till 1918. = which was represented with the Babenberger coat of arms
4 Fed. States were either own duchies inherited by the House of Habsburg, some sooner some later (like Salzburg and Tyrol and Styria) or were just - part - of a duchy inherited by the House of Habsburg = Fed.State "Carinthia" = was part of the "Duchy Carniola" (or Duchy "Krain" in German") which included today´s Slovenia + small parts of Northern Italy from the 10th century till 1918..
The last 2 Fed. States are "Vorarlberg" in the very west which was a Habsburg County (actual several former very small counties kinda like the size of Liechtenstein) since the 14th century at the Swiss border and "Burgenland" in the very east which was part of Western Hungary) All those have and always had their own coat of arms/flags but those are now since 1918 "the flags of the Fed. State" while the "coat of arms" of the former Archduchy Austria became "the national flag"
End of disclaimer.
Note:
In the vlog there was said "Austrian King" but that´s not quite right at all..
"Austria" never had "a King" because it wasn´t "a kingdom" but an "Archduchy" since 1453 till 1918 and therefore ruled by an "Archduke" (who happened to be the Emperor of the Empire meaning both "HRE" and then "Austrian Empire").
Over the centuries the Austrian Archduke from the House of Habsburg managed by the means of clever marriage policy to become "King of Hungary" (= was outside the HRE) + "King of Bohemia" (= was inside the HRE) + uncountable other titels inside and outside the HRE according to the status those inherited realms had = kingdoms, duchies, counties which were all inherited "Habsburg´s crownlands" = additional titels like the already mentioned "King" to "Grand Duke" over "Prince" , "Duke" till down to "Count"....and all those titels with their holdings made "the Austrian Archduke" = "the Austrian Emperor" respresented with the colours "Black+Gold" in the 1805 founded "Austrian Empire" which later became "Austrian-Hungarian Empire" by dividing the executive power = basically since then the Hungarians ruled themselves in Budapest/had an own parliament and was not ruled from Vienna anymore.
both look great IMO
🗿🗿🗿Agreed 🍷🍷🍷
well the eagle is there because the same ppl bloodlines still have power in the background like any other monachs they dont just vanish or are powerless like the royals in other countrys always claim to be just decoration nothing to see here guys ^^ to the eagle is like the "hidden in plain sight" analogy like we see in so many flags and symbols all over the world
Quite messy video: in short the Austrian flag has always been red white and red. The black and yellow banner represented the Habsburg Empire, that included Austria but also many other territories like Hungary, parts of Poland, parts of Italy and at least nominal power on all Germany until 1866. For Habsburg ruled Germany only they also added a red stripe in the middle, that "casually' is today's flag of Germany. After the loss of the German Confederation in 1866 Bismark strickly prohibited the black red gold banner because of the Habsburg connection.
Hi Hilbert, amazing vídeo as always!
You should make a video about Dutch Brazil, as a Brazilian living in the Netherlands I’d love to watch it !
* Wilhelmus intensifies *
Expected a little Wilhelmus when Habsburg lost the Northern Netherlands to 'you know who'!
"One of the oldest flags, dating back to 1230"
Damn, it's over two hours old!
🇦🇹: Im gonna flip my flag
*🇦🇹 flips their flag*
🇵🇪: Wow I look cool
🇨🇱: Peru IS THAT YOU?! Im GONNA KICK YO ASS
🇵🇪: Shit
great Video @History With Hilbert, but you got something wrong: @2:05 the Siege of Akkon was between 1189-1191.
Thank you, I was trying to figure this out about 6months ago and couldn't find out why the change happened
Hello Hilbert. Interesting to see what happened to the flag I was used to from Napoleonic wargames and to have something to mention to my girlfriend's relatives from Austria to pass the time.
my guy austria hungary wasnt declared in 1806, that was the austrian empire, like imagine making this video without knowing that
The Austrian eagle has not only a hammer and a sickle but also a corona muralis or mural crown which is a symbol dating back to Roman times. It represents cities and by extension the Bürger or city dwellers aka the bourgeoise class. So it represents all 3 Republican classes and not just he farmer and worker classes which are represented by the sickle and the hammer respectively.
Austria sure has a pretty old flag
Nice video, however the state that Austrians live in today is the "2. Republik" ie. the "2nd republic". The first ended after the Anschluss in 38'.
I love how the little men in the videos haven’t changed much from the early days 😁
Tad more accessories, but still going strong
Big inaccuracies at 3:40. Emperor Franz proclaimed the Kaisertum Österreich (Austrian Empire) in 1804 as the forced end of the HRE was imminent. (no Kingdom of Austria, no Kingdom of Austria and Hungary... Austrian Empire in 1804, and a name change to Austria-Hungary much later in 1867). This was just a name change for the Habsburg monarchy, the territories had already been referred to as Austria for centuries. The key was the Habsburgs stayed emperors as they felt this title belonged rightfully only to them. The gold and black flag was used for the entire Austrian empire aka all Habsburg possessions. What you're talking about with demarcating the Austrian half of the empire is not relevant until the Ausgleich in 1867 and even after that the Gold and Black was the most commonly used flag for the empire as a whole. You're also mixing up Franz Joseph with Franz the second of the HRE, 1st of Austria. Franz Joseph was not HRE emperor. There is no Joseph in the period you're referring to.
The flag today often associated with the HRE was also in the centuries before the Napoleonic wars mostly associated with Austria as the Holy Roman emperors fielded their troops under their imperial banner and the troops predominantly came from the lands of the Habsburg monarchy, not for example from Würtemberg or elsewhere for example, so the continuation of using black and gold was natural.
Further inaccuracies as others have pointed out the first Austrian republic ended with the Anschluss in 1938, what Austrians today live in is the second republic.
Just as a fun fact. THE FAMIY CASTLE of the HOUSE OF HABSBURG is in GRAUBÜNDEN ( GRISONS in French and English ) It is a part of SwiTZERLAND Originally a part of the Habsburgian lands but the later Swiss people had kicked them out
2:56 THE EMPIRIAL WAR FLAG: That was not unisono the case. Also a very popular one had been the BLACK EAGLE on GODLEN IYELLOW ) Ground. THE EAGLE not not unly stood for the Heritage of the Roman Empire but also for the HOUSE of HOHENSTAUFEN
The Doublehaeded Eagle stood for the Habsburgian Family and there various properties in the areas of the REICH and outside of it.
seems like I just stumbled across the original "fun with flags" channel. nice.
Austria was formed in 1030. Im austrian
Never ask a man his salary,
A woman her age,
or what the color red in the Austrian flag represents.
Then you also should never look up the lyrics of the french national anthem and what they mean...
This is probably the video with the most inaccuracies in this series, but that's understandable considering that Austria Hungary was a very confusing...thing.
The yellow-black banner was an (unofficial) flag of the EMPIRE of Austria (the colours had been taken by those of the black double-headed eagle on a golden background of the Holy Roman Empire before, and of the Emperor of Austria after).
The red-white-red flag was the flag of the ARCH-DUCY of Austria (before: Ducy of Austria, before Mark of Austria). It came from the colours of the shield of its first rulers (before the house of Habsburg): the house of Babenberg.
Very informative for non-Austrians. However, one major mistake: When the HRE is dissolved in 1806, the Austrian possessions are transformed into the „Austrian Empire“, NOT into a supposed „Kingdom“ of „Austria-Hungary“ as claimed. The Austrian Empire is reformed into the „dual monarchy“ „Austria-Hungary“ only by 1867 (consisting of both an Empire and a Kingdom).
I am also Austrian and I have to add that we are now called the Second Austrian Republic since the first one ended when we were (willingly) annexed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
After the war ended and we became an independent Nation again the Second Austrian Republic was established.
Can you do a video about the regional languages of the Netherlands?
a video about austria?
now this is rare
"[...] and following that it had to change its name to The First Austrian Republic, which is still the state of Austria that we know today".
Wrong. The First Republic ended in 1939 when Austria reconnected to the German Reich under Adolf Hitler. After the end of WWII the Second Republic of Austria was founded.
Greetings from Austria!
That date was 12th of august 2023 when it was created that was my birthday
3:40, in 1806 The Austrian Empire was created and the flag was for the whole empire not just Austria
Wow the Styrian Panther is even represented in the depiction of 1260 (02:13) - could very well be the oldest provincial flag.
The coat of Lower Austria is from 985, and was the coat of the original Ostarrichi region. The Styrian coat was once the coat of the traungauers and became the coat of Styria when it became a Herzogtum in 1180.
I actually prefer the Austrian flag with the eagle in the middle
The eagle represents the Habsburgs, so the Austrian monarchy is sometimes called the Habsburg monarchy.
@@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn As a Brit, I have a positive view towards monarchy (constitutional monarchies)
@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn It does not. It's clearly harkening back in practice to glorious history of the Austrian Empire and centuries of being the home province of the Holy Roman Emperor before that, but officially it explicitly doesn't even symbolize that, but is just a generic republican symbol (for the same reason why eagles are all over U.S. seals and iconography). And either way, with symbols of the common people held in its claws instead of symbols of royal rule, the eagle is made decidedly opposed to Habsburg claims.
@@twincast2005 If you look closely, the eagle is wearing a crown. Usually, republican eagles don't wear crowns, as there would be no king to represent the crowns. Also, the coat-of-arms of republican countries don't have crowns, and usually have some liberty-related motto as well as the country name or date of independence; most countries that declared independence from European powers in Africa adopted such coat-of-arms. In monarchies, their coat-of-arms usually depict crowns sitting on top of their shields, and other crowns are used as well. They usually have French or Latin mottos as composed to mottos in their own language in republican countries. Also, some monarchist coat-of-arms can make the animal that supports the shield wear a crown.
@@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn The crown on the austrian coat of arms eagle is depicted to be made out of bricks like a wall, and is supposed to represent the "burgher" class. So anyone who didn't get counted to the farmers/agricultural class (= the sicle in the one hand of the eagle) and workers (= the hammer in the other hand).
They aimed to represent these 3 classes of citizens, and since the eagle only has 2 hands they put stuff on his head. (no joke, that is the reasoning behind it)
The liberty thing with the austrian one is the broken chain. And it exists since 1945 as the first republic didn't gain independence of any colonial overlord. Austria only really got independent once and that was 1945. There is no wording needed if you got broken chains as a symbol. (as being freed from dictatorship)
As for monarchic symbols: To illustrate why you couldn't be further from the goal the people creating this coat of arms tried to achieve. With the 1st republic at the end of WW1, nobility "was banned" in austria (and is to this day). Meaning no nobility tittles or priviliges, and Habsburg family members close or far either had to get out of the country (whithout their posessions) or to give up most of their posessions and any titles etc. if they wanted to stay in the country. (the farther the family connection, the less they had to give up posessions and wealth, Kaiser Karl and his wife and children for example basically had to go with what fit in travel luggage and only survived a few years from donations of friends in exile and died relatively shortly afterwards)
The "heir" of the austrian throne (Otto con Habsburg, interesting fellow!) was not allowed back into austria until 1966 (!) In 1961 he wrote an officially declaration to never try to raise any claim on austria. (not only for him but all his descendants) And still it took the spreme court decision and several years of pilitical delaying actions until he and his children were allowed to enter the country. And they are not able to run for any political office but head of state. And even that is only possible since 2011. Before that, there was a specific law that prohibited any family member from being able to run for that office too. (not much power in that office, mostly representing when other heads of state visit)
That's how "monarchophobic" politicians were after WW1 in austria.
Schloss Wildberg wird gelegentlich auch als „Wappenschloss“ bezeichnet, da die Grafen von Hohenburg-Wildberg einen rot-weiß-roten Bindenschild als Wappen führten. Einzelne Historiker sind der Meinung, dass darauf der ab dem 13. Jahrhundert von den Babenbergern verwendete rot-weiß-rote Bindenschild zurückgeht, der später von den Habsburgern übernommen wurde und Ursprung der heutigen Nationalfarben Österreichs ist.
As austrian it's so cool how many details are added in the comments.
I am very impressed cause I was still not sure if the world even knows were Austria is😂.
Thanks for the really nice video👌🏻
"Acre" is pronounced "ah-ker." Or in Hebrew _Akko_ and Arabic _Akka._
Yes, you're right! As I found out listening to a podcast since recording this video.
One thing: The first Republic isnt the exact state Austrians life in now. We life in the second Republik since 1955. (post WW2 occupation)
Once you say yellow-black flag once black-yellow. It's pretty important what color is on top of the flag.
Similar to how people get Poland's and Indonesia's flag confused when they say the colors of the flag from top to bottom vs. bottom to top.
5:40 - just a minor addition: today, it is the second republic of Austria, due to the things happening just prior to WW2, not the first republic.
Additionally at 5:55 there are also broken chains around the claws of the eagle as a symbol of having broken free.
And the hammer and sickle are symbols of workers and farmers, two major parts of the Austrian people, at least at the time. Especially in the first republic, those two groups (or at least groups that identified with the idea of a split worker/farmer culture and politicized them) tried to gain the upper hand in politics and the power in the state.
Only in prison during WW2 (since neither group was wanted by the German government at the time) did the leaders and other activists find common ground and thus they heavily worked together at the start of the second republic (and for some time thereafter). Thought that also birthed the "Proporz", where this 'working together' drifted into spheres of corruption and exclusion of other parties and stuff. Which surly beats fighting each others in the streets with guns, but is a topic of itself and I think I started to ramble and should just stop here.
Anyway, the hammer and sickle isn't a sign of communism here (though it might've been a political move to include them to please the Soviet Union at the time), it symbolizes the two biggest peoples/factions of Austria (or at least how it was perceived) at the time.
The state of Austria today is actually the 2nd Republic of Austria, which came to be in 1955 when Austria got its freedom back after WWII
The Holy Roman Emperor was not Joseph, but Franz II., who continued to rule as Franz I. of Austria. Joseph (II., I assume) was the successor to Maria Theresia and he ruled for only 10 years, from 1780-90.
I was thought it might be something to do with bumblebees being pissed off but I was wrong.
It was Francis who spanned the end of the HRE and declared himself Austrian emperor, not Joseph.
The most interesting feature of the austrian eagle are the broken chains which occur in the coat of arms of the 2nd republic of Austria (after WW2) but not in the one of the 1st republic. They represent our liberation from Nazi-Germany by the Allies. Austria saw itself as the first victim until the late 1980s.
The original coat of arms of the Babenbergs was not red-white-red. Actually, this coat of arms was red-silver-red. But you can't really reproduce silver like gold in flags, so it became red-white-red.
Ah Austria, so many questions...
Really? , fire away... there's quite a number of austrians in teh comments, you could get answers.
@@nirfz Sorry?
@@KangaKucha Now that's a confusing question!
-> You commented: _Ah Austria, so many questions_ -> hence my comment
@@nirfz well Austria aka Austria-Hungry has alot happening, you wonder why, how, etc
@@KangaKucha Short version or the recent history: Because it was/is in the middle of the continent, and anything moving/migrating... east-west, north-south impacted it's history and pre history.
Also for a long time it's rulers also were the rulers of the HRE, so it's history was strongly linked to what happened in and to the HRE.
And thanks to the geography: mountainous in the west and center, and going flat in the east (of current austria) transforming into the hungarian (the a is important ;-)) plain it meant that attacks from the east on horseback were always a danger for centuries and lead to certain decisions in politics buildings, mindsets, weaponry... (two ottoman sieges of vienna, both "won" by the "defendants")
And after WW1 loosing the majority of the rest of the country even german speaking areas, also meaning uncertainty if the agricutltural output would be able to feed the population, if the industry would manage to survive etc. most people thought merging with germany would be necessary. The WW1 winning Allies prevented that. And it turned out that Austria managed to survive alone, which turned the eager for merging with germany mostly off. That sentiment changed a little before 1938 (promisses for work and wealth by a certain german dictatorship party), and on paper to over 93% after the Anschluß in a non anonym vote with only yes or no choice and violent threats to anyone choosing no. (and exclusion of anybody certain to vote no)
Then after WW2 an urge to forget everything fast and act innocent and get back on the feet as a country. With the good will of the allies and agreeing to the russian condition for austria to be neutral, the country got it's souvereignity back after 10 years of occupation. And economy got a boost by the marshal plan money and the will of the people to forget WW2 and dive into work and ingenuity, made it one of the richest countries of the world. (Or at least that's what we are told)
After a few decades "not forgetting anymore" and "acting repsonsible for WW2 crimes" became doctrin, and so pupils learned about the atrocities austrians and germans commited during WW2 in depth, today plaques and encscriptions on houses and places tell of people who violently lost their place to live and lifes...
And in recent history the geographical position and richness of the country lead to it becomming the target for illegal migration from Syria, Afghanistan...
Between 2015 and today only sweden took more "refugees" per capita in europe than austria.
i liked the old one more.
The title is actually wrong. As much as I like the black-gold flag, the red-white-red flag is much older. It dates back to the Third Crusade period and is the oldest flag still in use after the Danish flag.
5:35 Today it is the Second Austrian Republic.
Tbh overall it's weird because both flags are related to Hapsburgs after all..
But the red-white-red was already used before the Habsburgs for the same place it is used today. (mostly)
I'm actually intrigued as to why they dropped one of the heads from the eagle?
To seperate themselves from earlier governments. (kind of the official reason)
During the HRE the 2 heads were used, when Austria became it's own empire also 2 heads were on the eagle, when it became Austria-Hungary: 2 heads on the eagle (then implying somewhat that one is for the austrian and one for the hungarian part) 1st republic dropped one head to make it look different from the emperial one and gave him a sicle to represent the farmers, a hammer to represent the workers, and a crown made of bricks to represent the social class fo the "burghers" (-> a little more upper class than the two former ones mentioned).
People saw it as "the head representing the hungarian part got dropped, even though that was not the official reason)
This was kept until 1934 when austria got it's own little fascist dictatorship (albeit it not being an antisemitic one but a somewhat catholic one🤷♂).
This short diactatorship again used a double headed one with a halo behind each eagleshead and no signs for the 3 groups.This ended in 1938 with a known historic event.
And after WW2 the 1919 coat of arms was reinstituted but a broken chain was added to the eagles feet, symbolizing austria being freed from dictatorship.
The current flag of Austria shows the colours of the shield of the rulers of medieval March of Austria (originally a fief of the Babenberg house, only after some time become of the Habsburg's). A march then become a Duchy and then an Arch-duchy.
The yellow-black flag (never official, indeed) reflected in a simole eay the colours of the banner of the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 and of the Empire of Austria after): a black double-headed eagle on a yellow (= gold) "field".
The black and yellow looked so good tho
Baden-Württemberg in 1953: Hippity hoppity, this is now my property.
The infantile propaganda poster shown at 4:06 breaks my heart. It's doggerel, to be sure, but it represents a voice we have never been allowed to hear from a time that is no more. Thank you so much for making it available to me. I can't imagine seeing such an image anywhere else.
The red-white-red flag is older than the Babenbergs. Originally it goes back to the family of the Eppensteins, who were the dukes of Carinthia. After they died out, the flag went to the Styrian Otokars (Otokar I.) - Carinthia and Styria have a common history (Styria was originally part of Carinthia - Carantanian Mark, or Mark an der Mur). When the Otokars died out with Otokar IV, the Austrian Babenbergs took over the Duchy of Styria (laid down in the Georgensberg Handfeste, 1186) and thus also the red-white-red flag - the personal union of the two duchies was also the foundation stone for today's Austria.
My company's logo, Brown Brothers Harriman, also looks like Austria's flag.
Nice!
I am from Austria....
Interesting. Thx
In the more modern setting it is important to note the broken chains on the eagles feet. It is ment to represent that, to quote the famous words: Österreich ist frei! or in english Austria is free.
Honestly I am Austrian myself and although I knew the Habsburg eagle before I was not really aware of that black and yellow flag. Only know the regular red-white-red flag and the one with the eagle. And my home banners and flags of course, like the one of my village wich is a black bear on a white background holding a black and white shield.
Is there any connection with Arnhem also having black and yellow and a double-headed eagle in their flag/coat of arms?
Its a hammer and sicle but the chain is broken thats nice symbolic
But why is the Traungau/Eppstein/Babenburger coat of arms of a red field with a white bar on it exactly the same as the coat of arms of the county of Louvain, of modern Louvain (Leuven), attributed to the duchy of Lower Lorraine, to Godfrey of Bouillon and to the modern city of Bouillon? I have tried to research the origin of this other coat of arms but have not reached a conclusion yet. It is probably just a coincidence that the two coats of arms are the same, I have not found a link between them.
The Black and Yellow was never a national flag of Austria per-sé. The Cislethanian (Austrian) part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire included all of the Empire that was not Hungary, including Galicia, Bohemia, and Dalmatia. The core Archduchy of Austria kept the old/new flag, and it remained in use as the naval jack and on the coat of arms. It wasn’t so much a change as much as Austria proper being the last remaining piece of its former empire.
both flags, the red-white-red and the black-yellow ensign originate in the flags of the Holy Roman Empire. The older flag of the HRE was a white cross on red ground - like an inverted English flag of today. This flag became in fact the origin of many European flags, like the Danish Danebrog, the Swiss flag and the colours of Savoy and other north Italian states. As a variation of the flag of the HRE many territories and cities in the HRE adopted the red-white-red colours schemes in their coat of arms. These older colours of the HRE can therefore sill be seen in many German regions, in particular in North Germany where the red-white variation became the "hanseatic colours". For the same reason the duchy of Austria adopted this colour scheme for its territorial coat of arms (and eventual flag). The black-yellow flag goes back to the younger coat of arms and flag of the HRE - since the 13.th century the Emperors adopted this colour scheme as their personal ensign: the black eagle on yellow/golden ground. Both colours were shown side-by-side as ensigns of the HRE, symbolising "Kaiser und Reich" (Emperor and Empire). Since the 14th and particular the 15th century this black-gold ensign became the dominant ensign of the HRE, eventually replacing completely the older flag as the colours of the HRE. After the dissolution of the HRE in 1806 the Hapsburgs adopted the black eagle on yellow ground as their flag for the newly founded Austrian Empire (Kaisertum Österreich). In the abstract depiction this flag was simply shown as the black and gold stripes.
I‘m an Austrian girl and i don‘t know all that 🙈🤣 really good video. Lovely greats from Vienna