What was the original flag of the Netherlands?

Why does the Dutch flag look like the French flag?

So far, there are two competing theories for why the Dutch flag resembles the French flag so closely.

They're both wrong, but it's interesting that neither of them is particularly well-received.

(Warning: this post may contain a slight profanity or two). The Dutch flag theory. As I mentioned in this post, there are two ways in which the Dutch flag bears a resemblance to the French flag. The first is that the blue area looks similar, with the top two stripes in the colours of the House of Orange (orange and blue).

Another way in which the two flags are similar is in the horizontal stripes. If you've read my post on the Dutch flag, you'll know that I don't like the horizontal stripes on the Dutch flag. They're too close to each other.

This is in contrast to the Dutch flag's vertical stripes, which can be more than a foot apart without affecting the flag's aesthetics. The only reason they're that wide is because their origins go back to 1799, when Willem IV ordered the introduction of the national standard.

But in 1795, the Dutch flag was already in use, and it looked very similar to the French flag at the time. The French used vertical stripes, too, and the two had the same width.

The colours of the two nations were different, and it's not surprising that the colours of the Dutch flag came from the Orangist orange. The French flag theory. A more popular theory is that the Dutch flag resembles the French flag because the Dutch were influenced by France during the Napoleonic Wars. In fact, in his book The Dutch Flag, historian John Mackay says that the Netherlands was "almost entirely French" after the Revolution.

The Dutch had the same colours as the French, and the same design as the House of Orange. They even had a revolutionary anthem in common, though that could also be seen as coincidence.

In fact, it's not entirely untrue that the Netherlands was "almost entirely French". After the French Revolution, the House of Orange-Nassau split in half and the southern provinces broke away. This became the Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands' modern-day territories. The northern Netherlands became the United Provinces, and later the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a monarchy.

Why did the Dutch change their flag?

By Michael Lavers.

I've posted a previous version on the subject of the Dutch flag back in 2026. I have recently realised that not much has changed since then and thus put this post together to include new info! I'm not going to dwell on how the flag change affected and what it now means (although see the history for that below). What I do want to address here is from the white one with 3 red and blue stripes (which was previously the flag) to the current blue and red flag? In a series of 4 articles over the coming weeks, my aim is to explain why they did that and why it was such a popular change at the time.

The reason I'm doing that because it's quite a complex subject and most books are aimed more at a layman than a political geek. There is a vast amount of literature and some conflicting points to try and make sense of. With just a handful of books on the subject you risk being lost within it all and not having any understanding of what exactly is going on or why or how important it all was. So lets dive in right now, where we will hopefully be able to find some facts before diving into theory.

A short overview of the flag change in simple terms. What used to be their flag prior to the current flag came about as a result of the war with Spain (also known as the "Spanish War of Independence"). They decided to ditch the current standard of the Netherlands and created their own in 1814 in an attempt to show strength against Spain.

As an aside, another interesting note on the subject is that prior to the war with Spain, they were still using a white flag. So they were willing to go to battle when they wanted to, but once they lost in battle, the white flag had no more use for them and they created their own as a replacement.

Before the war with Spain (known as the "Spanish War of Independence"), the Dutch Republic was a republic based off of the principles laid out by de Toellbach in his writings. The Republic was built on free trade, democracy and tolerance - it was all based on a secular religion known as "Oriental Philosophy".

What was the original flag of the Netherlands?

From the very early days of the Republic, the people of the Netherlands have been known as flag-lovers.

For centuries, each Dutchman has made his own flag. Many of these have been used international sports events, for example in fencing, volleyball and ice-hockey. In recent decades, many new proposals have emerged, often by young entrepreneurs or groups of people inspired by their heritage. Some have been made official by the government and now the Netherlands is proud of several different flags!

The flag of the Netherlands was initially a white, three-fold striped flag, adopted on May 17, 1919. The design came from painter Johan Hendrik Spierenburg (1874-1946). It was later amended to also include a blue background.

Today the Netherlands uses five different flags: national, state, party, official and military flag. National flag. What are the original colours of the Netherlands' national flag? A yellow cross on a blue field is the original color combination of the flag of the Netherlands. This symbolises Dutch Christianity.

Did Spierenburg come up with the colours? Spierenburg did not give any information about his motivation for using the cross, but it does appear that he was inspired by the old red-and-yellow flag of Utrecht. When was the national flag first used? On May 17, 1919, a delegation from the Dutch national Council (VNU) adopted a yellow and blue flag with a red cross (see above). That very day, the Dutch Army flew the new flag, marking the start of the Dutch occupation of the East-Frisian Islands and the liberation of the Netherlands from the German control. The flag had been first proposed in a book published in the early 20th century, and after the liberation of the country, many people were involved in creating new designs, inspired by the previous symbols. Where and when did this flag come into use? In 1923, the Royal House of The Netherlands announced that Spierenburg's creation would be the official flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was used as the official national flag until 1954. The white field was changed to blue, to include the red cross and the royal crown.

When did the Dutch start flying the flag in public places?

Does the Netherlands have two flags?

Some sources seem to show the Netherlands has two flags, while others say there is only one.

What's going on? If you look at the Dutch Wikipedia article, it has the following paragraph: The Netherlands is the only country in the world that uses a standardised flag with two official national flags. The first of these was introduced in 1795. The second was introduced in 1997, but had to be slightly redesigned due to problems with manufacturing. It has become common, however, for an unofficial "flag with two colours" to appear on certain souvenirs, T-shirts and postcards (for example at Schiphol Airport). It is also quite common for people to take a flag home after a visit to the Netherlands and then attach it to their home or car.

But I see no mention of a third flag. Here is a page which refers to a flag with two colours, but it doesn't seem to be official. There is also an article on CNN that says there are two flags and adds that if there were an official flag, it would have to be a "standardised flag" which I haven't seen. It is also quite possible that the unofficial flag with two colours is not exactly a flag, but something else.