slavery unit : €        tongue : Deutsch (German)        9000000 idiot monkeys on 83858 km²

            puke sects : X 65%    pagan + other 27%    muslim 8%

            The legend says Leopold 5 von Babenberg fought at the battle of Acre (Akko) in 1191 durin the 3° crusade. After the fight, his white tunic was spattered with blood except at the place of his sword belt so as he was showin "3 stripes" red-white-red. That would explain how Austria's flag bore. But it's only a legend. The right explanation is that Leopold 4 von Babenberg adopted it in 1136 both as a will and a sign of independence from the Germanic Emperor and his famous black eagle on a yello banner. Good idea, Leopold ! It is also very often said it was Friedrich 2 von Babenberg who adopted it only in 1230 but it seems that Leopold 4 had done it already in 1136. The flag was adorned with a double headed black eagle durin the whole Habsburg era. One of the heads was cut off in 1918 when the Austrian Empire collapsed and was turned into a republic. The double headed black eagle came back durin a short period called Federal State of Austria in 1934 but the flag was soon forbidden by the nazis for the period 1938-1945. The present pattern was (re)adopted on 1 MAY 1945.

                                                                                                  capital : WIEN

                1945                                                                         state flag

                +        +        +        1945-1955   (administrated by the 4 main winner countries but allowed to display its own flag)

                +        fascist & colonial 1938    (Third Reich)    (3:5)                        (detail)

                1934   (Bundesstaat Österreich / Federal State of Austria)                        (detail)

                1919   (Republik Österreich / Republic of Austria)                        (detail)

                1918   (Republik Deutsch-Österreich / Republic of German Austria)

                +        1867   (Austria-Hungary)   (imperial flag + national traditional colors for Austria)

                1804   (Empire of Austria created - House of Hasburg-Lothringen 1804-1918)                                                                 Heiliges Reich 1804-1806

                1786-1869    (Joseph 2 von Habsburg decides to adopt the red-white-red triband as civil ensign)                                naval ensign 1786-1918

                1440   (Friedrich 5 von Habsburg not crowned Emperor before 1452 but 1440 was the start of Habsburg rule over the Holy Roman Empire - Habsburg Heiliges Reich)

                1298    (Albert 1 von Habsburg King of Germany - Thou being a Habsburg he adopted the Babenberg red-white-red as arms of Austria.)

                1136    (Leopold 4 von Babenberg, Margrave of Austria / margraves of Austria upshifted dukes of Austria from 1156)

                976    (Leopold 1 von Babenberg, Margrave of Austria)

                962    (First Reich - Otto 1 first emperor of the Heiliges Römisches Reich)

                843   (East Francia - Kingdom of Louis The German)    (putative banner)

                800    (Carolus Magnus empire)

                496    (Frankish Empire)

                colonial 15 BC    (Roman Empire)

                1000 BC    (Celts + Celto-Germans)

                                                                                                                                                                                        9 LÄNDER :

                                                                                                                                 
            BURGENLAND                                                                                                                 KÄRNTEN                                                                                                                       NIEDERÖSTERREICH

                                                                                                                                 
            OBERÖSTERREICH                                                                                                       SALZBURG                                                                                                                     STEIERMARK

                                                                                                                                 
            TIROL                                                                                                                                 VORARLBERG                                                                                                               WIEN

                                                       Notice STEIERMARK 1160 turned its colors in 1260 as you can check it out here > www.grboslovje.si/stajerska.php

                                                                                                                                                                                            NOTES :

 shield of Leopold 1 von Babenberg in 976 – Babenberg coat of arms is stil visible today as shield of the Austrian Land NIEDERÖSTERREICH  

    shield of Leopold 4 von Babenberg in 1136 – 100 years before the very widely spread attribution as new arms (red-white-red) of Duke Friedrich 2 von Babenberg on his coronation in 1230

  shield of Rudolf 1 von Habsburg Count of Habsburg in 1239 then King of Germany in 1273 – Yet this Habsburg very first shield dates from the 990's.

    Albert 1 von Habsburg Duke of Austria in 1282 then King of Germany in 1298 – Thou he was a Habsburg he adopted the Babenberg red-white-red that became the new arms of the Habsburg House.


 Sigismund King of Hungary in 1387 then Holy Roman Emperor in 1433 – believed to be the first imperial use of double headed eagle

The House of Habsburg-Lothringen becomes Emperors of Austria from 1804 and a new shield is adopted by Emperor of Austria Franz 1 (who had been Holy Roman Emperor Franz 2)



      arms of Habsburg-Lothringen from 1804



      greater arms of Habsburg-Lothringen from 1857

   As a bonus, this extraordinary beautiful chart by Hugo Gerard STRÖHL from his heraldry book dated 1890 :

  

      As an extra bonus, this beautiful chart incoherent as theres still Bosnia from 1878 but still NOT Küstenland till 1849 !!!!
  I mean Istria + Görz und Gradisca + Triest are merged into a new entity named Österreichisches Küstenland from 1849. So this chart dates PRE-1849.... but theres already Bosnia. So this chart dates POST 1878. It's an incoherent no-time's-land !!!!

      This other chart (I could not find the date) IS coherent as theres Küstenland on line #2.
  Line #1 starts with Böhmen    Line #2 starts with Küstenland    Line #3 starts with Mähren    Line #4 starts with Salzburg

          shield & flag of Österreichisches Küstenland 1849-1919    (Görz und Gradisca + Triest + Istria merged into one single entity)

  QUARTER #1 = Görz    QUARTER #2 = Gradisca    QUARTER #3 = Triest    QUARTER #4 = Istria

      Görz und Gradisca + Triest + Istria merged in 1849 into a single entity named Österreichisches Küstenland

  

 

 

  As a bonus, all theze extraordinary beautiful charts made by Hugo Gerard STRÖHL, from a heraldry book dated 1890.

 These magnificent big size full color plates are taken from here > austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Symbole/Wappenrolle_Stroehl_gross

This flag is displayed everywhere as Empire of Austria-Hungary "compromise flag" (SIC) from 1867 till 1918 but this flag is DEFINITELY NOT that !!!!

This very flag was the civil ensign (for merchant ships) of Austria-Hungary from 1869 (not 1867) till 1918 as displayed on the both most complete & most beautiful existin chart just below :

(just too bad I could not find a bigger picture of such a magnificent piece of art)

This very flag is also displayed on this chart taken from the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1911 :

(It's written "AUSTRIA-HUNGARY Mercantile Marine" which means civil ensign.)

A civil ensign is a peculiar flag used on merchant (civil) ships and personal (civil) pleasure boats.

A civil ensign SHALL AND MUST NOT be confused with a civil flag on land.

This is the Austrian imperial standard :

The main colors of this imperial standard gave the flag below used from 1804 as the imperial flag (also named Landesfarben banner) :

So the Austrian flag SHALL be this blak & yello Landesfarben flag and DEFINITELY NOT the so called "compromise flag" (SIC !!!) that has NEVER been a "compromise flag" (SIC) AT ALL but the civil ensign from 1869 till 1918.

The Austrian flag SHALL be DEFINITELY this blak & yello Landesfarben flag as you can check it out on the followin old postcards :