In the 15th century, the Low Countries came under the domination of the House of Burgundy who ruled from the Spanish throne. In essence, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg were Spanish provinces. The flag that flew over these provinces during the Spanish domination was that of the House of Burgundy, known as the Burgundian Cross. Later, under the Hapsburgs who ruled from Spain and Austria, the Burgundian Cross continued to be used in the Low Countries. However, In the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), the Dutch rose up against the Spanish in their own revolution. They were led by Prince William of Orange, of the German House of Nassau. Because of this, the rebels chose a flag that incorporated the colors of the prince's coat-of-arms, orange, white, and blue. This was called the Prinsenvlag (the Prince's Flag) in honor of their leader. After the Dutch gained their indendence, this flag became the first truly national flag of the Low Countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
During the 16th century, the Netherlands became the center of the European textile industry. "Flemish cloth" was the most desirable and fashionable of any other textile in Europe. As such, the Dutch took the lead in advancing technology revolving around this profitable industry, including the standardization of colors and dyes. As a result, the standard for the color of orange became a vivid, brilliant shade that from a distance looked red. Over the years, orange was eventually replaced with red dye altogether. It is also believed that the dyes used during this time allowed the new flags created with the brilliant orange dyes to wear over time so that the orange faded to red. Regardless, within only a few generations, red was used almost exclusively instead of orange, even though the color orange remained official.
During the Napoleonic years, the Low Countries were invaded by the French and was set up first as a republic (the Batavian Republic) and then as a kingdom ruled by Napoleon's brother, Louis. During this era, the French were predisposed to push red as the official color instead of orange so that the Dutch and the French shared the same national colors of red, white, and blue. During the republican years, the French designed a Dutch flag that included what is known as the "Virgin of Liberty." This allegorical emblem was placed as a canton in the upper left corner of the Dutch flag. It became a symbol of the French occupation and was universally despised by the Dutch. When Napolean was finally defeated, the Congress of Vienna (1815) re-established the Netherlands as an independent kingdom ruled by the House of Orange and the plain Dutch tricolor returned with great joy. Some people, however, flew the more historically correct orange-white-blue tricolor while other flew the traditional red-white-blue colors. Both versions flew side by side with one another for many years. Eventually, the red-white-blue combination again won out over the orange-white-blue. However, the orange-white-blue tricolor went on to become the archivellium of the flag of the Dutch colony of South Africa and the Apartheid-era Republic of South Africa. It was not until 1937 that Queen Wilhelmina decreed that the offiical colors of the Dutch flag are red (or officially bright vermillian), white, and cobalt blue. This official version has flown over the Netherlands ever since, except during World War II and the German occupation, during which the Swastika of the Third Reich was the offiical flag (since Germany had annexed the Netherlands into the German state.) The Dutch tricolor played an important role in the resistence movement of the Netherlands and was used again after the Allied liberation. |
