Original Item: Only One Available. This is a totally original Imperial German WWI Naval War Ensign Battle Flag, with a large Balkenkreuz (Beam Cross) in the field, with a circle around the Imperial German Eagle at the intersection of the cross. The canton of the flag contains the imperial state colors and the Prussian Eisernes Kreuz (Iron Cross). The flag is made of cotton or linen, the standard material for flags of the period.

The flag measures 37" tall and 64" across, one of the larger sizes used. The flag header is canvas, unmarked (the end of the header has a very very faint unreadable marking) and with a hanging system. Based on the size of the flag, it was most likely for a sizable ship, though it is not big enough for a capital ship. Those were so large that they are quite hard to display indoors.

This flag is in good condition, with the normal staining from age and a myriad of small holes across the material. The header has oxidized metal hooks at both ends. It is one of the most attractive issued during WWI, and would make a great display piece.

This is a truly phenomenal flag that would look amazing in a frame. Comes ready for further research and display.

After Prussia defeated Austria in 1866, the North German Confederation was founded by Prussia in order to replace the former German Confederation in which Austria had been the dominant power. The new Confederation eventually became the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War, hence the Imperial German flags date back to the North German Confederation.

Because Prussia had emerged as the leading German state and the black-red-golden color scheme was, at that time, associated with pan-Germanism (a Germany including Austria) and the revolution of 1848, the Prussian King and President of the North German Confederation, Wilhelm I, insisted on using new flags inspired by Prussia and without the traditional German colors. Therefore, the North German and eventually Imperial German flags prominently featured the Prussian colors (black and white) as well as symbols like the Prussian eagle and the Iron Cross. And while seafaring was the traditional domain of the Hanse in Germany, virtually all of the 19th century German coastline (including the North Sea coast) and naval power belonged to Prussia after the decisive victory in 1866.

Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the commander-in-chief of the North German Navy, was commissioned with the task of designing the new war ensign. Around 1850, he already had designed a number of potential war ensigns for a hypothetical German nation-state under Prussian rule, which never were adopted as the project was not realized at that time. He used his old ideas to design the new North German war ensign with heavy involvement of the Prussian King, leading to numerous changes, like the inclusion of the Iron Cross in its original shape.

The flag that was finally adopted became the war ensign of the German Empire after its founding, similar to the North German merchant ensign.

The first German imperial war flag was introduced by imperial law on 12 November 1848. The Regent signed it that day, although the National Assembly had already voted for it on 31 July. The law described the commercial and war flag of the emerging new German federal state. The 'German colors' – black, red and gold – were so popular from their beginnings on a Thuringian principality's state flag in 1778 that it did not seem necessary to mention them in the constitution of 1849. The flag was used for the Imperial Fleet. The short battle near Heligoland on 4 June 1849 was the first and only maritime battle in which these colors were involved.

The Federal Diet had already adopted the German colors on 9 March 1848, but the Diet and also the Central Powers forgot to announce the new flag to the foreign powers. By May 1850, the flag was recognized by the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sardinia, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Spain, Greece and (conditionally) France. The reestablished German Confederation took over the fleet, but sold it in 1852 and did not make use of the German colors again until the 1860s.

The German war flag, which was slightly changed twice during the Wilhelmine Period (see gallery below), was in common use in World War I. It continued to have Prussia's national colors of black and white, the eagle of Prussia, the Nordic cross, with the German imperial black-white-red tricolor in the upper canton with an Iron Cross. In 1919, the flags of Imperial Germany were scrapped and replaced by those of the Weimar Republic: a black-red-gold tricolor.

German nationalists, such as the Freikorps, used the old flag in protest against the Weimar Republic during the 1920s and 1930s. This included the 1920 attempt to overthrow the Weimar government, known as the Kapp Putsch. The NSDAP Party of Adolf H had a party flag based on the old colors.