From the War of Independence to the French Revolution

Along with the American flag, we instantly associate the historical combination of red, white & blue with the birth of the French flag and the French Revolution, but, do you know where this colour trend originated in the late 1700's?

At the time of the War of Independence, which from 1774 to 1776 brought into conflict the Americans and their British homeland, the members of the independence movement adopted a "counter-flag". This counter-flag assumed the colours of the Union Jack (the British flag), but with a new (and independent) design and symbolism.

These colours, associated with the American independence, soon became extremely popular with the French Revolutionaries who adopted red, white & blue clothes to exhibit their allegiance to the Republican movement. After the storming of the Bastille, on July 14, 1789, Red, white & blue ended up on the Republic emblem, and, eventually, on its flag.

Therefore, ultimately, red, white & blue, the most "French" of all colour combinations, was in fact, founded on the colours of the... British flag.

Pastoureau, Michel; Dictionnaire des couleurs de notre temps; Paris, Christine Bonneton, 1999; 255 pages; Collection Symbolique et société.

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