White flag
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German troops after surrendering to the U.S. Third Army carry the white flag (WW2 photo). |
White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.
The white flag is an international sign of
truce or
ceasefire, and request for negotiation. It is also often associated with
surrender, since it is often the weaker military party which requests negotiation. A white flag signifies to all that an approaching negotiator is unarmed, with an intent to surrender or a desire to communicate. Persons carrying or waving a white flag are not to be fired upon, nor are they allowed to open fire. The use of the flag to surrender is included in the
Geneva Convention.
The improper use of a white flag is forbidden by the
rules of war and constitutes a
war crime of
perfidy. There have been numerous reported cases of such behaviour in conflicts, such as fighters using white flags as a ruse to approach and attack enemies, or killings of fighters attempting to surrender by carrying white flags.
The first mention of the usage of white flags to surrender is made during from the
Eastern Han dynasty (A.D 25-220). In the
Roman Empire, the historian
Cornelius Tacitus mentions a white flag of surrender in A.D. 109. Before that time, Roman armies would surrender by holding their shields above their heads. The usage of the white flag has since spread worldwide.
The
Umayyad dynasty ruled for ninety years (
661-
750) over the Islamic world, using white as their symbolic color as a reminder of
Muhammad's first
battle at Badr, and to distinguish themselves from the
Abbasids, by using white, rather than black, as their color of mourning. White is one of the
pan-Arab colors because of that period.
During the period of the
Ancien Régime, in the
18th century, the
royal standard of
France became a plain white flag. The white color was also used as a symbol of military command, by the commanding officer of a French army.
After the
French Revolution, in 1794, the
Tricolor was adopted as the official flag of France, sometimes covered in
fleur-de-lis. The white flag quickly became a symbol of French royalists. During the
Bourbon Restoration period in France, it replaced the Tricolor, seen as a symbol of
regicide. The French troops fighting in the
American War of Independence fought under the white flag. It was finally abandoned in 1830, with the
July Revolution.
In 1873, an attempt to reestablish the monarchy failed because of the refusal of
Henri d'Artois, who was to become king, to accept the Tricolor. He demanded the return of the white flag.
A white
racing flag is displayed from the starter's tower indicates that the race leader is running his/her final lap. In FIA sanctioned races, a white flag warns of a slow car ahead.
In
Buddhist countries, white is the colour of mourning, so a white flag is used where other cultures might fly a
black flag.
During the Afghanistan civil war, the flag used by the
Taliban was a plain white flag. When they took over
Kabul in 1996, and established the
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it became the national flag of the country, representing 'the purity of their faith and government'. After 1997, the Taliban added the
Shahadah to the flag.
An unadorned white flag was the standard of the
Stewards of Gondor in the
Middle-earth legendarium of author
J.R.R. Tolkien.
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List of flags*
Racing flags
