France’s Tricolore arose from the Revolution. In 1789 Paris adopted blue‑red cockades; Lafayette added white for the monarchy, uniting nation and crown. A tricolour was approved in 1790, and on 15 February 1794 the National Convention fixed vertical bands—blue at the hoist, then white and red—for naval and national use. The Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830) replaced it with a white royal flag, but the 1830 July Revolution re‑established the Tricolore. In 1976 official shades were standardized. Blue recalls Paris and liberty, white links to the monarchy and equality in republican symbolism, and red evokes fraternity and revolutionary sacrifice; together they represent the enduring pact between civic ideals and national identity.
The Tricolore’s visual language fuses Parisian civic colors (blue and red) with Bourbon white. Early revolutionary months saw competing arrangements—horizontal bands and red‑white‑blue orders used on ships and cockades. The decree of 15 February 1794, issued by the National Convention, fixed the present vertical order with blue at the hoist for clearer recognition at sea and to align military and civil usages. During the Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830), the white royal standard replaced the tricolor in official contexts, symbolizing a return to dynastic legitimacy. The July Revolution of 1830 restored the Tricolore under Louis‑Philippe, and its renewed popular mandate carried across regimes thereafter—Second Republic, Second Empire, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics—embedding the flag above transient political forms.
Over the nineteenth century, the flag’s display became intertwined with mass politics, public education, and civic ceremonies, reinforcing a national iconography that balanced republican ideology with historical memory. In the twentieth century, legislation and administrative circulars standardized proportions; the 1976 guidance under President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing refined hues to lighter tones for modern reproduction, while later practice often re‑embraced deeper blues for ceremonial contexts and European co‑display. Internationally, the Tricolore’s clear geometry informed other national designs and served as a recognizable diplomatic emblem.
As for meaning, interpretations evolved from immediate revolutionary symbolism—blue of Paris, white of the monarchy, red of the city and of patriotic sacrifice—to broader civic values: liberty, equality, fraternity. The three bands have been read as a compact between people and state, reconciling ancient sovereignty with popular legitimacy. The flag’s presence on public buildings, schools, and official documents, and its use in national commemorations, enshrines it as a quotidian expression of citizenship. In contemporary France, protocols regulate respectful display alongside the European flag, and the Tricolore remains a unifying emblem across political divides. Its continuity across two centuries, through wars, restorations, and constitutional changes, anchors the identity of the Fifth Republic and the French nation.