Belgium vs Germany

Same three colors, opposite layouts. Belgium is a vertical black-yellow-red tricolor at 13:15, adopted January 23, 1831. Germany is a horizontal black-red-gold tricolor at 3:5, adopted May 23, 1949. Black at the hoist is Belgium; black on top is Germany.

Play Similarities

Belgium

Germany

Proportion: 13:15
Adopted: 1831

Colors

Black #000000
Yellow #FAE042
Red #ED2939

Proportion: 3:5
Adopted: 1949

Colors

Black #000000
Red #DD0000
Gold #FFCE00

Look foron Belgium

Look foron Germany

Vertical bands, black at the hoist

Horizontal bands, black on top
De jure ratio 13:15

Middle band is red; bottom is gold, not yellow
Adopted January 23, 1831

3:5 ratio; current flag May 23, 1949

Which flag is Belgium?

Vertical Black-Yellow-Red, Horizontal Black-Red-Gold

Belgium adopted the vertical tricolor on January 23, 1831, after independence from the Netherlands. The vertical layout was chosen so it would not read as the Dutch horizontal tricolor. Colors come from the Duchy of Brabant. The catalog proportion is 13:15 de jure, one of the squarest national flags that is not a square. This page shows that ratio as 13:15.

Germany's black-red-gold is horizontal. The Frankfurt Parliament used it in 1848. The current national flag dates to May 23, 1949, at 3:5. Protocol in the catalog says the colors are black, red, and gold, never black-red-yellow. The federal service flag with the shield is for government use; the civil flag is the plain tricolor.

A quick glance at the pole settles it. Stripes running top to bottom, with black against the pole, are Belgium. Stripes running across, black then red then gold, are Germany.

Telling them apart

Belgium: vertical, yellow in the middle.
Germany: horizontal, red in the middle, gold at the bottom.
Belgium 13:15. Germany 3:5.

Questions

Is Germany's bottom stripe yellow?

The catalog calls it gold, and says the colors are black-red-gold, not black-red-yellow. Belgium's middle stripe is yellow.

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