Does the colours of the french flag mean anything?
Amazing how often this one comes up. Red and blue were the colours of Paris, white that of the old French flag of the Bourbon Kings. Lafayette, of all people, thought up the tricolour to show unity between people and King, in the hope that the King would back the Revolution. In the next phase of the Revolution, the flag came to symbolise the fact thet the King was the captive of Paris. By the time it became clear that Louis XVI was not interested in constitutional monarchy, the tricolour was well established, and was retained even by Napoleon – though not, of course, by Louis XVIII or Charles X. It returned, however, under Louis-Philippe and has remained ever since.
