What does the red in the French flag represent?
The flag was adopted in 1794 and is one of the worlds oldest flags. It was drawn by Jacques Louis David, famous French painter, but it has its origins in July 1789. Shortly after the fall of the Bastille, the king visiting the Paris town hall was handed a blue and red cocard – the colours of the town – which he put on his hat next to the white cocard (French royalty emblem at the time), as a gesture towards the people of Paris. The white flag replaced the three-colour flag in 1814-1815, and from 1815 to 1830, during the two first periods when the monarchy was reinstated.
