Flag of Germany 3:5 figure. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte declared the First French Empire. In response to this, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II of the Habsburg dynasty declared his personal domain to be the Austrian Empire and became Francis I of Austria. Taking the colours of the banner of the Holy Roman Emperor, the flag of the Austrian Empire was black and gold. Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, with Napoleon forcing the empire's dissolution in 1806. After this point, these colours continued to be used as the flag of Austria until 1918. The colours red and white were also significant
National colours of Germany black, white, and red again the national colours but made his own Nazi Party swastika the sole national flag and civil ensign of Germany. National conservative protests had become silent. In a speech, Reichstag president Hermann Göring called the black, white, and red flag of the German Empire "honorably pulled down". After World War II, Germany was occupied and divided. Both new states founded in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), took up the "democratic" colours of black, red, and gold again, with the GDR adding their own socialist symbols to