White flag
White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.
For other uses, see White flag (disambiguation).Use
Civil and war flag, naval ensign
29 July 1899 (Hague Convention I)
Early Islamic caliphates[edit]
The Umayyad dynasty (661–750) used white as their symbolic color as a reminder of Muhammad's first battle at Badr.
The Alids and the Fatimid dynasty also used white in opposition to the Abbasids, who used black as their dynastic color.[14][15]
Royalist army used the white Bourbon ensign, during the French Revolutionary Wars (here, the battle of Quiberon, 1795).
During the period of the Ancien Régime, starting in the early 17th century, the royal standard of France became a plain white flag as a symbol of purity, sometimes covered in fleur-de-lis when in the presence of the king or bearing the ensigns of the Order of the Holy Spirit.
The white color was also used as a symbol of military command, by the commanding officer of a French army. It would be featured on a white scarf attached to the regimental flag as to recognize French units from foreign ones and avoid friendly fire incidents. The French troops fighting in the American Revolutionary War fought under the white flag.
The French Navy used a plain white ensign for ships of the line. Smaller ships might have used other standards, such as a fleur-de-lis on white field. Commerce and private ships were authorized to use their own designs to represent France, but were forbidden to fly the white ensign.
During the French Revolution, in 1794, the blue, white and red Tricolore was adopted as the official national flag. The white flag quickly became a symbol of French royalists. (The white part of the French Tricolor is itself originally derived from the old Royal flag, the tricolor having been designed when the revolution still aimed at constitutional monarchy rather than a republic; this aspect of the Tricolor was, however, soon forgotten.)
During the Bourbon Restoration, the white flag replaced the Tricolore, which by then was seen as a symbol of regicide.
It was finally abandoned in 1830, with the July Revolution, with the definitive use of the blue, white and red flag.
In 1873, an attempt to reestablish the monarchy failed when Henri of Artois, the Count of Chambord refused to accept the Tricolore. He demanded the return of the white flag before he would accept the throne, a condition that proved unacceptable.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan[edit]
The white flag was the official flag of the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan between September 1996 and October 1997.[18] It is sometimes used as an unofficial variant of the current flag which includes the Shahada written in black on a white field.