Wikipedia

White flag

For other uses, seeWhite flag (disambiguation).

White flagshave had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.

White flag
UseCivilandwar flag,naval ensign
Adopted29 July 1899 (Hague Convention I)

Contemporary use

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A white flag displayed during theOttomansurrender of Jerusalemto theBritishon 9 December 1917

The white flag is an internationally recognizedprotective signoftruceorceasefire,and for negotiation. It is also used to symbolizesurrender,since it is often the weaker party that requests negotiation. It is also flown on ships serving ascartels.A white flag signifies to all that an approaching negotiator is unarmed, with an intent to surrender or a desire to communicate. Persons carrying or waving a white flag are not to be fired upon, nor are they allowed to open fire. The use of the flag to requestparleyis included in theHague Conventions of 1899 and 1907:[1]

CHAPTER III -- On Flags of Truce

Article 32

An individual is considered aparlementairewho is authorized by one of the belligerents to enter into communication with the other, and who carries a white flag. He has a right to inviolability, as well as the trumpeter, bugler, or drummer, the flag-bearer, and the interpreter who may accompany him.

— Hague Convention of 1899,Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague II); July 29, 1899
Annex to the Convention, Section II, Chapter III, Article 32

The improper use of the flag is forbidden by therules of warand constitutes awar crimeofperfidy.There have been numerous reported cases of such behavior in conflicts, such ascombatantsusing white flags as aruseto approach and attack enemy combatants, or killings ofcombatantsattempting to surrender by carrying white flags.

Origin

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First mentions before widespread, Early Imperial China and Roman Empire

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The first mention of the usage of white flags to surrender is made during theEastern Handynasty (CE 25–220). In theRoman Empire,the historianCornelius Tacitusmentions a white flag of surrender in CE 109. Before that time, Roman armies would surrender by holding their shields above their heads.[2]

Widespread adoption in the Middle Ages, the Capet Dynasty

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During theMiddle Agesand in a political environment centered on oaths, participating in another lord's banner or standard signified changing allegiance and loyalty. Thus, armies would waive the banner of the opposite side to signal surrender.

The FrenchCapetian dynastyutilized a prominent white banner during this period, referred to at the time as theoriflamme.[3]As head of House Capet,Philip IIadopted a single white flag as the family's emblem, still closely identified with theKings of Francefor several generations. "Its very name - a derivation of 'golden flame' - shows that it was intended from its inception to represent the French crown".[4]

This meaning is affirmed a few years later during a subsequent conflict between the French monarchy and the English throne. At the siege ofFrétevalcastle in 1194, the English knights defending the castle "came clad in white tunics, barefoot, holding up white cloths" to King Philip and his invading army to indicate their surrender.[5]The color white, synonymous with the royal Capet flag, demonstrated the way medieval visual symbolism intertwined with feudal expressions of submission and dominance.

Through the13th century,the precedent of utilizing white flags and banners to surrender to theFrenchcontinued to proliferate after many French victories and across medieval Europe asPhilip Augustusexpanded the royal domain. Matthew Paris notes how during a 1231 rebellion against King Henry II of England in Wales, the princes pleading for mercy "came before him bearing the king's white banner".[6]This correlated the white flag with signaling transition of land or rulership.

Thus, the original meaning of waving a white flag was deeply tied to feudal custom, acknowledging and pledging loyalty or sanctuary to a specific lord and his noble standard. By the later Middle Ages, however, the distinct connection of the white symbol to House Capet and French royalty diminished as it gained wider currency as a gesture indicating any general surrender or truce between opposing armies regardless of feudal loyalties.

Through diffusion over time and across Europe, the white flag of the Capets, became divorced from a strict embodiment of Capetian suzerainty in war. Regardless of its shifting meaning, the basis of the tradition itself clearly originated in 12th century medieval France.[7][8][9][10]

During the renaissance the white flag was widely used in Western Europe to indicate an intent to surrender. The color white was not used as the colors of the king of France anymore but instead to generally indicate a person was exempt from combat; heralds bore white wands, prisoners or hostages captured in battle would attach a piece of white paper to their hat or helmet, and garrisons that had surrendered and been promised safe passage would carry white batons.[11]

Australian soldier looking for wounded under protection of a white flag,Western Front (World War I)

Its use may have expanded across continents, e.g. Portuguese chroniclerGaspar Correia(writing in the 1550s), claims that in 1502, an Indian ruler, theZamorinofCalicut,dispatched negotiators bearing a "white cloth tied to a stick", "as a sign of peace", to his enemyVasco da Gama.[12]In 1625,Hugo GrotiusinDe jure belli ac pacis(On the Law of War and Peace), one of the foundational texts in international law, recognized the white flag as a "sign, to which use has given a signification"; it was "a tacit sign of demanding a parley, and shall be as obligatory, as if expressed by words".[13]

Early Islamic caliphates

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TheUmayyad dynasty(661–750) used white as their symbolic color as a reminder ofMuhammad's firstbattle at Badr.

TheAlidsand theFatimid dynastyalso used white in opposition to theAbbasids,who used black as their dynastic color.[14][15]For the same reason, the color white was adopted by otherShiaregimes, like theQarmatiansofBahrayn,the and theZaydirulers innorthern IranandYemen.[16]

Ancien Régime in France

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During the period of theAncien Régime,starting in the early 17th century, theroyal standardofFrancebecame a plain white flag as a symbol of purity, sometimes covered infleur-de-liswhen in the presence of the king or bearing the ensigns of theOrder of the Holy Spirit.[citation needed]

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 theAmerican Revolutionary Warfought under the white flag.

TheFrench Navyused a plain whiteensignforships 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 theFrench Revolution,in 1794, the blue, white and redTricolorewas 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 atconstitutional monarchyrather than a republic; this aspect of the Tricolor was, however, soon forgotten.)[citation needed]

During theBourbon Restoration,the white flag replaced the Tricolore, which by then was seen as a symbol ofregicide.

It was finally abandoned in 1830, with theJuly Revolution,with the definitive use of the blue, white and red flag.

In 1873, an attempt to reestablish the monarchy failed whenHenri of Artois, the Count of Chambordrefused to accept the Tricolore. He demanded the return of the white flag before he would accept the throne, a condition that proved unacceptable.

Flag of Antarctica

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Main article:Flag of Antarctica
Original flag flown by the 'Discovery', stored at theRoyal Museums Greenwich.

In 1929, members of theBritish Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research ExpeditiononRRS Discoveryused white cotton sheeting to improvise acourtesy ensign(a flag used as a token of respect by vessels while in foreign waters) for a continent without a flag of its own. It is now in theNational Maritime Museumin London. The white flag was used to represent Antarctica on at least two occasions on the voyage to Antarctica. On 1 August 1929,The Timesnoted that "the ship was flying theUnion Jackat her forepeak, the white Antarctic flag at the foremast, and theAustralian flagat the stern. "[17][18]

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

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The white flag was the official flag of theTaliban-ruledIslamic Emirate of Afghanistanbetween September 1996 and October 1997.[19]It is sometimes used as an unofficial variant of thecurrent flagwhich includes theShahadawritten in black on a white field.

See also

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References

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  1. ^"The Avalon Project - Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague II); July 29, 1899".avalon.law.yale.edu.Retrieved2022-09-02.
  2. ^Koerner, River I.(March 21, 2003)."Why Do Surrendering Soldiers Wave White Flags?".Slate.The Slate Group.Retrieved22 August2018.
  3. ^"Kingdom of France: The oriflamme (Middle Ages)".www.crwflags.com.
  4. ^This quote lacks provenance. Marc Morris (2015) nowhere discusses the oriflamme, and Gillingham, J. (2004). Richard I (New Haven, US: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 60, previously cited, is a duff reference.
  5. ^Power, D. (2004). The Norman Frontier in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries.Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 505.
  6. ^Paris, Matthew. Vaughan, Richard. (1958). The Illustrated Chronicles of Matthew Paris: Observations of Thirteenth-Century Life (Cambridge, UK: Corpus Christi College, 1958), p. 370.
  7. ^Delbrück, Hans (1990). Medieval Warfare. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, p. 286–287.
  8. ^Verbruggen, J.F. (1997). The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, p. 243.
  9. ^Huizinga, Johan (1996). The Autumn of the Middle Ages. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, p. 123.
  10. ^The Flanders peasant revolt against French rule in 1323-1328 involved rebels carrying white crosses and flags to induce talks or passage without being attacked (TeBrake, 1993, p. 65).
  11. ^Keen, Maurice Hugh(1965).The Laws of War in the Middle Ages.London:Routledge & K. Paul.p. 291.doi:10.2307/2851422.ISBN9781317397588.JSTOR1339392.OCLC507262.
  12. ^Correia, Gaspar;de Lima Felner, Rodrigo José (1858).Lendas da Índia.Vol. 1. Typ. da Academia Real das Sciencias. p. 300.mandou hum seu Bramane em huma almadia com hum pano branco atado e um páu per sinal de paz
  13. ^Grotius, Hugo(2005) [1625].Barbeyrac, Jean;Tuck, Richard(eds.).The Rights of War and Peace.Vol. 3 – viaLiberty Fund, Inc.
  14. ^Hathaway, Jane (2003).A Tale of Two Factions: Myth, Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen.Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p. 97.ISBN978-0-7914-5883-9.The Ismaili Shi'ite counter-caliphate founded by the Fatimids took white as its dynastic color, creating a visual contrast to the Abbasid enemy.
  15. ^Blair, Sheila S.; Bloom, Jonathan M. (1999). "Art and Architecture: Themes and Variations". InEsposito, John L.(ed.).The Oxford History of Islam.Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.215–267.ISBN0-19-510799-3....white was also the color associated with the Fatimid caliphs, the opponents of the Abbasids.
  16. ^Ibn Khaldûn, The Muqaddimah. An Introduction to History.Vol. 2. Translated byFranz Rosenthal(Second ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1967. p. 51.ISBN0-691-09797-6.
  17. ^"White Flag of Antarctica - National Maritime Museum".collections.rmg.co.uk.Retrieved26 October2020.
  18. ^Savours, Ann (4 April 2013).The Voyages of the Discovery: An Illustrated History of Scott's Ship.Seaforth Publishing.ISBN978-1-84832-702-3.
  19. ^Lohlker, Rüdiger, ed. (2013).Jihadism: Online Discourses and Representations(PDF).Studying Jihadism. Vol. 2. V & R unipress GmbH. p. 44.doi:10.14220/9783737000680.ISBN978-3-8471-0068-3.Retrieved24 April2022.the Afghan Taliban used a plain white flag between 1996 and 1997 and a white flag with the Islamic credo in black letters from 1997 on until today.
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