Three stripes, red, white and black, with the eagle of Saladin: a flag born in the 1952 revolution that other Arab countries copied.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio divided into three equal horizontal stripes, with a golden emblem in the centre of the white one.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
In 1922 the United Kingdom, which had controlled the country since 1882
It was born with the revolution of 1952
It stays official even after the republic is proclaimed in 1953
On 4 October 1984 the eagle of Saladin returns, now all in gold and white
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Egypt has three horizontal stripes, red, white and black, with a golden eagle in the centre. It was born with the revolution of 1952.
In the 19th century Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire, and its flag was red with white crescents and stars, very like the Ottoman one. In 1922 the United Kingdom, which had controlled the country since 1882, recognised its independence, and the new kingdom chose a green flag.
In 1952 a group of soldiers, the Free Officers, overthrew King Farouk. They presented a ‘liberation flag’ with three stripes, red, white and black, and an eagle in the centre. Since then only the central emblem has changed.
Egypt has changed flags with every regime and every attempt at union with other Arab countries.
1844-1867
Muhammad Ali, who rules Egypt inside the Ottoman Empire, uses a red flag with a crescent and a star. Later versions with three crescents arrive.
1923-1958
The Kingdom of Egypt adopts a green flag with a crescent and three stars. It stays official even after the republic is proclaimed in 1953.
1952-1958
The flag of the revolution, with an eagle carrying the crescent and the stars on its chest, lives alongside that of the kingdom.
1958-1972
Egypt and Syria form the United Arab Republic. The eagle is replaced by two green stars, one for each country.
1972-1984
With the Federation of Arab Republics, alongside Syria and Libya, the stars give way to a golden falcon.
1984
On 4 October 1984 the eagle of Saladin returns, now all in gold and white.
This is the explanation given by the Egyptian State Information Service:
Red
the time before the 1952 revolution, marked by the struggle against the British occupation.
White
the 1952 revolution, which ended the monarchy without bloodshed.
Black
the end of the oppression the people suffered under the monarchy and British colonialism.
Eagle
the eagle of Saladin, the sultan who ruled Egypt and Syria in the 12th century.
The Free Officers gave another reading in 1952: red would be the blood spilled against colonialism, white the purity of heart and black the darkness left behind.
In the 1919 revolution against the British occupation, the demonstrators carried a green flag with a crescent and a cross, to show that Muslims and Coptic Christians were fighting together.
The red, white and black tricolour of 1952 inspired the flags of Iraq, Sudan and Yemen, which use the same three stripes and differ only in detail.
Syria left the United Arab Republic in 1961, but Egypt kept calling itself that until 1971 and kept using its two-star flag until 1972.
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Test what you have read about the flag of Egypt.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Egipto” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: ErrrrrWhat, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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