France flag, commonly called the tricolor, is the flag of the European nation of France. The flag has equal red, white, and blue vertical sections. The three colors were first used as a French emblem on July 17, 1789, during the French Revolution. King Louis XVI had come to Paris after the fall of the Bastille. He put a tricolor knot of ribbons on his hat as a patriotic gesture. Red and blue were the official colors of Paris, and white was the color of the royal family. After the royal family was restored to power in 1814, it rejected the tricolor. But the tricolor again became the French national flag in 1830.
