List of black flags

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This is a list of

In history

• During the German Peasants' War in the 16th century the white black pink flag was used by the revolting farmers.
• Afghanistan flew a solid black flag from 1709–38 and from 1880–1901 (see Flag of Afghanistan).
• The black flag with the motto Viurem lliures o morirem (We live free or die) was flown by Catalan army and militia corps during the final stages of the War of the Spanish Succession, when the Allies had already abandoned Catalonia that fought alone against the Spanish and French armies during 1713-1714. This black flag was packaged in 2012 with the historical novel Lliures o Morts (Live Free or Die) authored by Jaume Clotet and David de Montserrat.
• The Black Flag was flown by certain irregular
  Confederate Army units in the American Civil War of 1861-1865 to symbolize that they would neither give, nor accept quarter; symbolizing the opposite of the white flag of surrender
  .
• The
  Proudhon quote "Anarchy is Order Without Power".^[1] Since the Spanish Revolution of 1936
  , the diagonal red-and-black flag became more widely used.
• The color black was famous as the flag of
  Blackshirts
  .
• sig
  runes.
• Upon the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II German U-boats were ordered to fly a black flag and sail to an Allied port and surrender.^[2]

• The Jolly Roger, or skull and crossbones, is flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates about to attack. The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones (although swords are also common), a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones (probably tibias) set in an x-mark arrangement, most usually depicted crossing each other directly under the skull, on a black field. This design was used by several pirates, including Captains "Black Sam" Bellamy, Edward England, and John Taylor. Some Jolly Roger flags also include an hourglass, another common symbol representing death in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Despite the prominence of flags with art in popular culture, plain black flags with no art were often employed by most pirates in the 17th–18th century. Historically, the flag was flown to frighten the pirates' victims into surrendering without a fight, since it conveyed the message that the attackers were outlaws who would not consider themselves bound by the usual rules of engagement—and might, therefore, slaughter those they defeated (since captured pirates were usually hanged, they did not have much to gain by asking quarter if defeated). Since the decline of piracy, various military units have used the Jolly Roger, usually in skull-and-crossbones design, as a unit identification insignia or a victory flag to ascribe to themselves the proverbial ferocity and toughness of pirates. In a non-naval context the skull and crossbones motif has additional meanings, for example, to signify a hazard such as poison
• The
  Caliphate
  . Just as the black colour absorbs visible light, similarly the black colour symbolizes the absorption of spiritual light.
• The flag of the Chetnik movement in Serbia and former Yugoslavia during the 20th century, with the words "Sloboda ili smrt ('liberty or death') inscribed in white under a skull.

Jihadism in the 20th/21st century

In

• Black flags are often associated with funerals in the West, particularly state funerals and public mourning.
• In the former Yugoslavia, a plain black flag is the flag of mourning. It is displayed for 40 days after death on the deceased person's house.
• The black flag is the symbol of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox, anti-Zionist group,
  Israeli Independence Day
  .
• The Swedish Pirate Party have a black flag as a symbol, shaped like the letter P.
• In the German and Finnish militaries, black has been the traditional color of armored troops, which carries over to the flags of armored units. In Finland, also combat engineers have a black flag. The Armoured Brigade has a black flag defaced with a helmet, and engineer battalions have the black flags defaced with various symbols.
• The New Zealand Rugby Union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, have a predominantly black flag with a white fern superimposed: see List of New Zealand flags.
• The flag of Cornwall is mostly black with a white cross on it.

In competition, as a signal

• The black flag is a
  racing flag
  used to summon a driver to the pits.
• In sail racing, when the black flag is displayed with the preparatory signal, a boat that is over the starting line in the minute before the starting signal is immediately disqualified without a hearing.
• In some forms of racing, a black flag is used to disqualify competitors or indicate some other penalty (such as a forced pit stop in NASCAR).

Fictional black flags

• In
  J.R.R. Tolkien, the banner of the evil overlord Morgoth
  is described as being entirely black with no insignia.