No one knew if a cannon save or friendly greeting was coming. On the high seas, the Similar between flags He turned each encounter into a dangerous riddle. The Spanish ships They hesitated when I see candles on the horizon, trapped in a confusion that could end badly by pure misunderstanding.
It was not a matter of strategy, it was a Visual problem that shouted a solution. In the 18th century, with half Europe at war or tension, that indefinition could not last anymore. Someone had to make a sensible decision, and took.
A practical commission with lasting consequences
The rojigualda He was born from a nautical dilemma, but ended up waving on balconies, battlefields and institutional acts. What began as a specific assignment of the king Carlos III His Minister of the Navy was transformed, without anyone planning him at all, in one of the most stable emblems in Spain.
The commission was clear: design a flag for the Navy that would look good from afar. Antonio Valdésthe minister in question, proposed twelve sketches. The king chose one with three horizontal stripes: Red, Gualda yellow and Redwith the widest central strip. It was not the most aesthetic, nor the most elegant, but the most visible in Altamar.
The change was formalized on May 28, 1785 with a decree that, far from great patriotic aspirations, said textually that a new flag was needed “to avoid the inconveniences and damages, which has made the experience see.”
From the sea to public spaces
The white, which until then predominated, did not help. France, Sicily, Great Britain or Toscana also used it, and that only brought messes. As the historian explains Juan Álvarez Abeilhéthe “majority of the countries used pavilions in which the white color predominated … and unfortunate confusion in the sea was produced.”
That horizontal stripe flag debuted on warships. Later he passed the coastal strong, the arsenals and, little by little, the squares. But his ascent was not linear.
For decades he shared prominence with other teachings, many of them white, until in 1843, under the reign of Isabel IIofficially became the flag of Spain.
From there, the queen’s trips and the wars of the nineteenth century helped consolidate her. In the Morocco War of 1859, for example, it was seen in streets and balconies, even in Cubaknowing that Spanish troops had won in the Battle of Tetuán.
Not everyone accepted her with enthusiasm. For some Republicans, their relationship with Bourbons It was a reason for rejection. During the First Republicwas discussed on its substitution, but the rojigualda remained, although not without criticism.
Later, the Second Republic chose to change the lower strip to purplethat some related to the community members, although that historical connection was doubtful: the true color of Castile at that time was the crimson.
The dictatorship, transition and debate about emblems
The Civil war He shook everything. At first, even the rebels wave tricolor flags. But soon, with the support of the most conservative social sectors, the rojigualda rose again, now with a New shield inspired by the Catholic Monarchs, where the San Juan eaglesymbol that would later be strongly linked to Franco. During the dictatorship Francisco Francthat flag was used as a regime symbol, which hindered its acceptance in democracy.
After the death of the dictator, the transition did not ignore the problem. Some matches asked to eliminate it, others defended to maintain it. He Communist Partywith Santiago Carrillo In front, he ended up assuming her. He justified it with a pragmatic phrase: “There is no purple color that is worth a civil war between Spaniards.”
Shortly after, in 1978, the deputy Jordi Solé Turáalso communist, defended its use pointing in Congress that “for a long time the symbols of that state have been symbols of oppression, but it is everyone’s task to end that conception.”
With the failed blow Of February 23, 1981, the need to legitimize common symbols was imposed. The flag changed shield again, this time with the weapons of the old peninsular kingdoms.
Since then, and despite specific controversies, it was consolidated as the national flag. Thus, the one that one day resolved a confusion between ships ended up defining an identity on the mainland.
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