# How did a white flag come to mean surrender? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653 "2002-05-31T00:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/1 "2002-05-31T00:48:31Z")
I suppose it means truce offered, as well - but how did it happen that a white flag has an almost-universally understood meaning? - Rick ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/2 "2002-05-31T02:05:10Z")
WAG: No country had/has an unadorned flag. (The plainest I can think of is Japan’s single red dot.) So by displaying a plain flag, one is saying, “I’m not being jingoistic. I’m forgoing my patriotism to achieve peace.” ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/3 "2002-05-31T02:06:11Z")
From [ohiohistory.org](http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/fftc/btlines/index.cfm?section=flaguse&page=5) > [@](#): > > Truce Flags > > The white flag has come to symbolize truce or surrender. However, it is difficult to date when the practice came about. There is evidence that the Japanese used a white flag to mean surrender in the 7th century. The Turks, then part of the Ottoman Empire, used a white flag as signal that they wished to meet in the 15th century. and from [nava.org](http://www.nava.org/qa/qa6.htm) > [@](#): > > Q: 1- How and when did the white flag become the symbol of peace and surrrender? > > A: The FLAG BULLETIN, No. 155 (Nov-Dec 1993),“52 Vexillological Questions Posed to the FRC,” pg. 252 states: > "A plain white flag has been used as a symbol of peace … and … is also sometimes a flag of surrender, but the first use of the white flag for this purpose is not known to the Flag Research Center. > > “That usage may have evolved from the white flag as a symbol of truce, which supposedly dates back to 1095 [CE] when Pope Urban II proclaimed the ‘Peace of God’ to be observed between belligerents on certain holidays.  On the other hand Jehan de Wawrin’s ‘Chronicle’ refers to an incident when a Christian fleet was at anchor in the Bosporus in 1444.  A Turk on shore displayed a white pennant which ‘according to their custom signified safety and a wish to parley.’  This suggests that the custom was not known to the Christians from Western Europe at that time, but was adopted by them later, based on this usage familiar to the Ottoman Turks.” > > In a series of follow-ups to this statement, appearing in FB # 161 and 172, the following is added: > “… on p. 22 of ‘The National Flag of Japan’ by N. Matsunami (published by the author in 1928): the 'Chronicle of the Empress Jingo (201-269 CE) mentions that the king of Silla had hoisted a white flag of surrender.”  “… Matsunami’s claim that the king of Silla state in Korea flew a white flag of surrender could not have occured before the middle of the 7th century CE and is at best based on a 15th century source.” ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/4 "2002-05-31T03:11:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*WAG: > > No country had/has an unadorned flag. (The plainest I can think of is Japan’s single red dot.) … \*\* False. Libya’s is plain green. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/5 "2002-05-31T03:23:33Z")
“Flags of the world” also has an article on monochrome flags [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/flagmono.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/flagmono.html) There have been other uses of plain flags for political regions. In fact, in light of recent events, you might note that the Taliban use a plain WHITE banner. Other uses of a plain white flag listed include a French ensign of the Bourbon era. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/6 "2002-05-31T03:47:10Z")
It’s not on **Yabob’s** link, but didn’t the French once have a battle flag - the _Oriflamme_ - that was an unadorned blue? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/7 "2002-05-31T03:57:20Z")
And, to be correct, I should say the Taliban USED a plain white banner from 1996 - 1997. The official flag after that time had writing on it, adding vexillological sins to the others committed by the regime. ---
**Author:** ![dp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dp)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/8 "2002-05-31T04:04:33Z")
maybe 1. its easy to see, as opposed to a dark colored flag 2. its more unmistakable, say for example: if tan flag was surrender flag, enemy might think, is that flag tan?, yellow?, brown? 3. its a common color of cloth that desperate soldiers could find a piece of. handkerchief, underwear, bandage,etc. ---
**Author:** ![dp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@dp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dp)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/9 "2002-05-31T06:02:10Z")
my post above addresses why the color white might have been used, i have thought of a couple of reasons why a flag would be used 1. sometimes opposing soldiers do not speak the same language, yelling “We surrender” across no mans land night not be understood or even heard. 2. raising a flag does not expose any of the surrendering group to be fired at ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-a-white-flag-come-to-mean-surrender/111653/10 "2002-05-31T06:07:18Z")
IIRC correctly pirates used a white flag in attempt to get ships to surrender without a fight.