---
title: Liberté (Belgian flag, 'Unity of Strength' design)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unity-of-strength-liberte-belgian-flag-1940/
description: 'A painted design: a large Belgian tricolour of black, yellow and red on a staff, with the single word ''Liberté'' set at a slant in heavy sans-serif…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Liberté (Belgian flag, 'Unity of Strength' design)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/unity-of-strength-liberte-belgian-flag-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/unity-of-strength-liberte-belgian-flag-1940.jpg)

# Liberté (Belgian flag, 'Unity of Strength' design)

A painted design: a large Belgian tricolour of black, yellow and red on a staff, with the single word 'Liberté' set at a slant in heavy sans-serif capitals across the top over a blue sky with three stars. The tells: one abstract virtue word carries the whole message, and the national flag is used as a ready-made symbol of the nation and of the cause.

- **Date:** 1940
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** UK Ministry of Information (design catalogued at The National Archives as INF 3/340, 'Unity of Strength'; designer not recorded)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [United Kingdom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-kingdom)
- **Medium:** [Artwork](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=artwork)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Churchill Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=churchill-government)
- **Leader:** [Winston Churchill](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=winston-churchill)
- **Audience:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=mixed)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Regime:** [Churchill wartime government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/churchill-government/)
- **Leader:** [Winston Churchill](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/churchill-government/#winston-churchill)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (The National Archives, UK, INF 3/340)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:INF3-340_Unity_of_Strength_Libert%C3%A9_(Belgian_flag).jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired; Commons tag PD-UKGov, VRT ticket 2012051010007684) Unknown author; The National Archives (UK), INF 3/340, via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
LIBERTE
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
FREEDOM
```

Printed without an accent on the second E, as on the object. Translation is FRAME's own rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← 我愈戰愈强，敵愈戰愈弱 (The more we fight, the stronger we grow; the more the enemy fights, the weaker he grows)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-more-we-fight-the-stronger-china-1940/) [Vrijheid - Recht - Welvaart (NSB poster) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vrijheid-recht-welvaart-nsb-1940/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/) (1894 · Glittering generalities)
- ['The Congress Cross or "Swastik"' (Pickings from the Hindi Punch, Bombay, February 1896)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindi-punch-congress-swastik-1896/) (Feb 1896 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Un combate en el río Zapote (A Fight on the Zapote River), Blanco y Negro](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/un-combate-en-el-rio-zapote-1898/) (Jul 9, 1898 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)