List of historical national anthems

The oldest national anthem defined as "a song, as of praise, devotion, or patriotism" by Dictionary.com[1] is the Polish national anthem "Bogurodzica", "Mother of God". The hymn was created somewhere between the 10th and 13th centuries. However, it was not the de jure national anthem. The second oldest is the Dutch national anthem "Het Wilhelmus",[trans 2] which was written between 1568 and 1572, but not then given any official status.[2] The first anthem to be officially proclaimed as such was "God Save The Queen", adopted by Great Britain in 1745.[3] "Het Wilhelmus" was declared the national anthem of the Netherlands in 1932; both of these anthems remain in use today. A royal or imperial anthem is a song that is similar in patriotic character to a national anthem, but which specifically praises a monarch, or royal dynasty. Some states have doubled their royal or imperial anthem as their national anthem.

The Imperial Russian anthem, "God Save the Tsar!",[trans 1] used words by Vasily Zhukovsky (left) and music by Alexei Lvov (right). Adopted in 1833, the anthem was used continuously until the Empire's collapse in 1917.

An autograph score, including lyrics, for a piano version of the first Austrian national anthem, Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, handwritten and signed by Joseph Haydn in 1797. The tune, today more associated with Germany, was last used by Austria in 1938.

An anthem may fall out of use if the country that uses it ceases to exist, or because it adopts a new anthem; the rationale for a new national anthem is often political, perhaps based on a new ruling dynasty or system of government. For example, following the French Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy, "La Marseillaise", a republican revolutionary song, became France's national anthem in 1795. Conversely, when the monarchy was restored 19 years later, the 16th-century royalist tune "Vive Henri IV" was revived and adapted to create "Le Retour des Princes français à Paris", an overt celebration of the restored government.[trans 3] Following a number of further changes, "La Marseillaise" was readopted in 1870 and remains France's contemporary national anthem. Similar changes have occurred when Libya, Iraq, and South Africa democratized in the 2010s, 2000s, and 1990s respectively, new national anthems were adopted for those countries as well.

Some historical anthems share the same tune; for example, "Heil dir im Siegerkranz",[trans 4] the Imperial German anthem, used the same music as the UK's national anthem, "God Save the Queen". There are also instances of the music of a former national anthem still being used in a current anthem; for instance, the modern national anthem of Germany, "Das Lied der Deutschen",[trans 5] uses the same tune as the 19th and early 20th-century Austro-Hungarian anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser".[trans 6] Another well-known example is the "Hymn of the Soviet Union",[trans 7] used until its dissolution in 1991, which was given new words and adopted by the Russian Federation in 2000 to replace the unpopular instrumental anthem it had introduced in 1993.[4][5]

This was not the first time that a country's de facto or de jure national anthem had proved controversial among its own people. "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", a de facto anthem of the U.S. during the 19th century, divided opinion as it used the same tune as "God Save the Queen".[note 1] A more recent example is "Hej, Sloveni",[trans 8] the former Yugoslavian state anthem which was retained by Serbia and Montenegro until 2006;[note 2] because it was frequently booed when played in public – at sporting events, for example – it was eventually replaced.[6]