Military awards and decorations are distinctions given as a mark of honor for military heroism , meritorious or outstanding service or achievement. A decoration is often a medal consisting of a ribbon and a medallion.
119-525: The Iron Cross (German: Eisernes Kreuz , listen , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia , and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the insignia of the medieval Teutonic Order and borne by its knights from the 13th century. As well as being
238-599: A pendant (commonly a medal ) attached. The oldest military decorations still in use is Sweden's För tapperhet i fält ('For Valour in the Field') and För tapperhet till sjöss ('For Valour at Sea') awarded to officers and soldiers of the Swedish Armed Forces who have—as the medal names suggest—shown valour in the field or at sea in wartime. The medal was instituted by Swedish king Gustav III on 28 May 1789, during his war against Russia. Whilst technically it
357-550: A platinum frame that he was wearing at the time of his surrender to the allies in 1945. The Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (also called Iron Cross with Golden Rays) was pinned to the left breast, above the Iron Cross 1st Class. Like the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, it was for bestowal upon successful general officers. The Star of the Grand Cross was awarded only twice, both to Field Marshals who already held
476-559: A 1929 report in the weekly Weltbühne on the collaboration, which was by then already known. On 26 September 1923, the Bavarian government declared a state of emergency and placed executive power in the hands of Gustav Ritter von Kahr as state commissioner. The government in Berlin responded by declaring a nationwide state of emergency, and President Ebert transferred executive power to Otto Gessler. After General Otto von Lossow , who
595-473: A German decoration (rather than Prussian), and continued the tradition of issuing it in various classes. Legally, it is based on the "Enactment for the re-introduction of the Iron Cross" ( Verordnung über die Erneuerung des Eisernen Kreuzes ) of 1 September 1939. The Iron Cross of World War II was divided into three main series of decorations: the Iron Cross (the lowest), the Knight's Cross (intermediate), and
714-618: A buildup of reservists. On 9 November 1918, at the beginning of the German Revolution that led to the collapse of the German Empire and the flight of Emperor Wilhelm II , a republic was proclaimed from Berlin. The next day, German Chancellor Friedrich Ebert and General Wilhelm Groener , acting in the name of the Supreme Army Command , concluded the Ebert–Groener Pact . In it Groener assured Ebert of
833-843: A military medal, it has also been used as an emblem by the Prussian Army , the Imperial German Army , and the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic , while the Balkenkreuz (bar cross) variant was used by the Wehrmacht . The Iron Cross is now the emblem of the Bundeswehr , the modern German armed forces. King Frederick William III of Prussia established the Iron Cross award on 17 March 1813 during
952-412: A new creation in blue and silver was introduced for use in other contexts. The ribbon for the 1813, 1870 and 1914 Iron Cross (2nd Class) was black with two thin white bands, the colors of Prussia. The non-combatant version of this award had the same medal, but the black and white colors on the ribbon were reversed. The ribbon color for the 1939 EKII was black/white/red/white/black. Since the Iron Cross
1071-651: A number of only about thirty. At the Tomka gas test site near Saratov , chemical warfare agents were jointly tested and developed. In December 1926, Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann disclosed the collaboration with the Soviet Union to the Reichstag , toppling the government under Wilhelm Marx . In 1931 Carl von Ossietzky and Walter Kreiser were convicted of espionage in the Weltbühne Trial for
1190-593: A peacetime army following demobilisation. On 6 March 1919 the Weimar National Assembly passed a law on the formation of a provisional army to be made up of 43 brigades. It authorised the Reich President "to dissolve the existing army and to form a provisional Reichswehr which, until the creation of a new armed force to be ordered by Reich law, would protect the borders of the Reich, enforce
1309-581: A peacetime army. From it a provisional Reichswehr was formed in March 1919. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , the rebuilt German Army was subject to severe limitations in size, structure and armament. The official formation of the Reichswehr took place on 1 January 1921 after the limitations had been met. The German armed forces kept the name Reichswehr until Adolf Hitler's 1935 proclamation of
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#17327659480161428-472: A pin which exhibited three Iron Crosses with an exaggerated swastika, thereby consolidating the awards. In some cases, Minox miniature cameras were given to people together with an Iron Cross. As modern German law prohibits the production and display of items containing Nazi insignia , the West German government authorized replacement Iron Crosses in 1957 with a trifoliate Oak Leaf Cluster in place of
1547-488: A putsch or made himself dictator, but he did neither and voluntarily returned the powers to the political authorities when the crises had passed. And in 1926, he lost his position as head of the Army Command at the demand of Reichswehr Minister Gessler. After becoming chancellor at the end of January 1933, Hitler presented his government program to the generals on 3 February. He promised them among other things that
1666-552: A qualified test pilot and development engineer and decorated in August 1943. Other DRK female auxiliaries who received the Iron Cross for acts of bravery are Hanny Weber, Geolinde Münchge, Elfriede Gunia, Ruth Raabe, Ilse Daub, Greta Graffenkamp, Elfriede Muth, Ursula Kogel, Liselotte Schlotterbeck, Rohna von Ceuern, Anna Wohlschütz, and Dr. Elizabeth Potuz. Two non-German female auxiliaries of the German Red Cross were awarded
1785-699: A series of actions by the Reichswehr and its leadership showed its increasing power and drift towards the Nazis: While Seeckt was head of the Army Command, he reorganized the Reichswehr so that it could be rapidly expanded when free of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. He had done so while accepting the Weimar Republic as the framework in which he had to work, in spite of his fundamental dislike of parliamentary democracy. Following his forced resignation in 1926, von Schleicher became
1904-453: A variety of very crude anti-German propaganda versions of the Iron Cross were created by the Allies, and sold to raise money for the war effort and the relief of Belgian refugees . One was inscribed "FOR KULTUR" in raised letters, another "FOR BRUTALITY." Yet another showed the names of French and Belgian towns attacked or destroyed during the retreat from Mons on the ends of the upper arms of
2023-593: Is still active, it is for practical purposes inactive, not having been awarded since 1915. The next oldest is the Austro-Hungarian Tapferkeits Medaille Honour Medal for Bravery 1789–1792. This medal was instituted on 19 July 1789, by the Emperor Joseph II. Another of the oldest military decorations still in use is Poland's War Order of Virtuti Militari ( Latin for 'For Military Valour'). It
2142-746: Is the emblem used by the Prussian Army and Germany's army from 1871 to the present. It was designed on the occasion of the German Campaign of 1813 , when Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia commissioned the Iron Cross as the first military decoration open to all ranks, including enlisted men. From this time, the Black Cross was featured on the Prussian war flag alongside the Black Eagle. It was designed by neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel , based on Friedrich Wilhelm III. The design
2261-581: Is ultimately derivative of the black cross used by the Teutonic Order . This heraldic cross took various forms throughout the order's history, including a Latin cross , a cross potent , cross fleury , and occasionally also a cross pattée . When the Quadriga of the Goddess of Peace was retrieved from Paris at Napoleon's fall, it was re-established atop Berlin's Brandenburg Gate . An Iron Cross
2380-545: The Admiral Scheer . The rapprochement between the Republic and the Reichswehr brought the greatest gains to the Reichswehr . It achieved an increase in the defence budget, and criticism of the increase was seen as an attack on the Reichswehr and thus on the state. Because of Hindenburg's support for the Reichswehr , the presidential cabinets from 1930 onward increased its power. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning
2499-646: The Stahlhelm and Kyffhäuserbund , although the Reichswehr officially described itself as "apolitical". In March 1920, Germany's political leadership did not use the Reichswehr against the Kapp Putsch , a failed coup attempt against the Weimar Republic. It occurred after the government tried to demobilise two Freikorps brigades and one of them, the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt , refused to disband. When Defence Minister Noske consulted with
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#17327659480162618-569: The Armistice of 11 November 1918 , the new German government agreed to the speedy evacuation of occupied territories. The withdrawal on the western front began on 12 November and by 17 January 1919 the areas on the west bank of the Rhine were free of German military forces. The task was then to gradually disarm the units of the Imperial Army which still numbered several million soldiers. This
2737-771: The Black Reichswehr , whose members were largely ex-Freikorps, had a peak strength of about 20,000 men and allowed the Reichswehr to clandestinely exceed the Versailles Treaty's 100,000-man limit. On 1 October 1923, about 4,000 of its members attempted a putsch at Küstrin on the Oder river east of Berlin. After its failure, Seeckt quickly had the Black Reichswehr disbanded. Reichswehr generals also maintained close contacts with politically right-wing, anti-republican military associations such as
2856-506: The German Empire . The Black Cross was used as the German Army symbol until 1915 when a simpler Balkenkreuz replaced it. The Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic (1921–35), the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany (1935–45), and the Bundeswehr (1 October 1956 to present) also inherited the use of the emblem in various forms. The traditional design in black is used on armored vehicles and aircraft, while after German reunification ,
2975-586: The League of Nations . While war continued to be seen in the Reichswehr as a means to achieve political goals, government policy under the Locarno Treaties and the Dawes Plan , which for the short term resolved the issue of German reparations payments to the victorious powers, was oriented more toward maintaining peace and international understanding. Seeckt and his officers were opposed to joining
3094-648: The Muslim SS members to receive the award, SS Obersturmführer Imam Halim Malkoč was granted the Iron Cross (2nd Class) in October 1943 for his role in suppressing the Villefranche-de-Rouergue mutiny . He, together with several other Bosnian Muslims, was decorated with the EK II personally by Himmler in the days after the mutiny. Because of his Muslim faith, he wore only the ribbon, and not
3213-607: The Napoleonic Wars (EK 1813). The award was backdated to the birthday (10 March) of his late wife, Queen Louise , who was the first person to receive it (posthumously). The Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco-Prussian War (EK 1870), World War I (EK 1914), and World War II (EK 1939). During World War II, the Nazi regime made their own version by superimposing a swastika on the medal. The Iron Cross
3332-632: The Order of the Golden Collar while the New Kingdom awarded the Order of the Golden Fly . Celts and Romans wore a torc or received other military decorations such as the hasta pura , a spear without a tip. Dayaks wore and still wear tattoos , etc. Necklaces and bracelets were given during the early Middle Ages , evolving into large, richly jewelled necklaces, often with
3451-591: The Prussian Military Merit Cross ), but is seen as a supplement of existing awards of the Bundeswehr . In the United States, the Iron Cross was adopted by outlaw motorcycle clubs in the 1960s, as a symbol of rebellion and probably for shock value . From biker subculture it spread to rock and heavy metal subcultures, becoming part of heavy metal fashion . Lemmy Kilmister of the influential band Motörhead often wore one. in
3570-409: The Reichswehr began a secret program of expansion. In December 1933 the army staff decided to increase the active strength to 300,000 men in 21 divisions. On 1 April 1934, between 50,000 and 60,000 new recruits entered the force and were assigned to special training battalions. The original seven infantry divisions of the Reichswehr were expanded to 21, with military district headquarters increased to
3689-503: The Reichswehr intervened in politics more often in order to achieve its goals, with the result that the Republic and the Reichswehr moved closer together. In February 1927 the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control, which until then had supervised disarmament, withdrew from Germany. The decision to build the pocket battleship Deutschland in 1928, which was in compliance with the provisions of
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3808-427: The Reichswehr to all social groups would lower its effectiveness. Löbe's proposal did not pass. The Reichswehr saw itself as a ' cadre army ' or 'Leader army' (' Führerarmee '), which meant that every unit kept close ties to its former members and could hope to call on them in a time of need. This was to become a basic prerequisite for the rapid growth of the army after the proclamation of military sovereignty by
3927-459: The Reichswehr would remain Germany's sole armed force and announced the reintroduction of conscription. The Reichswehr hoped for increased efforts to revise the Treaty of Versailles and to build a strong military and firm state leadership, but it also feared that the Reichswehr would be supplanted by the 3 million member SA. Its leader Ernst Röhm and his colleagues thought of their force as
4046-493: The Reichswehr , and maintain peace and order." The strength of the navy was to be 20,000 men. From 1 October 1919 to 1 April 1920, the forces of the Provisional Reich Army were moved into the 400,000-strong 'Transitional Army' consisting of 20 brigades. At the same time, the old army's units and duties were eliminated. After falling to 150,000 men in October 1920, the brigades were replaced by regiments, and
4165-470: The Reichswehr's leadership, only General Reinhardt, Chief of Army Command, recommended the use of army troops in defence of the government. The rest of the generals, including Hans von Seeckt, chief of the Truppenamt – the disguised general staff of the Reichswehr – advised against deploying troops. He is reported to have said, " Reichswehr will not fire on Reichswehr ". The only alternative left to
4284-509: The Ruhr uprising in the demilitarised Rhineland – to the Freikorps , which continued to operate even though it had been officially disbanded in 1920. In 1923 General von Seeckt, who had the backing of Otto Gessler, organised "civilian work groups" called Arbeits-Kommandos (AKs) that were attached to Reichswehr units and received training and support from them. The AKs, better known as
4403-754: The Sudetenland and the Memel region ). After post-war German armed forces began seeing active service, first in Kosovo and then in Afghanistan , a campaign began to revive the Iron Cross and other military medals, since Germany had no awards specifically for active military service. In 2007, a petition to the German parliament to revive the Iron Cross decoration was initiated, quickly receiving over 5,000 signatures. On 13 December 2007 parliament decided to let
4522-555: The Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. Before a soldier could be awarded with the Iron Cross 1st Class, he needed to have been decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. It was first awarded to Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke on 21 April 1813. The first form of the Iron Crosses 1st Class were stitched in ribbon to the left uniform breast. By order of 1 June 1813, the 2nd form was created in cast iron with silver borders, and 8 loops on
4641-549: The service ribbons are normally worn on everyday occasions (as opposed to the actual medals). Reichswehr Reichswehr ( lit. ' Reich Defence ' ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich . After Germany was defeated in World War I , the Imperial German Army ( Deutsches Heer ) was dissolved in order to be reshaped into
4760-469: The "restoration of military sovereignty", at which point it became part of the new Wehrmacht . Although ostensibly apolitical, the Reichswehr acted as a state within a state, and its leadership was an important political power factor in the Weimar Republic. The Reichswehr sometimes supported the democratic government, as it did in the Ebert-Groener Pact when it pledged its loyalty to
4879-405: The 1990s, this other use of the Iron Cross had spread from bikers to skateboarders and many extreme sports enthusiasts and became part of the logo of several related clothing companies. The Anti-Defamation League states that the version of the symbol with a swastika has been commonly used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists as a hate symbol since it was discontinued following World War II, but
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4998-636: The Bavarian Reichswehr , enjoyed certain rights of autonomy with respect to the Reich government. According to the Weimar Constitution, the Reich President had "supreme command over the entire armed forces of the Reich". In general, however, he could act only if there was a countersignature by a member of the government. In terms of authority, this was the Reichswehr minister. Two Reich Presidents held office during
5117-596: The Eastern Front, Magda Darchniger, decorated in 1942, Marga Droste, who remained at her post in the Wilhelmshaven hospital despite her own wounds during a bombing in 1942, Ilse Schulz and Grete Fock, who served in the African campaign, Liselotte Hensel and Miss Holzmann, who were both decorated in 1943 for bravery during a bombing of Hamburg, and the countess Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg , acting as
5236-522: The Empire to National Socialism and the cause of an "entente" between the traditional military elites and the Hitler movement in 1933. Hitler was dependent on their support in his rise to power, while Schleicher and the military needed Hitler's supporters as a "mass base". Historians of the Weimar Republic differ on the question of whether the Reichswehr was a "state within a state". Those who argue that it
5355-595: The Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds ( Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel ). Like the Knight's Cross, the Grand Cross ( Großkreuz ) was worn suspended from the collar. It was reserved for general officers for "the most outstanding strategic decisions affecting the course of the war". The only recipient during the Second World War was Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring , who was awarded
5474-422: The Grand Cross (the highest). The Knight's Cross replaced the Prussian Pour le Mérite or "Blue Max". Hitler did not care for the Pour le Mérite , as it was a Prussian order that could be awarded only to officers. The ribbon of the medal (2nd class and Knight's Cross) was different from the earlier Iron Crosses as the color red was used in addition to the traditional black and white (black and white were
5593-446: The Grand Cross: in 1815 to Gebhard von Blücher for his part in the Battle of Waterloo , and in March 1918 to Paul von Hindenburg for his conduct of the 1918 Spring Offensive on the Western Front . It is often called the Blücher Star ( Blücherstern ) , after its first recipient. A Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was manufactured in World War II, but never formally instituted or awarded. The only known example, based on
5712-439: The Iron Cross ( Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes , often simply Ritterkreuz ) recognized military valour or successful leadership. The Knight's Cross was divided into five degrees: In total, 7,313 awards of the Knight's Cross were made. Only 883 received the Oak Leaves; 160 both the Oak Leaves and Swords (including Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (posthumously)); 27 with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds; and one with
5831-406: The Iron Cross were given entitlements and often wore signifying articles, such as an Iron Cross signet ring or cloth Iron Cross which could be affixed to clothing. Also, during the Nazi period, those attaining more than one award, for example, an officer who had attained an Iron Cross 2nd Class, an Iron Cross 1st Class, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with the Oak Leaves, were entitled to wear
5950-438: The Iron Cross: Norwegian nurse Anne Gunhild Moxnes in April 1944, and an unknown Belgian nurse in 1942. A young member of the female youth organisation of the Third Reich, Ottilie Stephan, was also awarded the Iron Cross in February 1945 under unknown circumstances. At least two Iron Cross, 1st class, recipients were women, test pilot ( Flugkapitän ) Hanna Reitsch and in January 1945 German Red Cross sister Else Grossmann. One of
6069-400: The Kingdom of Prussia, although—given Prussia's pre-eminent place in the German Empire formed in 1871—it tended to be treated as a generic German decoration. The 1813, 1870, and 1914 Iron Crosses had three grades: Although the obverse of the medals of each class was identical, the manner in which each was worn differed. The Iron Cross, 1st class, employed a pin or screw posts on the back of
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#17327659480166188-417: The League of Nations and saw their existence threatened by the pacifism of Germany's left. After the election of Paul von Hindenburg as Reich president in 1925, his status as victor in the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg made him a figure with whom Reichswehr soldiers identified. In October 1926, without seeking government approval, Seeckt invited the son of former emperor Wilhelm II to attend army manoeuvres in
6307-409: The Ministry of Defence decide the matter. On 6 March 2008, President Horst Köhler approved a proposal by Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung to institute a new award for bravery. The Ehrenzeichen der Bundeswehr (Badge of Honor of the German Armed Forces) series was instituted on 10 October 2008. However, it does not have the traditional form of the Iron Cross (instead more closely resembling
6426-463: The Nazi regime in 1935. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the Reichswehr was allowed 4,000 officers, while the Reichsmarine could have 1,500 officers and deck officers. The actual Reichswehr officer corps numbered 3,718, down from 227,081 in 1918, of whom 38,118 were career officers. The officers transferred to the Reichswehr were almost all general staff officers. Of the approximately 15,000 men who had been promoted to officers during
6545-506: The November 1918 Ebert-Groener Pact , the military had ensured the survival of the new government. In the crisis-ridden early 1920s, the Republic used the Reichswehr primarily to fight insurgent left-wing forces, such as during the Spartacist uprising in Berlin in 1919. Wherever the Treaty of Versailles tied the Reichswehr's hands or its own manpower was insufficient, it left 'national defence' – e.g. border skirmishes against Polish and Lithuanian irregulars, or deployment in 1920 against
6664-513: The Prussian military archives were destroyed during World War II. The multitude of awards reduced the status and reputation of the decoration. Among the holders of the 1914 Iron Cross, 2nd class, and 1st Class was Adolf Hitler , who served as an Austrian citizen in the Bavarian Army with the rank of Gefreiter (lance-corporal), he received these medals for showing bravery on the field of battle. Most photographs of Hitler show him wearing his EKI in standard fashion on his left breast. In 1914,
6783-455: The Reich Federation of German Industry. With the help of retired officers, sports schools for training infantrymen were founded, most of them near former military training areas, where exercise instructors for military sports were trained. This took place, especially in northern Germany, with the support of the veterans' group Der Stahlhelm . Other aids in military training included the use of dummy tanks for exercise purposes. In February 1923
6902-425: The Republic, and sometimes backed anti-democratic forces through such means as the Black Reichswehr , the illegal paramilitary groups it sponsored in contravention of the Versailles Treaty. The Reichswehr saw itself as a cadre army that would preserve the expertise of the old imperial military and form the basis for German rearmament . In Part V of the 1919 Versailles Treaty, Germany had obligated itself to limit
7021-415: The Republic. Even though the German nobility, which was officially abolished in August 1919, had accounted for only 0.14% of the pre-war German population, an average of 23.8% of the officers in the Reichswehr were from noble backgrounds. The proportion of former noble officers in the individual branches of the armed forces varied greatly. In 1920 they made up 50% of the officers in the cavalry but only 5% in
7140-430: The Soviet Union, to train aviation and tank specialists on Soviet soil, and to have chemical warfare agents manufactured and tested. A secret Reichswehr aviation school and testing facility was established at Lipetsk , where some 120 military pilots, 100 aerial observers, and numerous ground personnel were trained as the core of a future German Air Force. At Kazan , tank specialists were trained, but not until 1930 and to
7259-424: The Treaty of Versailles and seen as a matter of prestige, caused problems for the Social Democrat Reich Chancellor Hermann Müller because his party had campaigned against the ship, but his cabinet members voted for it in order to save the coalition government. For the Reichswehr leadership, the vote was a landmark political decision. The 1929 budget included the first instalment for the Deutschland's sister ship,
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#17327659480167378-427: The Weimar Republic. Especially within the former nobility, however, the stance towards National Socialism was not without criticism. The Reichswehr leadership and officer corps successfully resisted the democratisation of the troops. Preference was given to recruits from the predominantly conservative rural areas of Germany. The Reichswehr leadership considered them not only physically superior to young men from
7497-491: The Weimar Republic: Friedrich Ebert until 1925, followed by Paul von Hindenburg . The first Reichswehr Minister was Gustav Noske , who was replaced by Otto Gessler after the Kapp Putsch in 1920. Wilhelm Groener took office in 1928, and his deputy Kurt von Schleicher replaced him in 1932. Schleicher continued to hold office on a provisional basis during his two-month chancellorship. Prior to Adolf Hitler's appointment as Reich chancellor, Hindenburg unilaterally – not at
7616-414: The World War I version but with the 1939 Iron Cross centerpiece, was found by Allied forces at the end of the war, and it is now in the museum at West Point . It is likely that Reichsmarschall Göring was the intended eventual recipient. He was the only holder of the World War II Iron Cross Grand Cross, and both the previous recipients of the Star had already received the Grand Cross. Officers awarded
7735-437: The army and the navy was 12 years, with 25 years for officers. The 1921 Defence Law ended the military sovereignty of the states but left Saxony , Württemberg , Baden , and Bavaria with limited independence. Bavaria was special in that Military District VII covered the entire territory of the state with the exception of the Palatinate , and only Bavarians served in the 7th (Bavarian) Division. Until 1924 this unit, known as
7854-405: The award was presented. It was worn with a 57 mm (2.2 in) wide ribbon bearing the same colors as the Knight's Cross and 2nd Class ribbons. The award case was in red leather with the eagle and the swastika outlined in gold. The original Grand Cross presented to Göring (personally by Hitler) was destroyed during an air raid on his Berlin home. Göring had extra copies made, one of them with
7973-432: The banned swastika. When the Iron Cross was reauthorized for World War I in 1914, it was possible for individuals who had previously been awarded one in 1870 to be subsequently granted another. These recipients were recognized with the award of a clasp featuring a miniaturized 1914 Iron Cross on a metal bar. The award was quite rare, since by this time there were few in service who held the 1870 Iron Cross. In World War II it
8092-512: The chancellor's recommendation as required by the constitution – appointed Werner von Blomberg as Reichswehr Minister. The head of army command was initially General Walther Reinhardt . After the Kapp Putsch, General Hans von Seeckt took over the post and had both the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Nazi Party banned in 1923. Wilhelm Heye followed him in 1926. Heye was succeeded in 1930 by Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord , who tendered his resignation on 27 December 1933. He
8211-417: The cities but also as able to stand up against the "temptations" of social democracy. In 1926 Reichstag President Paul Löbe proposed to make recruitment dependent on physical fitness only in order to make the composition of the Reichswehr reflect more closely that of society as a whole. The proposal led to fierce opposition from the Reichswehr and conservative circles, both of which believed that opening
8330-427: The civilian leadership became problematic. Its loyalty was to an abstract state rather than the regime, and its insulation from the political world of itself led to it becoming a state within the state. In his 1929 Thoughts of a Soldier ( Gedanken eines Soldaten ) , Seeckt wrote, "The Army should become a State within the State, but it should be merged into the State through service; in fact it should itself become
8449-452: The clandestine establishment of the Black Reichswehr , unauthorised weapons testing in the Soviet Union , the establishment of a Leaders' Assistant Training School ( Führergehilfenschulung ) which was intended to compensate for the forbidden General Staff training, and the maintenance of the General Staff in the newly created Truppenamt . Under the code name 'Statistical Society', plans for an armaments industry were worked out with
8568-478: The colors of Prussia, while black, white, and red were the colors of Nazi Germany). Hitler also created the War Merit Cross as a replacement for the non-combatant version of the Iron Cross. It also appeared on certain Nazi flags in the upper left corner. The sides of the cross were curved, like most original iron crosses. The standard 1939 Iron Cross was issued in the following two grades: The Iron Cross
8687-818: The cross. Three Finnish Jews were awarded the Iron Cross: Major Leo Skurnik and Captain Salomon Klass of the Finnish Army and nurse Dina Poljakoff from the Lotta Svärd organization. All three refused the award. The Spanish double-agent Juan Pujol García , known to the Germans as Arabel and the British as Garbo received the 2nd Class Iron Cross, and an MBE from King George VI four months later. The Knight's Cross of
8806-406: The cross; these included Rheims , Louvain and Amiens on one side, and Antwerp , Dinant and Ghent on the other, with the date 1914 on the lower arm, and a central W for Kaiser Wilhelm as on the original. Another commemorated the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby , showing the names of these "war atrocities" on the arms of the cross. Adolf Hitler restored the Iron Cross in 1939 as
8925-517: The day Hindenburg died, Reichswehr Minister Werner von Blomberg , who was originally to have helped 'tame' the Nazis, had the Reichswehr swear its oath personally to Hitler. Under the Weimar Republic the oath had been to the constitution. On 1 March 1935, the Luftwaffe was established and on 16 March universal conscription was reintroduced, both of which violated the Treaty of Versailles. In
9044-529: The decoration on 19 July 1940 for his command of the Luftwaffe , after the Battle of France in 1940. The medal is a larger version of the Knight's Cross, measuring 63 mm (2.5 in) wide as opposed to about 44 mm (1.7 in) for the Iron Cross and 48.5 mm (1.9 in) for the Knight's Cross. It was originally intended to have outer edges lined in gold, but this was changed to silver before
9163-504: The driving force behind shaping the military. He used a more "modern" approach that relied on a combination of political, military, and economic factors. Germany's economic position was to be strengthened and France relegated to the role of a junior partner. The supremacy thus gained in Europe was to form the basis for a position of world power. Historian Klaus-Jürgen Müller sees in this one of the "lines of continuity" of German development from
9282-412: The entire military forces of the Reich" and the power to appoint and remove military officers. Peace treaties and declarations of war required a national law (Article 45), which had to originate from and be approved by the legislature. In addition, General Seeckt was fundamentally loyal and helped the state to consolidate. When in 1923 Defence Minister Otto Gessler was given executive functions to deal with
9401-709: The final army strength of 100,000 was reached by 1 January 1921. The Reichswehr was officially formed on that date, with the Defence Law of 23 March 1921 regulating the details. The soldiers' oath was sworn to the Weimar Constitution . The Reichswehr was divided into the Reichsheer (army) and the Reichsmarine (navy). The Reichsheer consisted of seven infantry and three cavalry divisions, with all units renumbered. The Reich's territory
9520-516: The future army of Germany, replacing the smaller Reichswehr and its professional officers. The Reichswehr supported Hitler in taking power away from the SA in the summer of 1934. Röhm wanted to become Reichswehr minister, and in February 1934 demanded that the much smaller Reichswehr be merged into the SA to form a true people's army. This alarmed both political and military leaders, and to forestall
9639-487: The government was to flee Berlin. (By contrast, the left-wing Ruhr uprising , which began during the Kapp Putsch, was ruthlessly put down with the active involvement of the Reichswehr .) As a result of the Kapp Putsch, Noske was replaced by Otto Gessler. The Reichswehr leadership began early on to circumvent the arms restrictions in the Versailles Treaty through a series of secret and illegal measures. They included
9758-406: The holders soldered them together. A cross has been the symbol of Germany's armed forces (now the Bundeswehr ) since 1871. On 17 March 1813 King Frederick William III of Prussia, who had fled to non-occupied Breslau (today Wrocław ), established the military decoration of the Iron Cross, backdated to 10 March (the late Queen Louise 's birthday). The Iron Cross was awarded to soldiers during
9877-422: The infantry and 4% in the sappers. Of the approximately 1,000 non-commissioned officers promoted to officers in 1919, by 1928 only 117 remained, or 3.5% of the total officers in the Reichswehr . Since the Reich government did not bring the officer candidate recruitment process under state control, regimental commanders in the Reichswehr continued to be responsible for selecting officer candidates, as they had in
9996-413: The loyalty of the armed forces, and in return Ebert promised that the government would take prompt action against leftist uprisings, call a national assembly, keep the military command within the professional officer corps and, most importantly, retain the military's traditional status as 'state within a state' – that is, it would continue to be largely independent of the civilian government. As part of
10115-406: The medal, and was worn on the left side of the recipient's uniform, like the original 1813 version. The Iron Cross 2nd Class, and the larger Grand Cross, were suspended from different ribbons: the Grand Cross from a neck ribbon, the 2nd Class from a ribbon on the chest. The usual display of the 2nd Class version was as a ribbon through one of the button holes in the recipient's tunic. The Grand Cross
10234-628: The nation's crises, the power went in essence to Seeckt. He acted in the interests of Germany in preventing a possible civil war over the end of passive resistance to the occupation of the Ruhr and then during the communist threat of the German October in Saxony and Thuringia . Maintaining the integrity of the Reich and the Army were his top priorities. With the power in his hands, he could have staged
10353-458: The new Chief of the Truppenamt , Major General Otto Hasse , travelled to Moscow for secret negotiations. Germany was to support the development of Soviet industry, and Red Army commanders were to receive general staff training in Germany. In return, the Reichswehr was able to expand secretly in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. It was given the opportunity to obtain artillery from
10472-534: The numerals "25" on three oak leaves. William Manley is possibly the only recipient of both the Iron Cross and the Victoria Cross . He was awarded the Iron Cross for service with an ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. Emperor Wilhelm II reauthorized the Iron Cross on 5 August 1914, at the start of World War I . During these three periods, the Iron Cross was an award of
10591-463: The old Imperial Army. Those admitted came almost exclusively from circles traditionally close to the military. In 1926, 96% of the officer candidates came from the upper social classes and nearly 50% from officer families. The homogeneity of the Reichswehr officer corps was in fact greater than it had been during the Empire. In 1912/13 only 24% of officers had come from families of active or former officers. By assuring Friedrich Ebert of its loyalty in
10710-428: The orders of the Reich government, and maintain domestic peace and order." A similarly worded law on the formation of a provisional navy dated 16 April 1919 authorised it to "secure the German coasts, enable safe maritime traffic by clearing mines, acting as maritime police and otherwise assisting merchant shipping, ensure the undisturbed exercise of fishing, enforce the orders of the Reich government in conjunction with
10829-524: The possibility of a coup Hitler sided with conservative leaders and the military. In the Night of the Long Knives (30 June–2 July 1934) Röhm and the leadership of the SA were murdered along with many other political adversaries of the Nazis, including Reichswehr generals Schleicher and Ferdinand von Bredow . The Reichswehr officer corps acknowledged the murders without objection. During 1933 and 1934
10948-570: The purest image of the State." The outward situation changed in 1928 when the Reichswehr created the Ministeramt , or Office of Ministerial Affairs, under Kurt von Schleicher to lobby the government. In the late 1920s, the parliamentary system was beginning to break down and move towards the presidential cabinets of Brüning, Papen and Schleicher. The military had strengthened itself during its period of isolation, and through President Hindenburg
11067-732: The rank of the recipient. For example, Bavarian officers received various grades of that Kingdom's Military Merit Order ( Militär-Verdienstorden ), while enlisted men received various grades of the Military Merit Cross ( Militär-Verdienstkreuz ). Prussia did have other orders and medals which it awarded on the basis of rank, and even though the Iron Cross was intended to be awarded without regard to rank, officers and NCOs were more likely to receive it than junior enlisted soldiers. During World War I, approximately 218,000 EKIs, 5,196,000 EKIIs and 13,000 non-combatant EKIIs were awarded. Exact numbers of awards are not known, since
11186-424: The reverse, to be fixed to the left uniform breast. In 1817 a total of 670 chevaliers had received the Iron Cross 1st Class. King Wilhelm I of Prussia authorized further awards on 19 July 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War . Recipients of the 1870 Iron Cross who were still in service in 1895 were authorized to purchase and wear above the cross a Jubiläumsspange ("Jubilee clip"), a 25-year clasp consisting of
11305-446: The size and armaments of its military forces so that they could be used only as border protection and for the maintenance of order within Germany. In accordance with the treaty's provisions, personnel strength was limited to a professional army of 100,000 men plus a 15,000-man navy. The establishment of a general staff was prohibited. Heavy weapons above defined calibres, armoured vehicles, submarines and large warships were prohibited, as
11424-407: The size of a corps headquarters on 1 October 1934. These divisions used cover names to hide their divisional size, but during October 1935 they were dropped. Also during October 1934, the officers who had been forced to retire in 1919 were recalled. Those who were no longer fit for combat were assigned to administrative positions, thus releasing fit officers for front-line duties. On 2 August 1934,
11543-480: The swastika, similar to the Iron Crosses of 1813, 1870, and 1914, which could be worn by World War II Iron Cross recipients. The 1957 law also authorized de-Nazified versions of most other World War II-era decorations (except those specifically associated with Nazi Party organizations, such as SS Long Service medals, or with the expansion of the German Reich , such as the medals for the annexation of Austria,
11662-466: The uniform of the old Imperial 1st Foot Guards . It created a storm when the republican press publicised the transgression. Gessler told Hindenburg that Seeckt had to resign or he would do so himself. He was supported by the cabinet, so Hindenburg asked for and received Seeckt's resignation on 9 October. Seeckt was succeeded by General Wilhelm Heye , although it was primarily General Kurt von Schleicher who gained additional power. Under his leadership,
11781-417: The war, the Reichswehr took on only a few, as these front-line officers were seen as alien to officer life in the mess hall, barracks, and society. Democratically-minded officers were not accepted into the force. Radical nationalist officers were with few exceptions removed, especially after the Kapp Putsch. The political attitude of the officer corps was monarchist, although outwardly they posed as loyal to
11900-752: The wider use of the Iron Cross in various subcultures means determining its use as a hate symbol relies on context: "an Iron Cross in isolation (i.e., without a superimposed swastika or without other accompanying hate symbols) cannot be determined to be a hate symbol". Military decoration Civil decorations awarded to military personnel should not be considered military decorations, although some orders of chivalry have civil and military divisions. Decorations received by police and fire brigade personnel may sometimes be considered alongside military decorations, on which they may be modelled, although they are strictly not military awards. Decorations have been known since ancient times. The Egyptian Old Kingdom had
12019-430: Was a progressive award, with the second class having to be earned before the first class and so on for the higher degrees. It is estimated that some four and a half million 2nd Class Iron Crosses were awarded during World War II, and 300,000 of the 1st Class. Thirty-nine women, chiefly female nurses from the German Red Cross were granted the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Example of such women are Elfriede Wnuk, wounded in 1942 on
12138-426: Was able as a state within the state to exert significant control over the choice of chancellor and the political direction of the Reich. Those on the other side of the issue argue that the subordination of the military to the constitutional institutions of the Republic prevented the creation of a state within a state. Articles 46 and 47 of the Weimar Constitution gave the president of the Reich "supreme command over
12257-452: Was also possible for a holder of the 1914 Iron Cross to be awarded a second or higher grade of the 1939 Iron Cross. In such cases, a " 1939 Clasp " ( Spange ) would be worn on the original 1914 Iron Cross. For the 1st Class award, the Spange appears as an eagle with the date "1939". This was pinned to the uniform above the original medal. Although they were two separate awards in some cases
12376-550: Was any type of air force. The regulations were overseen by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control until 1927. Conscription into the German Army had traditionally been for a period of 1 to 3 years. After they had completed their terms of service, the discharged soldiers created a large pool of trained reserves. The Versailles Treaty fixed the term of service for Reichswehr officers at 25 years and for all others at 12 in order to prevent such
12495-469: Was awarded for bravery in battle as well as other military contributions in a battlefield environment. The Iron Cross, 2nd class, came with a ribbon and the cross itself was worn in one of two different ways: Note that for everyday wear, only the ribbon was worn from the second buttonhole in the tunic. The Iron Cross, 1st class, was a pin-on medal with no ribbon and was worn centered on a uniform breast pocket, either on dress uniforms or everyday outfit. It
12614-474: Was created. The 1813 decoration also has the initials "FW" for King Friedrich Wilhelm III , while the next two have a "W" for the respective kaisers, Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II . The final version shows a swastika representing the Nazi Party instead of a letter for a German monarch. There was also the "1957" issue, a replacement medal for holders of the 1939 series which substituted an oak-leaf cluster for
12733-451: Was divided into seven military districts. There were two group commands, No. 1 in Berlin and No. 2 in Kassel . The navy was allowed a limited number of certain types of ships and boats, with no submarines. It was divided into Naval Station Baltic Sea and Naval Station North Sea. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, the service period for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers in both
12852-544: Was done at previously designated demobilisation sites, usually the respective home garrisons. For the regiments with garrisons on the west bank of the Rhine, demobilisation sites were designated in the interior of the Reich. The Council of the People's Deputies – the de facto government of Germany from November 1918 until February 1919 – and the Supreme Army Command intended to transfer the remaining units to
12971-402: Was embraced as a former soldier by the Reichswehr . Franz von Papen and Kurt Schleicher, the two chancellors who followed Brüning, considered using the Reichswehr as part of their plans to abolish democracy. In addition, one of the presidential cabinets' main objectives was a revision of the Treaty of Versailles that would do away with the military limitations it imposed. In 1931 and 1932,
13090-424: Was first awarded in 1792. Medals have been forged by many people to make the medal appear more valuable or to make one look like a more decorated soldier. Medal forgeries can include: adding bars , engraving a famous soldier's name on it or creating a whole new medal. Medal forgery is illegal in most countries and can be punishable by imprisonment. Today military decorations include: In most NATO militaries, only
13209-530: Was in command of the Reichswehr troops in Bavaria, refused to act on Gessler's order to ban the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter , the Reich government had few options to enforce the subsequent order to relieve Lossow of his command. Seeckt's dictum that Reichswehr would not fire on Reichswehr still stood. When news of Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch reached Berlin on 8 November, Ebert transferred executive power from Gessler to Seeckt, even though there
13328-540: Was inserted into Peace's laurel wreath , making her into a Goddess of Victory . In 1821 Schinkel crowned the top of his design of the National Monument for the Liberation Wars with an Iron Cross, becoming name-giving as Kreuzberg (cross mountain) for the hill it stands on and, 100 years later, for the homonymous quarter adjacent to it. The Black Cross was used on the naval and combat flags of
13447-546: Was intended for senior generals of the Prussian or (later) the German Army. An even higher decoration, the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (also called the Blücher Star ), was awarded only twice, to Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in 1813 and to Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg in 1918. A third award was planned for the most successful German general during World War II, but
13566-408: Was issued over several different periods of German history, it was annotated with the year indicating the era in which it was issued. For example, an Iron Cross from World War I bears the year "1914", while the same decoration from World War II is annotated "1939". The reverse of the 1870, 1914 and 1939 series of Iron Crosses have the year "1813" appearing on the lower arm, symbolizing the year the award
13685-519: Was no assurance that he would act in the interests of the Republic. Given the way events in Munich unfolded, there was no need for Seeckt to take direct action. Kahr turned against Hitler, and the Reichswehr division in Bavaria did not support the putsch. In February 1924 Seeckt relinquished the executive powers he had received through Ebert. The 1925 Locarno Treaties ruled out any forcible change in Germany's western borders, and in 1926 Germany joined
13804-468: Was not made after the defeat of Germany in 1945. The Iron Cross, 1st class, and the Iron Cross, 2nd class, were awarded without regard to rank. One had to possess the 2nd Class already in order to receive the 1st Class (though in some cases both could be awarded simultaneously). The egalitarian nature of this award contrasted with those of most other German states (and indeed of many other European monarchies), where military decorations were awarded based on
13923-411: Was point to an officer corps that opposed the parliamentary republic and to General von Seeckt's insistence that the Reichswehr be apolitical, a position that was supported by the laws of the Reich, which denied members of the Reichswehr the right to vote and subjected them to internal Reichswehr jurisdiction. By distancing itself from politics and the government, the Reichswehr's relationship to
14042-442: Was succeeded by Werner von Fritsch . Given the limited size of the army, careful selection of personnel was possible. Experienced leaders came from the 'Old Army' of the Empire. In 1927, 20% of the officers were from the former nobility, down from 30% in 1913. This continued the long-term trend of a reduction in the percentage of noble officers. Large parts of the officer corps held a conservative, monarchist worldview and rejected
14161-400: Was usually a military decoration only, though some were awarded to civilians for performing military roles, including Hanna Reitsch and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg for being civilian test pilots during World War II. Since the late 20th century, the symbol has also been adopted into the outlaw motorcycle subculture and heavy metal fashion . The Black Cross ( Schwarzes Kreuz )
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