Quote:
Originally Posted by Tessa
Sad thing is with the order of precedence it will be the last ribbon his rack, generally occupied by the lowest medal/award a soldier receives.
In the whole scheme of Imperial Germany awards/orders, the Iron Cross is a pretty low award. Looking at the period from 1600-1918 there are many orders/medals that far outranked the Iron Cross; like the Order of the Black Eagle, Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, Order of the Bear, Order of St. Henry the Lion or even a Hanseaten Cross, etc.. The iron cross has become more of an enigma than a true medal of extraordinary valor. Arguably the most respected and reverred medal Germany has ever awarded is the Pour Le Merite, it ranked about all the RK's and other high orders - much like the Victoria Cross today.
There are several orders of knighthood/aristocracy (Order of the Garter, Order of the Bath) that are very high ranking with some only being given to heads of state, but a Private that went through hell and back and was awarded the Victoria Cross will always outrank Orders that can be given only to kings/queens. Like the Pour Le Merite, Medal of Honor or Victoria cross the award for valor has always outranked any political award/order created no matter how prestigious it may be. Personally I love one of the laurels that comes with the MOH, that anyone wearing the MOH must be saluted first, regardless of rank. Very cool to that a 4 star general is required to salute first a MOH reciepient even he's just an E-1 private.
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Well the difference between all the Orders from the old Monarchy and the Iron Cross is that the Iron Cross was the first one which could be awarded to every Soldier. The Pour le Merite for example was an Miltary Decoration exclusivly for Officers. So the Pour le Merite doesn't match the MOH or the VC at all, because they always could be awarded to any Soldier regardless his Rank.
Others of the Orders you mentioned had various classes which were resreved to the proper ranks, so a Private would never reach the Order of the Red Eagle anyways.
The First Class of the Order of the Red Eagle was for Rank from Major General and upwards.
1792 a II. and II. Class where added.
The Iron crosses from 1870 and 1914 where Military Decorations from the German Kaiserreich so they where Higher ranking Orders then the orders from the Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom of Prussia etc.