Notes
Although the Iron Cross was originally created only for the duration of the Wars of Liberation, it was revived in 1870, 1914 and finally in 1939. It became the quintessence of Prussian, and ultimately German, military tradition.
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 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 Iron Cross 2nd Class was suspended from a ribbon on the chest. The usual display of the 2nd Class version was on a ribbon through one of the buttonholes in the recipient's tunic.