Item number: M543-1

Year: AD 1914-1925

Material: Silver, Iron

Provenance: Teutoburger Münzauktion GmBH 2025

This is an Iron Cross of the AD 1914 issue, representing the Third Model.

The decoration is designed in the form of a cross pattée with curved, flaring arms, cast in black iron and bordered with a silver frame featuring fine ribbing, which is subsequently mounted upon an iron core plate. At the centre of the obverse, the letter ‘W’ denotes the cypher of Wilhelm II, the founder of the AD 1914 issue. Surmounting this is the Prussian royal crown, whilst the lower arm bears the foundation year of the Third Model, ‘1914’.

The centre of the reverse displays three oak leaves, symbolising strength and honour. Positioned above them is a royal crown and the initial ‘W’, abbreviating Wilhelm to denote the founder of the original AD 1813 issue, King Frederick William III. Below, the base of the cross is inscribed with the original foundation year, ‘1813’.

The ribbon features a black field flanked on either side by a white stripe, identical to that of the highest-ranking order of merit, the Pour le Mérite. For non-frontline combatants, the ribbon colours were inverted.

The Iron Cross was originally instituted on 10 March AD 1813 following the French invasion of Russia. In the aftermath of the campaign, defeated French forces drifted across German territory in a slow retreat towards Paris, momentarily menacing Berlin. At this juncture, Frederick William III resolved to accede to the Sixth Coalition in an effort to throw off Napoleonic subjugation. Withdrawing to Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland), beyond the reach of French forces, Frederick William III decreed the establishment of the Landwehr (militia reserve) and the mobilisation of the Landsturm (local levy). Concurrently, inspired perhaps by the extraordinary mobilising power of the French Légion d’honneur, Frederick William III suspended the pre-existing chivalric honours system and instituted the Iron Cross (Das Eiserne Kreuz), conferring it exclusively upon servicemen actively engaged in the War of Liberation against France. To ensure institutional egalitarianism, the physical insignia awarded to aristocrats and commoners, generals and private soldiers alike were entirely indistinguishable, with the award of the Second Class serving as an absolute prerequisite for conferring the First Class. In the royal decree, the King wrote:

“The soldier stands on an entirely equal footing with the general; for everyone is well aware, upon seeing the general and the soldier wearing the very same decoration, that the general could only have earned it through merit within his sphere of responsibility, whereas the soldier did so within his limited sphere, and the same applies to civil service. Even if the soldier wears the First Class cross whilst the general bears that of the Second Class, everyone knows this signifies nothing more than that the soldier distinguished himself through extraordinary personal valour on at least two occasions, whereas the general did so through his command or its success on a single occasion—one within the very small orbit of a soldier, the other within the vast orbit of a general. Under such circumstances, no one will dispute that the services rendered to the state by a general holding only the Second Class cross far outweigh those of the soldier who has been awarded the First Class.”

Amidst an atmosphere in which the populace enthusiastically donated gold ornaments and jewellery, even substituting gold wedding bands with iron rings to demonstrate the patriotic ethos of ‘Gold gave I for Iron’, Frederick William III resolved to forge an entirely new token of distinction from humble iron to reward military personnel and civilians who achieved pre-eminent merit in the struggle against foreign domination. The architect and artist Karl Friedrich Schinkel was subsequently commissioned to design the motif of the Iron Cross. In subsequent eras, the Iron Cross established itself as a paramount military decoration during major conflicts, being re-instituted during the Franco-Prussian War in AD 1870, the First World War in AD 1914, and the Second World War in AD 1939. It ultimately evolved into the most widely recognised symbol of honour within German culture.

The classes of the Iron Cross, in descending order of precedence, comprise the Grand Cross, the First Class, and the Second Class. The insignia bodies of the First and Second Classes are physically identical, differentiated solely by their reverse fittings and manner of wear. The Grand Cross was significantly larger in scale and was reserved exclusively for senior commanders in wartime. The AD 1914 issue of the Grand Cross was conferred upon merely five individuals; the First Class was awarded to over 218,000 recipients; and the Second Class was bestowed upon approximately 5,196,000 or more individuals. For the First Class and above, a breast cross was affixed to the tunic in addition to the ribbon-suspended insignia. The presence of dual Iron Crosses on the same stickpin likely represents both the ribbon-suspended insignia and the breast cross of the First Class Iron Cross.

As the final monarch of the German Empire, Emperor Wilhelm II pursued an ambitious expansion of the High Seas Fleet alongside an aggressive policy of Weltpolitik, thereby disrupting the European balance of power maintained during the Bismarckian era and prompting Great Britain, France, and Russia to forge an alliance, which laid the structural foundations for the First World War. During the July Crisis of AD 1914, his extension of an unconditional ‘blank cheque’ (Blankovollmacht) to Austria-Hungary accelerated the escalation of the Balkan crisis into a general conflagration. Although Wilhelm II nominally held the supreme command as the Supreme Warlord (Oberster Kriegsherr), the escalation of the conflict into a brutal war of attrition and total mobilisation resulted in military and political authority being progressively usurped by the Supreme Army Command (Oberste Heeresleitung, OHL) led by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, effectively reducing the Emperor to a figurehead and imperial figurepiece. In the closing phase of the conflict, following the collapse of the German frontline and the outbreak of the nationwide November Revolution spearheaded by sailors and workers, Wilhelm II, having lost the allegiance of the armed forces and the confidence of the populace, was compelled to abdicate in November AD 1918 and flee into exile in the Netherlands. This marked not only the end of centuries of Hohenzollern dynastic rule, but also the dissolution of the German Empire and the emergence of the Weimar Republic.

物件編號: M543-1

年代: 公元 1914-1925 年

材質: 銀、鐵

來源: Teutoburger Münzauktion GmBH 2025

這是一枚鐵十字勳章，為公元1914年版，即第三型。

該章呈十字型，各臂呈弧形漸寬，為黑色鑄鐵，邊緣嵌銀，銀邊有細齒紋，再貼於鐵片上。正面中央「W」為「Wilheim」縮寫，即公元1914年版的設立者威廉二世。上方為普魯士王冠，下方為第三型鐵十字勳章的設立年｢1914｣。

背面中央為三片橡葉，象徵力量與榮譽。上方為王冠與「W」，其為「Wilheim」縮寫，即公元1813年版的設立者腓特烈·威廉三世。下方為最初的設立年「1813」。

綬帶為黑底，兩側各有一道白色色帶，與最高等級的「功勳勳章」(Pour le Mérite)相同。非前線戰鬥人員的綬帶為反色。

鐵十字勳章最初設立於公元1813年3月10日。在法俄戰爭後。失敗的法國軍團遊蕩在德意志的土地上緩緩返回巴黎，一時逼近柏林。而這時，腓特烈·威廉三世決定加入第六次反法同盟，爭取脫離拿破崙的控制。腓特烈·威廉三世前往法軍所不及的布雷斯勞(今波蘭弗羅次瓦夫)，決議組建後備軍(Landwehr)和召集民兵後備隊(Landsturm)。同時，可能是受到法國榮譽軍團勳章驚人動員力的啟示，腓特烈·威廉三世暫停既有的勳賞體系，設立鐵十字勳章(Das Eiserne Kreuz)，僅授予在反法戰爭中活躍的軍人。為追求制度上的平等，貴族與平民、將軍與士兵所獲頒的章體沒有任何差別，且一律先授二級方可授一級。其於政令中寫道：

「士兵與將軍完全平等；因為人人都明白，當看到將軍與士兵佩戴相同的勳飾時，將軍是憑藉其職責範圍內的功績獲此勳飾，而士兵則是在其有限的領域內獲取，文職人員亦同。即使士兵佩戴一級十字章而將軍佩戴二級十字章，人人都清楚這僅代表：該士兵憑藉個人非凡的英勇行為至少兩次立功，而將軍憑藉其指揮或戰果僅立功一次；一人是在士兵極狹小的行動圈內，另一人則是在將軍極寬廣的指揮圈內。在這種情況下，誰也不會否認：僅獲二級十字章的將軍對國家的貢獻，遠大於榮獲一級十字章的士兵之貢獻。」

在民眾踴躍捐出金飾與珠寶，甚至以鐵戒指替換金婚戒，展現「以鐵易金」之愛國精神的氛圍下，腓特烈·威廉三世決意以最平實的「鐵」鑄造一種全新榮譽標誌，用以獎勵在反抗外敵統治中立下卓越戰功的軍民。建築師，同時也是藝術家的申克爾(Karl Friedrich Schinkel)於是受命設計出了該鐵十字圖案。其後，鐵十字勳章成為重大戰爭中的重要獎勳制度，在公元1870年的普法戰爭、公元1914年的第一次世界大戰，與公元1939年的第二次世界大戰中，均曾一度恢復。鐵十字勳章成為德國文化中最被廣泛接受的榮譽象徵。

鐵十字勳章的等級，由高至低分為大十字級、第一級，以及第二級。第一、二級的鐵十字勳章章體沒有任何區別，僅從章背依配戴方式而能辨認。大十字鐵十字勳章則實際尺寸更大，但僅頒予戰爭中的統帥。公元1914年版的大十字級鐵十字勳章僅頒予五人；一級鐵十字勳章頒予218,000人以上；二級鐵十字勳章頒予約5,196,000人以上。一級及以上的鐵十字勳章，除了綬章外，會在胸前掛上鐵十字勳章的胸章。同組胸針的上的雙鐵十字勳章，可能是在表達一級鐵十字勳章的綬章與胸章。

德皇威廉二世(Wilhelm II)作為德意志帝國的末代君主，其推行的大洋艦隊擴建與激進擴張的「世界政策」(Weltpolitik)，打破了俾斯麥時期維持的歐洲均勢，促使英、法、俄三國走向結盟，為第一次世界大戰埋下了結構性衝突的根源。在公元1914年的七月危機中，他對奧匈帝國開出無條件支持的「空白支票」(Blankovollmacht)，激化巴爾幹局勢的升級。威廉二世在名義上，雖身兼帝國最高統帥(Oberster Kriegsherr)，但隨著戰事陷入殘酷的消耗戰與總體戰，軍政大權逐漸被興登堡與魯登道夫為首的最高陸軍指揮部(OHL)架空，使其實質上淪為虛位元首與帝國象徵。戰爭末期，隨著德軍在前線崩潰以及十一月革命引發的全國性水兵與工人起義，威廉二世在喪失軍隊支持與民眾信任的情況下，被迫於公元1918年11月宣布退位並流亡荷蘭，宣告了霍亨索倫家族數百年統治的終結，同時也標誌著德意志帝國的覆滅與魏瑪共和國的誕生。