Germany – Imperial: A very fine and scarce mounted group of 4 medals comprising: Iron Cross 1870, 2nd Class with 25 Year Jubilee Oakleaf device attached to ribbon; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Other Ranks Long Service Decoration, 3rd Class for 9 Years Service; Germany - Prussia: Commemorative Medal for the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 for Combatants, 4 clasps: Gravelotte-St.Privat, Beaumont, Sedan, Paris; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Kaiser Wilhelm 1897 Centenary Medal; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Kaisar Wilhelm 1897 Centenary Medal. Mounted continental style for wear.
Germany – Imperial: Mounted group of 4 medals comprising: Iron Cross 1870, 2nd Class with 25 Year Jubilee Oakleaf device attached to ribbon; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Other Ranks Long Service Decoration, 3rd Class for 9 Years Service; Germany - Prussia: Commemorative Medal for the Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871 for Combatants, 4 clasps: Gravelotte-St.Privat, Beaumont, Sedan, Paris; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Kaiser Wilhelm 1897 Centenary Medal; Germany - Imperial States - Prussia: Kaisar Wilhelm 1897 Centenary Medal. Mounted continental style for wear.
Condition: mounted continental style for wear, minor loss of paintwork to the Iron Cross, overall Good Very Fine
King Wilhelm I of Prussia reinstituted the award on 19th July 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Recipients of the 1870 Iron Cross who were still in service in 1895 were authorised to purchase and wear above the cross a Jubiläumsspange ( Jubilee clip ), a 25-year clasp consisting of the numerals 25 on three oak leaves, and those who were still alive in 1914 were entitled to add the special 1914 Bar (Spange).
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 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. The Commemorative Medal for the Franco-Prussian War was instituted on 20th May 1871 for those active in the war with France, to be awarded in bronze for combatants, as here, and in steel for non-combatants. To mark the 25th anniversary of the Prussian victory, on 18 August 1895 twenty-three bars corresponding to the main actions of the war were authorised for wear with the medal by veterans of those actions. On 2nd September 1895 two further bars for Weissenburg and Metz were added. This recipient saw action at Gravelotte-St. Privat, Beaumont, Sedan and Paris during the campaign.
The conflict between France and Prussia that signalled the rise of German military power and imperialism was provoked by the Prussian (later German) Chancellor Otto von Bismarck as part of his plan to create a unified German Empire. The French armies were overcome at Sedan by the efficient Prussian forces, battle-hardened from their conflicts with Denmark and Austria. In Paris, a bloodless revolution led to the overthrow of Napoleon III. The city was besieged by the Prussians from 19th September and held out, suffering severe privation, until 28th January. France was forced to cede Alsace and Lorraine to the Germany which had been proclaimed an empire under Wilhelm I on 18th January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, sowing the seeds of future 20th Century conflicts.
