Orders, decorations, and medals of the German Empire covers those decorations awarded by the states which came together under Prussian leadership to form the
German Empire in 1871. For convenience's sake, this category also covers the decorations of the various German states which were no longer in existence in 1871, mainly because they had been annexed by Prussia during the
Wars of Unification or before.
German Empire
The German Empire
consisted of 25 states: four
kingdoms, six
grand duchies, five
duchies, seven
principalities and three
Hanseatic cities. In addition, the house order of the Hohenzollern principalities, although the states themselves had been annexed by Prussia, continued to be awarded in the imperial era. Each state awarded decorations for civil or military merit. The following is a list of the principal civil and military decorations of each state.
The largest state to be annexed by Prussia was the
Kingdom of Hanover. Other states which had ceased to exist by 1871 include the
Duchy of Nassau, the electoral principality of
Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), the free city of
Frankfurt, and several smaller states. The following is a list of the principal civil and military decorations of these states.
German decorations of the First World War were those medals, ribbons, and other decorations bestowed upon German soldiers, sailors, pilots and also for civilians, during the
First World War. These special awards were awarded by both
Imperial Germany and various German Kingdoms and other states and city-states of the Reich.