From the days of the first crusade, the cross has been the symbol of the Christian warrior who pledged not only to fight in defense of the Holy Land, but also to protect the lives of his compatriots.... Skull symbolism is the attachment of symbolic meaning to the skull, generally the human skull. The most common symbolic use of the skull is as a representation of death and mortality. Humans can recognize the fragments of a cranium in the earth, even when other bones look like shards of stone. The human brain has a specific region for recognizing faces [1], and is so attuned to finding them that it can see faces in a few dots and lines or punctuation marks; the human eyes cannot avoid recognizing a human skull as having once been human. Moreover, a human skull with its large eye sockets displays a degree of neoteny, which humans often find visually appealing—yet a skull is also obviously dead. As such, human skulls have a greater visual appeal than the other bones of the human skeleton, and can fascinate even as they repel. When the skull is represented in military insignia, the death's-head (Totenkopf) deals with the fear of death, but when tattooed on the forearm its apotropaic power helps an outlaw biker cheat death [citation needed]. The skull and crossbones signify "Poison" when they appear on a glass bottle containing a white powder. But it is not the same emblem when it flies high above the poop deck as the Jolly Roger: there the pirate death's-head epitomizes the pirates' ruthlessness and despair, their challenge to the natural order of things and to the inevitability of Death itself. When a skull is worn as a trophy on the belt of the Lombard king Alboin, it is a constant grim triumph over his old enemy, and he drinks from it. Thus a skull is a warning when it decorates the palisade of a city, or deteriorates on a pike at a Traitor's Gate. The Skull Tower, with the embedded skulls of Serbian rebels, was built in 1809 on the highway near Niš, Serbia, as a stark political warning from the Ottoman government. In this case the skulls are the statement.

The Iron Cross (German: Eisernes Kreuz (help·info), abbreviated EK) is a former military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and WWII Germany (1933–1945). It was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia in March 1813 backdated to the birthday of his late wife Queen Louise on 10 March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars (EK 1813). Louise was the first person to receive this decoration (posthumous). The recommissioned Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco-Prussian War (EK 1870), World War I (EK 1914), and World War II (EK 1939, re-introduced with an ancient symbol added in the center). The Iron Cross was normally a military decoration only, though there were instances of it being awarded to civilians for performing military functions. Two examples of this were civilian test pilots Hanna Reitsch who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for their actions as pilots during World War II. The design of the cross symbol was black with a white or silver outline, was ultimately derived from the cross pattée of the Teutonic Order, used by knights on occasions from the 13th century. The Prussian Army black cross pattée was also used as the symbol of the succeeding German Army from 1871 to March/April 1918, when it was replaced by the Balkenkreuz. In 1956, it was re-introduced as the symbol of the Bundeswehr, the modern German armed forces.. The Black Cross (Schwarzes Kreuz) is the emblem used by the Prussian Army, and by the army of Germany from 1871 to present. It was designed on the occasion of the German Campaign of 1813, when Frederick William III commissioned the Iron Cross as the first military decoration open to all ranks, including enlisted men. From this time, the Black Cross also featured on the Prussian war flag alongside the Black Eagle. It was designed by neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, based on a sketch by Frederick William.[3] The design is ultimately derivative of the black cross used by the Teutonic Order. This heraldic cross took various forms throughout the order's history, including a simple Latin cross, a cross potent, cross fleury and occasionally also a cross pattée. When the Quadriga of the Goddess of Peace was retrieved from Paris at Napoleon's fall, it was re-established atop Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. An Iron Cross was inserted into Peace's laurel wreath, making her into a Goddess of Victory. In 1821 Schinkel crowned the top of his design of the National Monument for the Liberation Wars with an Iron Cross, becoming name-giving as Kreuzberg (cross mountain) for the hill it stands on and – 100 years later – for the homonymous quarter adjacent to it. The Black Cross was used on the naval and combat flags of the German Empire. The Black Cross was used as the symbol of the German Army until 1915, when it was replaced by a simpler Balkenkreuz. The Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic (1921–35), the Wehrmacht of Germany (1935–46) and the Bundeswehr (1 October 1956 to present) also inherited use of the emblem in various forms. The traditional design in black is used on armored vehicles and aircraft, while after German reunification, a new design in blue and silver was introduced for use in other contexts..

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