Yes and no. The Iron Cross in its modern form dates back to the Napoleonic War, specifically the Befreiungskrieg (War of Liberation) of 1813 against the French. The decoration for heroism was to be a simple iron medal and designed by the architect Karl Friederich Schinkel with input from the Prussian King Frederick William III. Schinkel turned to the Teutonic past for inspiration, as did other German principalities such Reuss-Greiz's Cross of Honor. After the Prussian-led unification, the Iron Cross became one of the central military decorations, especially during the First World War, with 1813 (1914 for WWI decorations) at the lower end and the monarchs' initial in the center (either W or FW- the Hohenzollerns were not that creative with names). The Third Reich appropriated the Iron Cross for its own purposes, replacing the initials with a swastika.

The connection of the Iron Cross with the Befreiungskrieg and the Prussian military reformers made it an acceptable symbol for the postwar Bundeswehr. The alleged commitment of the Prussian reformers like Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to a more democratic people in arms coupled with the ideal of fighting against a foreign invader made it a useful symbol for the FRG's military during the Cold War. The Bundeswehr's highest decorations, the Ehrenzeichen and the Ehrenkreuz, fuse the styling of the older Iron Cross and the symbolic language of German republicanism (the black-gold-red tricolor and the Federal Eagle, which is the old imperial German eagle sans its imperial decorations- both of which are associated with the Weimar Republic and the 1848 Revolutions).