A profile portrait of Frederick William III partially covered by a profile portrait of William II, both facing to the left, divide dates and surrounded by the inscription.

Frederick William III (German: Friedrich Wilhelm III, 1770–1840) was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He ruled Prussia during the difficult times of the Napoleonic Wars and the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Steering a careful course between France and her enemies, after a major military defeat in 1806, he eventually and reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege. Following Napoleon's defeat he was King of Prussia during the Congress of Vienna, which assembled to settle the political questions arising from the new, post-Napoleonic order in Europe.

William II (German: Wilhelm II, 1859–1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Acceding to the throne in 1888, he dismissed the chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890. He also launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led in a matter of days to the First World War. An ineffective war-time leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands.

The coat of arms of the German Empire (Reichsadler with shield on breast), surrounded by the country name, date and value.

The Reichsadler ("Imperial Eagle") was the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Second German Empire (1871–1918). The design of the eagle was altered at least twice during 1871–1918. It shows the imperial eagle, a comparatively realistic black eagle, without scepter and orb, on the breast shield the Prussian eagle, overlaid with the shield of the House of Hohenzollern, with the German State Crown. The eagle has a red beak, tongue and claws, with open wings and feathers. In contrast to its predecessor, the eagle of the German Confederation, it has only one head, looking to the right, symbolising that important parts of the old empire, Austria and Bohemia, were not part of this new empire.

Gott mit uns ("God with us") is a phrase commonly used on armour in the German military from the German Empire to the end of the Third Reich, although its historical origins are far older. It was used for the first time in German by the Teutonic Order.