"Quite apart from matters of political correctness, the Iron Cross can only be awarded when the nation is in a declared state of war. It is what is known as a temporary award, and has to be re-instituted each time the nation is at war."
You look at the wars fought by France and the UK, many of their wars were not declared when they were expanding their empires or putting down armed uprisings in their colonies; whereby, their soldiers, civilians, and police officers were given VCs, the DCMs, Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire, the CMG, the French Legion of Honor, the French Military Medal, the French Croix De Guerre Overseas medal, and various colonial police medals. When the Napoleonic Wars had finally ended, I am surprised the British didn't demand that the French abolish the Legion of Honor since it represents the amount of death and destruction that Europe suffered from those wars. The only people who like and support Napoleon were the Poles because he supported the Poles in their fight for their independence.