When did the practice of awarding medals to soldiers become commonplace?

War does not foster any benefit to those who fight it. So to not stifle those who gave up their rights to fight for their citizens, we try to honor those who fought. Such is a rare thing to happen when one gets back to home, I suppose

>>2881708
This could be completely wrong, but I always looked at a soldier's uniform, especially the dress uniform, as their resume. Every ribbon and flourish tells you something about their military career. I think that's a cool way to look at it.

>>2881708
war pensions

Medals are just one way of showing honors, but it can be other things (IE a laurel wreath, the ability to wear a certain color / type of clothing, etc).

It's a visual indicator of what you've achieved, that's generally recognized by your peers (and usually at least to some extent the public). It's a formalized acknowledgement that what you've done / are capable of deserves respect and should be recognized. Also as anon said >>2882523 it's basically a resume. Take for example when I was doing my genealogy, I found an old photograph of my great great great grandfather in his dress uniform. I asked one of my colleagues who knew about it and he identified the medals, one for service in Egypt and one for marksmanship (he also told me the guy's rank and regiment from his uniform). So just from a glance at a photo he knew where he served, who he served with, his rank, and what he was proficient at.

It was a matter of honor to bear recognition of service to the nation

>>2882523
Most of those ribbons are literal participation awards though, elementary school-tier shit.

>>2881708
Depends on what you consider a medal. The modern conception of medals as military awards started in the 18th century, but you could argue that roman phalerae were effectively medals.

>>2882589
Exactly. In Aus for example, the Australia Defence Medal (ADM), is given out once you've completed 4 years of service in the Defence Force. It's called the 'Thanks for coming' medal. It's also considered pretty embarrassing if you only have an ADM because it shows you've been in for a while and haven't done anything or been anywhere.

Medals became commonplace during and after the Napoleon era, as merit became more important to rank than family. It signaled competence on the field and was an honor. Additionally, medals are useful to determine rank when uniforms are the same. More important than anything though, it was an honor and recognition of service.

>>2883105
What military uses medals to signify rank?