The History of General Officer Ranks
Introduction:
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There are many intensive studies
of military rank structure. The
varying structures and their evolution can be very complex when one considers
the sheer number of nations and different eras in time, and war, during which
ranks have been employed. The goal
here is to provide a fairly simple and basic explanation of how the General Officer rank evolved and how
it was structured during World War Two….the era which this site is focused
on. It would be too easy to turn this
into a lengthy dissertation on the history of high ranks which would be
indigestible to the many readers looking only for some quick, historical
reference. However, if this condensed
overview prompts you to further interest, there exists much more in-depth
information available all over the web which you can access simply by using
the search engines. And I strongly encourage you to do so, as some
fascinating historical information is out there, and it may help you to
understand rank and military structure across all ranks, rather than just
that of the General officer. |
The Ultimate Power: A General Officer
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Whether it be the stars on the
shoulders, the gold braid, or the baton clutched in a gloved hand, these are
all universally recognizable symbols which tell us that this is a military
man with the ultimate in power and authority; a General Officer! Generals, Admirals and Field
Marshals have some of the most recognizable names in military history….even
those of us with the vaguest of military knowledge most certainly recognize
the names of Julius Ceasar, Napoleon Bonaparte,
George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, or Erwin Rommel. Some have familiar nick-names such as “the
Desert Fox”, “The Little Corporal” or “Ike”, and some are famous from
uttering such defining quotes of the moment as, “I shall return” and
“Nuts”. Many are men entire nations
turned to for inspiration during trying times, and will be forever
revered. And a few are those who will
similarly forever live in infamy over the large number of needless lives
lost, or the atrocities they were a part of.
War, after all, has its ugly side as well. But how and from where did these
ultimate positions evolve, and where did some of the symbolism come from? |
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The Evolution of General Officer Command Ranks:
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Rank generally implies the size
of a command, within a defined system of ranks and commands. In today’s armies there are some minor differences
between countries, but the basic command structure has been similar for many
centuries. The structure of military rank
had its early beginnings in ancient At the top of the Roman rank
structure, was the “Legate”, who commanded a Roman Legion. The Legate typically was an elected Roman
official serving a fixed term, such as a senator. In turn, the Legate commanded six Tribunes,
with each Tribune commanding the rough equivalents of a brigade of men. This
Legate was roughly, the first “General” officer rank, though the term
“General” was still many centuries from being coined. |
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Rank structure continued to
evolve into the middle ages and some of the terminology we are now familiar
with began to develop. Medieval Kings
often had to assemble their own armies, as need would arise to defend their
land or seize another, and as a result required leaders to direct these
armies and lead them. These command
appointments were typically seen as an honor with the King giving a royal commission
to certain elite members of the aristocracy to serve as officers in his
army. The highest commission was
provided to the Vassal Lords, who were commissioned as Captains. At the time, Captain was the highest
command rank to direct groups of soldiers in the field, and these groups were
made up of a company size number of soldiers. However, as the King’s armies
grew, the army would be made up of many companies, with many Captains, and
there became a need for a higher command authority to direct the army
overall. As a result, the King would
choose one of his Captains and give him ultimate authority over all the other
Captains and the entire army. This
authority, and new rank, was termed “Captain
in General”, which was eventually shortened to the term “General” and is
the basis for the development of the rank of that we are so familiar with
today. So, in these early days a
“General” became the highest rank to direct all of the armies on the field.
But what of all the other General officer ranks that evolved? As these armies grew in size, so too did
the need for the General to have subordinate General officers to help him
coordinate and direct these large commands. The first subordinate General
rank to evolve was the “Lieutenant” General.
The name of this rank came about because typically while the Captain
General was away he would have his assistant, or Lieutenant, take over the
army. And, since this Lieutenant must
have the power to command other Captains, which were technically above his
rank, he became the “Lieutenant
General”. And, as you may have
guessed by now, as the armies got even bigger this Lieutenant General would
of course also require an assistant or subordinate officer with command
authority. Below a Lieutenant rank was
the chief administrative officer, or Sargeant
Major…which of course was pressed into command service as well, with his
title also evolving and being later shortened to “Major General”. This is
why a Lieutenant General outranks a Major General, even though in field grade
officers a Major outranks a Lieutenant.
Those are the “basic” ranks of
General Officer, and how they came into being. However, over time other higher ranks of
General were created, and not every country has the exact same rank system,
so there is some variation. The next highest rank above General is “Colonel General”, which is used by a
few countries, |
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The Rank of Field Marshal/Marshal:
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The rank of Field Marshal is the
highest General Officer rank, though there have been instances in a few occasions
of ranks bestowed which are equal to or higher, those often being honorary or
political in nature so as to designate a political leader with ultimate
authority. The Field Marshal rank has also
evolved from the middle ages, and originates from the old German term Marhahscalah, or servant of the horse. The Marahscalah
was the keeper of the King’s horses and responsible for commanding the king’s
cavalry troops. As such, he held high
office in the royal household and exercised authority over the King’s troops,
especially as they expanded into larger armies, at which point he became a
sort of Commander in Chief for the King.
“Field Marshal” wasn’t
officially employed as a military rank, however, until the 1300’s, though it
was the 1700’s when it finally became recognized as a higher rank than
General. This rank achieved its
ultimate notoriety during World War Two when Hitler promoted a total of 26
men to the rank over the course of the war. The Field Marshal rank is one
that, in modern times, is primarily used during times of large scale war,
such as a world war, when the necessity to command various large bodies of
troops in campaigns is such that senior positions must be created. At present time, none of the major powers
has an active military rank of field marshal, or the equivalent. |
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General of the Army:
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General of the Army is a rank
equivalent to Field Marshal, and is used in countries that do not have a
Field Marshal rank, most notably the General of the Army rank has an
interesting early history in the The rank was again revived in
1919, awarding John Pershing the rank of General of the Armies, the
equivalent of the first five star General in the
nation’s history. General of the
Armies, however, is considered a higher rank than General of the Army, so in
today’s army it would be a six star rank. (The portrait at
right is painted and provided courtesy of
http://www.honorthyheritage.com/) |
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Admiral Officer Rank:
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The equivalent of a General
officer in the World’s navies is of course, the Admiral. The term Admiral is
of Arabic origin, coming from the word “Amir-al-bahr”,
a term the Arabs used with their seafaring forces which translated to
‘commander of the seas’. The term was
eventually picked up and used by latin speaking
cultures, later condensing the term to Amiral,
which is the foundation for the word in its current recognizable form. Much as with General officer
ranks, an Admiral also has
subordinate ranks that have evolved, with their own terminology. The various Admiral ranks now in use
originated from the English navies in the 1600’s. Typically an Admiral would
command from the lead of the fleet. However, as the fleet size expanded the
Admiral would at times command from the middle or main body of the fleet, at
which point he would appoint his Lieutenant or “Vice Admiral” to serve in his place and command from the lead
group of the fleet. The Vice Admiral
also had a lieutenant of his own who would serve as commander of the rear or
reserve portion of the fleet, and this position resulted in the position we
know as “Rear Admiral”. Admiral ranks are known as “flag
officer” ranks because Admiral’s have their own distinctive command flag to
indicate they are on board and are the designated command ship, which is
where the term “flagship” comes from. |
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The Rank of Grand Admiral/Fleet Admiral:
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As with the Field Marshal rank,
there also exists a highest rank for the Admirals as well. In the German Navy, the highest Admiral
rank was known as a “Grand Admiral”
(Grossadmiral) and was the equivalent naval rank to
a Field Marshal in the army. This rank
also exists in other nation’s navies, but uses different terminology, such as
Fleet Admiral, Admiral of the Fleet or Admiral of the Navy. As with the Field Marshal rank, it is a
rank largely used during times of major conflict or world-wide war and does
not typically exist during peacetime. The rank is usually given to an Admiral
that either commands the entire Navy, or is in command of multiple
fleets. The Fleet Admiral rank dates
all the way back to the middle ages where a nobleman was appointed by a
monarch or king to raise and command an entire navy for a war campaign. The British Royal Navy has had an Admiral
of the Fleet since 1795, at one time temporarily changing the name to “First
Sea Lord”. The British ceased
appointments to this rank in 1996. The rank of Admiral of the Soviet
Union Fleet in Soviet Russia was a confusing one, as Stalin struggled with
creating the rank title as well as the rank insignia. Kuznetsov, who
was one of the first to be assigned the rank, was initially provided with
four star rank insignia, which he wore for a short period of time. He later was provided with yet another set
of new shoulderboards with large Marshal stars,
similar to the army rank boards, as the rank was supposed to correspond with
the army’s Marshal of the |
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Higher Ranks (6-Star
Equivalent)
There have been a few instances
where ranks were created which are higher than Field Marshal, or General of the
Army, and in some cases they have been honorary or politically
self-appointed. There can be many of these
if you include some of the political and para-military
organizations that evolved in other countries (such as Nazi Germany), but for
the sake of space I will only include the ranks that had military basis or
military command involved with a major power.
It can also get rather complicated the farther back in time you go, as
for instance, the
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Reichsmarschall The rank of Reichsmarschall
was held by Hermann Goring during World War Two, and made him the highest
ranking officer in all of Germany, the equivalent of a 6-star General. Hitler promoted Goring to this rank so that
Goring would have authority over all the other Wehrmacht
officers. As Hitler’s deputy, and
successor, bestowing this rank on Goring left no question as to who would
inherit military power should something happen to Hitler. As Reichsmarschall,
Goring had a personal hand in creating some of the most flamboyant uniforms
and insignia of modern times, and was known to change his uniforms several
times a day. The Reichsmarschall rank dates back to
the 12th century. |
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Generalissimo/Generalissimuss The term is Italian, meaning
“utmost to the highest grade”, and is most typically associated with
individuals who are in a powerful ruling position within their country, and
often run a militaristic state. During
the World War Two era Chang-Kai-shek and Josef Stalin were the most notable
figures with this position, Stalin awarding it to himself upon conclusion of
the war. While Stalin had various
prototype insignia produced for this rank, he was never known to wear a distinct
insignia, instead continuing to wear his Marshal of the |
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General of the Armies In 1919 General John Pershing was
appointed “General of the Armies of the |
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Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, an Admiral who
famously served during the Spanish American War was the first,
and only person to ever have achieved the rank of Admiral of the Navy in the |
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Reichsfuhrer SS Initially an appointment, once
World War II began this rank was recognized as the highest rank in the German
SS, equivalent to that of a Field Marshal or Grand Admiral, and was held for
the duration of the war by Heinrich Himmler.
As Reichsfuhrer SS, Himmler would go down in
history as the man behind the extermination camps, responsible for the
torture and death of millions of civilians, Jews and Russians. Though
possessing no battlefield experience whatsoever, in the closing months of the
war Himmler was given command of two army groups by Hitler. Miserably failing at both opportunities, he
abandoned his command, took sick leave, blamed others for his failures and
sent his resignation to Hitler. He was
later captured by Allied troops disguised as a regular soldier, and committed
suicide by taking cyanide during interrogation, thus escaping the hangman’s
noose. |
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The Symbolism of Rank
Insignia, and titles or rank, serve
to allow soldiers a means by which to quickly identify each other as to where
they fall in the hierarchy, as well as in the early days when uniforms were not
always present, to identify each other on the battlefield. As with the rank titles, the symbols and
insignia used to identify high rank have evolved over the centuries and are now
somewhat universal, though each nation has its own identity and culture when it
comes to the use of stars versus rank pips, swords or batons and so on.
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Rank Insignia: The earliest use of command rank
insignia was as simple as a sword, a colored sash or a colored plume on a hat
or helmet. In later times these
symbols of rank were the type and number of buttons on the coats or sleeves,
or the amount of gold braid. In any
case, rank insignia was required as an instantly recognizable symbol that
could be seen by troops near and afar. In modern times, with modern communications,
many of those symbols are now subdued as the need is no longer there to
visually recognize a commander on the field.
Yet, even though subdued, the symbolism is still retained on uniforms
in long standing traditions. Much of
the individual symbolism that militaries use in their General officer ranks
have been incorporated from designs used by their individual countries, which
is why in the United States you see stars (as in the stars and stripes of the
flag), and why in the British armed forces you see the King or Queen’s crown
incorporated as a rank device. The
only standardization that you will notice today across all nations is the use
of shoulder boards, collar devices or sleeve stripes in the case of the navy
Admirals. |
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Field Marshal’s batons: From the early use of sceptors by Roman emperors, it seems that a stick or
‘wand of office’ was used to indicate that the holder had ultimate
power. The first use of a baton to
symbolize military power was by the Roman Legate, who wielded a white baton
to represent his ultimate authority as representative of the emperor. Later the French and Napoleon, in
particular, borrowed the idea from the Romans and created ornate batons for
their Generals and Marshals (it was not just Field Marshals who wielded
batons, as many Generals used them in the past as well). The word ‘baton’ is French meaning “stick”
or “staff”, and both the term ‘baton’ and the tradition of creating ornate,
bejeweled batons originates from the French influence during this time. Over the last couple of centuries
there have been many ornate Marshals batons created by the French, English
and Germans. To the right is a picture
of the earliest known insignia ever unearthed in archaeology, the sceptor of Emperor Maxentius,
who ruled |
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Levels of Command
To better understand the command
authority each level of General officer obtains, here is a brief listing of
each various command size and the corresponding rank or ranks capable of
command. Note that the size of the
command can vary with each country and each branch of service, so the numbers
used here are for reference only and not inflexible.
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Command Group |
Size of
Command |
Command Rank |
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Armies |
varies |
Field Marshal / General of the
Army |
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Army Group |
400,000 – 1,500,000 |
Colonel General / General |
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Army |
240,000 |
General / Lieutenant General |
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Corps |
60,000 |
Lieutenant General |
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Division |
10,000 – 20,000 |
Major General / Brigadier General |
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Brigade |
1,500 – 3,500 |
Brigadier General / Brigadier |
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Regiment |
1,500 – 3,000 |
Colonel |
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Battalion |
500 – 1,500 |
Major / Lieutenant Colonel |
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Company |
175 – 225 |
Captain / Major |
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Platoon |
42 – 55 |
Lieutenant |
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Squad |
13 |
Sargeant |
Comparison of High Ranks
among the different nations in World War Two
For the sake of space limitations,
I will only provide a rank comparison of a few of the “major” powers involved
in the war, of which this site is largely focused on. Most other nations that are not included here
have a similar rank structure, with a few variances, but for the purposes of a
general study this should provide a fairly good guideline. Note: The Japanese did not have any ranks
above General or Admiral, as ultimate authority came from two councils
subordinate to the Emperor, as well as an Imperial Headquarters which was made
up from Chiefs of Staff and Ministers.
Army Rank Structure of General Officers
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Reichsmarschall |
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Generalfeldmarschall |
Field Marshal |
General of the Army |
Marshal of the |
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Generaloberst |
General |
General |
General of the Army |
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General der
Inf., etc. |
Lieutenant General |
Lieutenant General |
Colonel General |
General |
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Generalleutnant |
Major General |
Major General |
Lieutenant General |
Lieutenant General |
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Generalmajor |
Brigadier |
Brigadier General |
Major General |
Major General |
Air Force Rank Structure for General Officers
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Reichsmarschall |
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Generalfeldmarschall |
Marshal of the RAF |
General of the Army |
Marshal of the Air Force |
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Generaloberst |
Air Chief Marshal |
General |
General of the Army |
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General der
Flieger., etc. |
Air Marshal |
Lieutenant General |
Colonel General |
General |
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Generalleutnant |
Air Vice Marshal |
Major General |
Lieutenant General |
Lieutenant General |
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Generalmajor |
Air Commodore |
Brigadier General |
Major General |
Major General |
* During World War Two the
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Naval Rank structure for Admirals
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Reichsmarschall |
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Grossadmiral |
Admiral of the Fleet |
Fleet Admiral |
Admiral of the Fleet of the |
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General Admiral |
Admiral |
Admiral |
Admiral of the Fleet |
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Admiral |
Vice Admiral |
Vice Admiral |
Admiral |
Admiral |
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Vize Admiral |
Rear Admiral |
Rear Admiral |
Vice Admiral |
Vice Admiral |
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Konter Admiral |
Commodore |
Commodore |
Rear Admiral |
Rear Admiral |
