All military forces depend for their operation on a strict, unambiguous organizational hierarchy which has usually been reflected in distinctive uniforms, badges, and insignia. Attempts to create ‘classless’ armed forces without visible rank distinctions have been short-lived. Even the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Red China had two pockets for junior ranks and four pockets for officers, and finer rank distinctions could also be deduced from the quality and cut of the uniform. Recently, the PLA has reintroduced a conventional rank system recognizable anywhere. After 5, 000 years of evolution, the rank structures of armies, navies, and air forces around the world are extraordinarily consistent. The universality of the system is striking, particularly with regard to general officer grades. In addition to the shoulder badges and insignia shown, generals around the world usually wear oak leaves in some form on their collar patches.
Recent attempts to ‘flatten’ the hierarchy in western armies in accordance with current management practice, reducing the number of layers, have failed, for example, the Bett Report in the UK in the 1990s. As those consulted explained, in the confusion of battle there is not time to work out who is the most senior of the five soldiers or officers crouched in a foxhole. A full range of ranks is needed. Military ranks evolved in relation to the command of specific organizations. The smallest, equating to the British section or the US squad, consists of eight to ten soldiers. The commander may be a corporal or (in the USA) sergeant, and he needs a clearly identifiable deputy—a lance-corporal or corporal. The smallest entity commanded by a commissioned officer is usually a platoon of about 30 men although the German army has a tradition of using senior NCOs as platoon commanders. In modern armies companies of 100 men or so are usually commanded by captains or majors, although the Romans used centurions—who were promoted from the ranks—to command centuries.
Although ranks owe their origins to the command of certain sizes of unit, they are also borne by staff officers who are not commanding troops directly, but need to interrelate to field commanders at an appropriate level and to be recognized as senior planners. Thus, a division may be commanded by a major general; his deputy and chief-of-staff may be brigadiers or colonels, as will his brigade commanders. There has also been a noticeable ‘inflation’ in the ranks required to do jobs throughout history. British majors now command companies or their equivalents, while the RAF rank of squadron leader no longer defines the officer who commands a squadron, for that task is now entrusted to a wing commander.
One of the most important distinctions is the difference between commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Commissioned officers receive their appointment from the head of state, traditionally in a commisson once signed in person. NCOs are appointed, in turn, by those officers, and can therefore be promoted or demoted much more quickly and easily. In Frederick ‘the Great’'s Prussian army, every officer, from the highest general to the lowest ensign, wore the ‘king's coat’, promoting cohesion and mutual loyalty. In modern armed forces there are also warrant officers (WOs), who come between NCOs and officers and form part of the permanent, professional hierarchy.
The relationship between NCOs and officers reflects not only different responsibilities, but also career structures. Some military ranks are clearly ‘training grades’. The lowest officer rank, second lieutenant or ensign, is one: officers once began their careers by carrying the ensign, or colour. Senior NCOs and WOs who are awarded commissions often skip the most junior officer grades.
In the regular British and US armies there are parallel hierarchies. Although a second lieutenant—the lowest form of officer life—is technically senior to a sergeant or even a CSM or RSM (in Britain, WO Class II or Class I, respectively) he or she would usually be ill-advised not to heed their advice. In conscript armies the relationship has been rather different. Officers and senior NCOs are the career professionals; junior NCOs are selected from among the conscripts. As many of these armies try to become all-professional, the relationship will have to change.
In the Roman army the distinction between NCOs and officers was clear and the rank structure highly developed. The first promotion, to immunis, brought exemption from fatigues. Centurions—commanding ‘centuries’ (in fact, companies of 80 men) —were usually senior NCOs, although they were sometimes commissioned directly. In Caesar's time they seem to have been distinguished by armoured greaves protecting the shins and a deep plated belt. Above the centurions within each legion there were then five junior tribunes (tribuni augusticlavii) and one senior tribune (tribunus laticlavius). These were staff officers who were members of the Roman aristocracy and recognizable by muscled armour and purple stripes on their garments. Above the senior tribune was the legatus legionis, a senior officer and aristocrat, commanding a legion of more than 5, 000 men. The tribunes therefore roughly equated to a modern brigade staff.
The system of military rank is remarkably consistent worldwide and for officers is practically universal. The five major systems of insignia illustrated here provide a rough guide to those in use in most of the world's armed forces in the 20th and 21st centuries. The British system has been widely adopted, with some modifications, in the Middle East, Africa, and south Asia. The Russian, with its origins in the Tsarist army and navy and re-adopted by the Soviet Union in 1943, is widely used with small modifications in eastern Europe and east Asia, including China, Korea, and Vietnam. The German system shown is from WW II: that used in WW I was similar, and these insignia continued in use with the East German armed forces (NVA) until 1990. The British, US, and French armies have a number of senior NCO and warrant officer ranks: for simplicity, only one example is shown here
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Modern rank titles originated in the Middle Ages. One of the most ancient, ‘admiral’, comes from Arabic and entered western languages during the Mediterranean clashes between Christendom and Islam. An amir, or emir, was a commander, and al- is the definite article, leading to titles such as amir-al-bah, commander of the sea. The ranks of constable and marshal both began as humble titles for the head groom, in charge of the horses, but enjoyed a parallel rise to become the titles of the principal officer of the royal household or C-in-C of the army. The rank of sergeant (or serjeant) originated as an attendant, or servant, but by the 14th century was used for a soldier below the rank of knight and roughly equal to an esquire—an apprentice knight. By the 16th century the rank of sergeant-major had appeared, more senior than now, usually an officer ranking above captains and below the lieutenant colonel—a modern major. Many modern ranks are based on Italian, Spanish, or French words of this period. A colonel commanded a small column, colonello in Italian.
Originally, the word ‘general’ was an adjective applied to high-ranking officers holding other titles, thus ‘captain-general’. In time, ‘general’ became the noun. The word lieutenant means, simply, ‘taking the place of’ or ‘deputy’: the lieutenant was the deputy to the captain, the lieutenant-colonel to the colonel. Cromwell's army gave rise to one of the more confusing idiosyncrasies of modern military rank. Although a major is senior to a lieutenant, a lieutenant general is senior to a major general. This is because the latter is an abbreviation for sergeant-major general, whereas a lieutenant general is, simply, a ‘deputy general’.
The US system of rank badges and insignia, introduced in the early 19th century, is highly distinctive, and instructive. Junior officers, who are ‘cogs in the machine’, wear geometrical shapes—bars. Field officers—majors and lieutenant colonels—wear an oak leaf, perhaps an expression of their position at the core of a living human organization. Colonels, overseeing this organic structure, wear an eagle. Generals, part of the higher direction of war, are distinguished by stars.
After 1917, and the foundation of the Red Army in 1918, Soviet Russia attempted to introduce a utilitarian rank system eschewing traditional titles, badges, and insignia. Officers were called simply ‘platoon commander’, ‘company commander’, and so on, and from 16 January 1919 were distinguished by geometrical shapes: triangles for NCOs, squares for junior and field officers, and rhomboids (diamonds) for general officer equivalents, starting with one for a brigade commander (kombrig). The system became progressively more elaborate and in 1935 the USSR introduced the rank of marshal, complete with big gold stars on red collar patches and a gold star and chevrons on the sleeve. On 13 July 1940 they reintroduced the term ‘general’, with a system of stars similar to the USA. In 1943, after the victory at Stalingrad, they reintroduced the gold shoulder-boards worn by the tsarist army, slightly modifying the tsarist system. This included the rank of colonel-general (general-polkovnik), unknown in the tsarist army. In the German army, a colonel-general (Generaloberst) was above a general; in the Red Army, the positions were reversed.
Until 1920, the British army, like most others, had brigadier generals to command brigades. After the Great War, there was concern that the demobilization of the mass army was going too slowly, and that there were ‘too many generals’. The answer was simple: the rank of brigadier general was replaced by ‘colonel-commandant’ wearing a colonel's insignia with an extra ‘pip’. In 1928 ‘brigadier’ was reintroduced, but tout court—minus the ‘general’, and retaining the cumbersome three ‘pips’ and a crown of the short-lived colonel-commandant. The insignia of major generals, the crossed sword and baton and a star, remained unchanged. The old British brigadier general insignia survives in the Israeli army, in the form of a sword crossed with an olive branch—the latter a symbol of peace.
In order to stress the independence of the new RAF, the British invented a new set of ranks although the officer ranks, badges, and insignia, were modelled on the naval system. One interesting anomaly arose. The chief of the air staff was only a ‘three-star’ officer, whereas those of the army and navy were one grade higher. However, in order to disguise this distinction he was made an air marshal, to sit beside a full admiral and full general. As the air force grew in size and importance, it became necessary to introduce the rank of air chief marshal, equating to a general or admiral. Most air forces, including the US, kept army ranks, badges, and insignia.
General officers in armies and most air forces, ‘flag officers’ in navies, and ‘air officers’ in those air forces which have adopted the British system are normally known according to a system of ‘stars’, derived from the American. Brigadiers (-general) are ‘one star’, major generals two, lieutenant generals three, and full generals four. The ‘five star’ ranks of general of the army (US) or field marshal, or equivalent, have been generally abolished except in time of full-scale war. The system used by Russia and her former allies is very similar, although many of these armies do not have the rank of brigadier (-general). A major general therefore wears one star, although he may still be doing a job appropriate to a NATO major general (two-star). However, these armies often have the rank of ‘colonel-general’, wearing three stars, between lieutenant general and full general, so the mismatch is ironed out. Furthermore, many communist and former communist countries, such as Vietnam and China, have the rank of ‘senior colonel’, which effectively equates to brigadier (-general).
Many countries in the Middle East, including for example Saudi Arabia and Iraq, follow the British system, although they may substitute an eagle for the crown. There are some curious hybrids. Israel's system of badges and insignia follows the US pattern up to captain, multiplies the major's single leaf to produce two leaves for lieutenant colonel and three for colonel, and then follows the British system from brigadier general upwards.
— Christopher Bellamy
