General
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A General is an officer of high military rank. The term is used by nearly every country in the world. General may be a rank on its own, or can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer.
The various grades of general officer are at the top of the rank structure, but in some countries the highest general officers are titled Field Marshal or Marshal.
The rank of General came about as a "general" officer who commanded an army in general, i.e. the whole army. The rank of General began appearing around the time of the organization of professional armies in the 17th century. Early on, it was often added as an adjective to existing names of ranks, yielding Colonel General, Captain General, Lieutenant General and Sergeant Major General. Other terms then came about such as lieutenant-general, i.e. lieutenant (assistant leader) over the army in general. All officers who commanded more than a single regiment (the most significant level of unit) came to be known as a "general officer". General officer ranks often include the word "general", e.g. major-general, but not always, e.g. brigadier.
While historically an army rank, General is also used in many air forces, although many air forces are based on the British Royal Air Force system (e.g. UK, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Nigeria etc.) and use Air Marshal instead, with Air Officer being the generic title for general officers in these air forces. In most navies of the world, the equivalent rank is Admiral and the generic term is Flag Officer; however a noteworthy historical exception was the Cromwellian naval rank General at sea. In the Israeli Defence Forces there are no separate naval ranks and the Hebrew term Aluf can be both "General" and "Admiral". In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to use "Flag Officer" and "Flag Rank" to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively.
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[edit] General officer ranks
[edit] Common systems
There are two common systems of using general ranks. One form, used in the United Kingdom, eventually spread to the Commonwealth and the United States. The system is not particularly British in origin, and variations of this system were once used throughout Europe. Some variations use a brigadier rank, others use no brigadier rank and add a colonel general rank. The other is an ostensibly more logical derived from the French Revolution, where generals' ranks are named according to the unit they (theoretically) command.
Old European system This system uses five ranks: either brigadier rank and no colonel general rank, or colonel general rank and no brigadier rank. (i.e. Excluding one of the italicised ranks.)
| Field Marshal |
| General |
| Colonel General |
| Lieutenant General |
| Major General |
| Brigadier (General) |
French (Revolutionary) system
| Marshal |
| Army General |
| Corps General |
| Divisional General |
| Brigade General |
In the old system, a General, without prefix or suffix (and sometimes referred to informally as a "full general"), is usually the most senior general officer rank, above Lieutenant General. In some armies, however, the rank of Captain General, General of the Army, Army General or Colonel General occupied or occupies this position. These ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a full General or to a Field Marshal, depending on the army in question.
In some nations (particularly in the Commonwealth), the equivalent to Brigadier General is Brigadier, which is not always considered by these armies to be a general officer rank a part entiere, although it is always treated as equivalent to the rank of Brigadier General for comparative purposes.
[edit] Other versions
Other versions of general include:
- Adjutant General
- Commandant-General
- Inspector General
- Captain General
- General of the Army (used in the USA and Liberia) (not to be confused with the common rank of Army General)
- General of the Air Force (USA only)
- General of the Armies of the United States (exclusive to the United States Army), a title created for General John J. Pershing, and subsequently granted posthumously to George Washington.
- Admiral General (or General Admiral) (German Navy)
- Air General and Aviation General (Chilean Air Force; roughly equivalent to Air Chief Marshal and Air Vice-Marshal respectively)
- Wing General and Group General (Mexican Air Force; roughly equivalent to Air Commodore and Acting Air Commodore respectively)
- Director General (a common admistrative term, but rare in military services)
- Director General of National Defence (most senior rank in the Mexican Armed Forces)
- Controller General (general officer rank in the French National Police)
- Prefect General (the most senior rank of the Argentine Naval Prefecture)
[edit] General ranks by country
The following articles deal with the rank of General as it is employed in the militaries of various countries.
- General (Russia)
- Général (France)
- General (Germany)
- Generał (Poland)
- General (Switzerland)
- General (United Kingdom)
- General (United States)
[edit] General equivalent ranks
- Aluf (Israel)
- Daejang (South Korea)
- Strategos (Greece)
- Shang Jiang (China}
- Panglima (Malaysian Royal Army)
- Bogyoke Kyi (Myanmar Army)
[edit] Other General ranks
[edit] Quote
- As for being a General, well, at the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords, we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.
–Sir Peter Ustinov
[edit] See also
- Generalissimo
- Shogun
- Comparative military ranks
- U.S. Army officer rank insignia
- British Army officer rank insignia
- Polish Armed Forces rank insignia
[edit] External links
- Generals of World War II
- Schema-root.org: US Generals News feeds for US Generals in the news
- Marines.mil: General Officer Biographies Biographies of United States Marine Corps General Officers
