History Of Russian Military Ranks
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History Of Russian Military Ranks
Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of the Russian regular army in the late 17th century. Russian Tsardom The Kievan Rus had no standing army apart from small ''druzhina'' (дружи́на), a permanent group of personal guards for the local ruler (knyaz, ''prince''); an individual member of such a unit called a '' druzhinnik'' (дружи́нник). In times of war, the ''knyaz'' raised a militia comprising volunteers from the peasantry, and the ''druzhina'' served as the core of the troops. Each local ''knyaz'' served as the military leader of his troops. Such arrangements had no need for permanent ranks or positions; they were created ''ad hoc'', based on the task(s) in hand. Upon the formation of '' Strelets troops'' in the mid-16th century, the low-level commanding officers were ...
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Table Of Ranks
The Table of Ranks (russian: Табель о рангах, Tabel' o rangakh) was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the existing hereditary nobility, or boyars. The Table of Ranks was formally abolished on 11 November 1917 by the newly established Bolshevik government. During the Vladimir Putin presidency a similar formalized structure has been reintroduced into many governmental departments, combined with formal uniforms and insignia: Local Government, Diplomatic Service, Prosecution Service, Investigative Committee. Principles The Table of Ranks re-organized the foundations of feudal Russian nobility (''mestnichestvo'') by recognizing service in the military, in the civil service, and at the imperial court as the basis of an aristocrat's standing in society. The table divided ranks in 14 grades, with all nobles regardless of birth or w ...
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Corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers. By country Argentina NCOs in the Argentine Armed Forces are divided into junior and senior NCOs, with three and four ranks, respectively. The three junior ranks are called "corporal" (cabo) in both the Navy and the Air Force, while in the Army the third rank is called "sergeant" (sargento). National Gendarmerie and Coast Guard junior NCOs ranks are similar to those in the Army and Navy, respectively. Australia Corporal is the second lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army, falling between lance-corporal and sergeant. A corporal is usually appointed as a section comman ...
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Company (military Unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–250 soldiers and usually commanded by a major or a captain. Most companies are formed of three to seven platoons, although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure. Usually several companies are grouped as a battalion or regiment, the latter of which is sometimes formed by several battalions. Occasionally, ''independent'' or ''separate'' companies are organized for special purposes, such as the 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company or the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company. These companies are not organic to a battalion or regiment, but rather report directly to a higher level organization such as a Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters (i.e., a corps-level command). Historical background The modern military company became popularized during the reorganization of the Swedish Army in 1631 under King Gustav II Adolph. For administrative purposes, the infantry was divided into companies consist ...
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Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. Commander is also a generic term for an officer commanding any armed forces unit, for example "platoon commander", "brigade commander" and "squadron commander". In the police, terms such as "borough commander" and "incident commander" are used. Commander as a naval and air force rank Commander is a rank used in navies but is very rarely used as a rank in armies. The title, originally "master and commander", originated in the 18th century to describe naval officers who commanded ships of war too large to be commanded by a lieutenant but too small to warrant the assignment of a post-captain and (before about 1770) a sailing master; the commanding officer served as his own master. In practice, these were usually unrated sloops-of-war of no ...
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Polkovnik
''Polkovnik'' (russian: полковник, lit=regimentary; pl, pułkownik) is a military rank used mostly in Slavic-speaking countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states and oberst in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries. The term originates from an ancient Slavic word for a group of soldiers and folk. However, in Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine, ''polkovnyk'' was an administrative rank similar to a governor. Usually this word is translated as colonel, however the transliteration is also in common usage, for the sake of the historical and social context. ''Polkovnik'' began as a commander of a distinct group of troops (''polk''), arranged for battle. The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different languages, but all descend from the Old Slavonic word ''polk'' (literally: regiment sized unit), and include the following in alphabetical order: # Belarus — # Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Ser ...
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Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service. The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank. Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain. History and origins By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to Raymond Ol ...
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Hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military commander in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 16th to 18th centuries. Throughout much of the history of Romania and the Moldavia, hetmans were the second-highest army rank. In the modern Czech Republic the title is used for regional governors. Etymology The term ''hetman'' was a Polish borrowing, probably from the German – captain or a borrowing of the comparable Turkic title ''ataman'' (literally 'father of horsemen'). Hetmans of Poland and Lithuania The Polish title ''Grand Crown Hetman'' ( pl, hetman wielki koronny) dates from 1505. The title of ''Hetman'' was given to the leader of the Polish Army. Until 1581 the hetman position existed only during specific campaigns and wars. After tha ...
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Yesaul
Yesaul, osaul or osavul (russian: есау́л, translit=yesaul, uk, осаву́л, translit=osavul) (from Turkic yasaul - ''chief''), is a post and a rank in the Ukrainian Cossack units. The first records of the rank imply that it was introduced by Stefan Batory, King of Poland in 1576. Cossacks in Russia There were different yesaul posts and ranks in Cossack Hosts in Imperial Russia: *Генеральный есаул (''generalny yesaul'') - General Yesaul *Походный есаул (''pokhodny yesaul'') - Campaign Yesaul *Войсковой есаул (''voiskovoy yesaul'') - Army Yesaul *Полковой есаул (''polkovoy yesaul'') - Regimental Yesaul *Артиллерийский есаул (''artilleriysky yesaul'') - Artillery Yesaul *Сотенный есаул (''sotenny yesaul'') - Company Yesaul (commander of a sotnia) *Станичный есаул (''stanichny yesaul'') - Yesaul of a stanitsa Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine In Ukraine of the 17th an ...
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Cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening, and skirmishing in many armies, or as heavy cavalry for decisive shock attacks in other armies. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations depending on era and tactics, such as cavalryman, horseman, trooper, cataphract, knight, hussar, uhlan, mamluk, cuirassier, lancer, dragoon, or horse archer. The designation of ''cavalry'' was not usually given to any military forces that used other animals for mounts, such as camels or elephants. Infantry who moved on horseback, but dismounted to fight on foot, were known in the early 17th to the early 18th century as '' dragoons'', a class of mounted infantry which in most armies later evolved into standard cavalry while ...
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Cossack
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or , sk, kozáci , uk, козаки́ are a predominantly East Slavic Orthodox Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians. The Cossacks were particularly noted for holding democratic traditions. The rulers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire endowed Cossacks with certain spe ...
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Voevode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the medieval rulers of the Romanian-inhabited states and of governors and military commanders of Hungarian, Balkan or some Slavic-speaking populations. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ''voivode'' was interchangeably used with ''palatine''. In the Tsardom of Russia, a voivode was a military governor. Among the Danube principalities, ''voivode'' was considered a princely title. Etymology The term ''voivode'' comes from two roots. is related to warring, while means 'leading' in Old Slavic, together meaning 'war leader' or 'warlord'. The Latin translation is for the principal commander of a military force, serving as a deputy for the monarch. In early Slavic, ''vojevoda'' meant the , the military leader in battle. The term has also ...
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Regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord ''in capite'' of the soldiers. Lesser barons of knightly rank could be expected to muster or hire a company or battalion from their manorial estate. By the end of the 17th century, infantry regiments in most European armies were permanent units, with approximately 800 men and commanded by a colonel. Definitions During the modern era, the word "regiment" – much like "corps" – may have two somewhat divergent meanings, which refer to two distinct roles: # a front-line military formation; or # an administrative or ceremonial unit. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly s ...
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