The General Staff of the

Swiss Armed Forces The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

(german: Generalstab Schweizer Armee was the managing

military staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a D ...

of Switzerland. It was led by a Chief of the General Staff who held the rank of

Korpskommandant The Military ranks of Switzerland are the military insignia used by the Swiss Armed Forces. The ranks have changed little over the centuries, except for the introduction, in 2004, of a new set of warrant officers. The ranks are worn on shoulder ...

( NATO: OF-8). He/she was effectively the highest-ranking officer in the Swiss military. Until 1830, the general staff consisted of 12 to 24 federal colonels and a few lieutenant colonels with experience in serving foreign armies. In 1865, the Federal Staff Office was created, with its responsibility being to maintain the Swiss combat readiness for war. In 1948, most of the services of the Federal Military Department were grouped together in the General Staff. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, General Staff training was increasingly a precondition for the assumption of an army unit command. It operated until the end of 2003, when the reforms of Armee XXI introduced the position of Chief of the Armed Forces. Until its reorganization, the General Staff was the highest level of command in the Swiss Armed forces, with the Chief of the General Staff acting as the '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals). Even after the reform of the army, the military continued to utilize, General Staff officers, who are trained in the General Staff School to become senior management assistants in the armed forces.

List of Chiefs of the General Staff

The following is a list of chiefs of the General Staff from 1870 to 2003:

References

Military of Switzerland Staff (military) Military history of Switzerland {{Switzerland-stub