Generał (pronounced ) is the generic

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

term for the rank of

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

. In narrow sense it is used to denote the rank of a

four-star general A four-star rank is the rank of any four-star officer described by the NATO OF-9 code. Four-star officers are often the most senior commanders in the armed services, having ranks such as (full) admiral, (full) general, colonel general, army ge ...

introduced on August 15, 2002 (formerly ''generał armii'' - general of the army). It is currently the highest military rank of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

, with the rank of

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland ( pl, Marszałek Polski) is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a Field Marshal or General of the Army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History To ...

currently being unused. The symbols of the rank are the ''wężyk generalski'' (pronounced ), or "general's wavy line", and four stars, featured both on the

rogatywka Rogatywka (; sometimes translated as '' peaked cap'') is the Polish generic name for an asymmetrical, peaked, four-pointed cap used by various Polish military formations throughout the ages. It is a distant relative of its 18th-century predec ...

, sleeves of the uniform and above the breast pocket of a field uniform.

Background

In Polish military traditions the highest rank was always the rank of

, with three General's grades below. However, the system differed significantly from other systems of rank insignia used in both armies of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

and the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. Because of lack of the rank of four-star general, the Polish ranks were usually a grade higher than their name suggested. Thus the rank of

Generał brygady Generał brygady (, literally ''General of a brigade'', abbreviated gen. bryg.) is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the Land Forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the mod ...

was an equivalent of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

rather than

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

as the name suggested. In 1954, during the integration of the Polish Army with the structures of the

(and, more precisely, of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

), a new rank of ''generał armii'' (General of an Army) was introduced, as a direct copy of the Soviet rank of General of the Army (russian: Генерал армии). However, after the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

and the end of Stalinism in Poland, the general officers rank structure returned to the pre-war pattern. In 1981 Gen.

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party b ...

(being at this time the 1st Secretary of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the National Defense) introduced again the rank of general of the army. As the only person to hold the newly introduced rank, he was thought of as an ''

ersatz An ersatz good () is a substitute good, especially one that is considered inferior to the good it replaces. It has particular connotations of wartime usage. Etymology ''Ersatz'' is a German word literally meaning ''substitute'' or ''replaceme ...

-Marshal'', as he could not promote himself to the rank of Marshal of Poland after the death of

Marian Spychalski Marian "Marek" Spychalski (, 6 December 1906 – 7 June 1980) was a Polish architect in pre-war Poland, and later, military commander and a communist politician. During World War II he belonged to the Polish underground forces operating within ...

. In 1995 the rank was yet again abolished and the only people to still hold it are Jaruzelski and Gen.

Florian Siwicki Florian Siwicki (; 10 January 1925 – 11 March 2013) was a Polish military officer, diplomat and communism, communist politician. He was a general in the Polish Land Forces, Polish Army and Defence minister, Minister of Defense of Poland fro ...

, both died in the early 2010s. However, with Poland's entry into the structures of NATO a need arose to unify the Polish rank system with that of English-speaking countries (and more precisely, the US). Hence the rank of a ''Generał'' was introduced. The rank of Marshal of Poland remains as the "wartime" rank, given to the chief of general staff in case of war or a successful military commander after a victorious campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Military ranks of Poland Polish generals pl:Generał