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123-581: Wachtmeister ( Wm ; German for 'master-sentinel' or 'watch-master') is a military rank of non-commissioned officers (NCO) in Austria and Switzerland . It is also used in civil authorities in German-speaking countries (police, judiciary, customs service, border protection). The Wachtmeister was initially responsible for the guard duty of the army. Later, it became the Feldwebel equivalent NCO-grade of

246-493: A Wachtmeister ’s responsibilities were basic unit training, command task training, service support, and the maintenance of unit morale. The German equivalent to the Russian Wachtmeister was the infantry Feldwebel . Until 1826, it was the highest non-commissioned officer rank, and superior to all subordinate NCOs. In 1826 the so-called “old” Oberwachtmeister s were counted to the senior officers’ rank group in line with

369-582: A commission ; they are trained or training as leaders and hold command positions. Officers are further generally separated into four levels: Officers who typically command units or formations that are expected to operate independently for extended periods of time (i.e., brigades and larger, or flotillas or squadrons of ships), are referred to variously as general officers (in armies, marines, and some air forces), flag officers (in navies and coast guards), or air officers (in some Commonwealth air forces). General-officer ranks typically include (from

492-493: A khiliostys or khiliarchia was a unit of a thousand led by a khiliarchos . The cavalry, for which Alexander became most famous (in a military sense), grew more varied. There were heavy cavalry and wing cavalry ( ilè ) units, the latter commanded by an ilarchos . The use of formalized ranks came into widespread use with the Roman legions after the reforms by Marius . Comparisons to modern ranks, however, can only be loose because

615-645: A lieutenant-general in 1780, and general of infantry in 1783, on the conclusion of his work there. From 1787 to 1791 he again fought the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 and won many victories. Suvorov's leadership also played a key role in a Russian victory over the Poles during the Kościuszko Uprising . As a major European power, Russia could not escape the wars involving Revolutionary France and

738-419: A private . The private was a man who signed a private contract with the company commander, offering his services in return for pay. The money was raised through taxation; those yeomen ( smallholding peasants) who did not fulfill their annual 40-day militia service paid a tax that funded professional soldiers recruited from the yeomanry. This money was handed to the company commanders from the royal treasury, with

861-569: A Mosin-Nagant rifle, while new recruits and younger reservists did not begin arriving until after the Battle of Mukden in February 1905. The mobilization for the Russo-Japanese War also brought large numbers of reservists into the ranks who were more politicized, and began spreading revolutionary ideas among the troops. There were over 400 mutinies from autumn 1905 to summer 1906. At the outbreak of

984-764: A Russian defeat by the German Empire in the Battle of Tannenberg (1914). In the west, a Russian Expeditionary Force was dispatched to France in 1915. Amid the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Russian Army collapsed and dissolved . The rebellious remnants of the Imperial army evolved to become part of the new Red Army . The Imperial Russian Army entered the Napoleonic Wars organized administratively and in

1107-611: A Swiss officer in Russian service, to prepare General Staff officers, though it did not have a significant role in the army until the post-Crimean War reforms. Guards units were tasked with protecting the Russian Emperor (the tsar) and the Imperial family. Throughout the Napoleonic Wars the Imperial Russian Guard was commanded by Grand Duke Konstantin . The guard grew from a few regiments to two infantry divisions combined into

1230-436: A commanding officer of a tagma (near to the modern battalion ). The rank was roughly equivalent to the legatus of a Roman legion . Next was the lokhagos , an officer who led an infantry unit called a lokhos that consisted of roughly a hundred men, much the same as in a modern company led by a captain . A Greek cavalry ( hippikon ) regiment was called a hipparchia and was commanded by an epihipparch . The unit

1353-665: A dragoon regiment were formed. Initially, they recruited children of the landless boyars and streltsy , volunteers, Cossacks and others. Commanding officers comprised mostly foreigners. After the war with Poland, all of the regiments were disbanded. During another Russo-Polish War , they were created again and became a principal force of the Russian Army. Often, regular and dragoon regiments were manned with datochniye lyudi for lifelong military service . Reiters were manned with small or landless gentry and boyars' children and were paid with money (or lands) for their service. More than

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1476-407: A half of the commanding officers were representatives from the gentry. In times of peace, some of the regiments were usually disbanded. In 1681, there were 33 regular regiments (61,000 men) and 25 dragoon and reiter regiments (29,000 men). In the late 17th century, regiments of the new type represented more than a half of the Russian Army and at the beginning of the 18th century were used for creating

1599-504: A lieutenant colonel as a commanding officer and a major as an executive officer . Modern military services recognize three broad categories of personnel. These are codified in the Geneva Conventions , which distinguish officers , non-commissioned officers , and enlisted men . Apart from conscripted personnel one can distinguish: Officers are distinguished from other military members (or an officer in training ) by holding

1722-471: A noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank (such promotions were later abolished during the reign of Catherine the Great ). Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially, it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers. The term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793, it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834, it

1845-583: A number of international conferences, ensured Russia's influence in Europe, if only because of the proven capability of its army to defeat that of Napoleon and to carry the war to Paris. After the allies defeated Napoleon, Alexander played a prominent role in the redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Many of the prominent Russian commanders were feted in the European capitals, including London. In

1968-525: A part of the Grande Armée to ultimately change sides in the Convention of Tauroggen . This soon forced Prussia to declare war on France, and with its mobilisation, for many Prussian officers serving in the Russian Army to leave, creating a serious shortage of experienced officers in the Russian Army. After the death of Kutuzov in early 1813, command of the Russian Army passed to Peter Wittgenstein . The campaign

2091-402: A politico-religious concept. The king who possessed it (the rex sacrorum ) was strictly forbidden to have it to avoid a return to the monarchy. In the republic, commanding was confined to consuls or (seldom) to praetors , or in cases of necessity a dictator . Proconsuls , after the establishment of the office, were used. In imperial times, each legion was commanded by the emperor, who

2214-634: A regular army. Conscription in Russia was introduced by Peter the Great in December 1699, though reports say Peter's father also used it. The conscripts were called "recruits" (not to be confused with voluntary army recruitment, which did not appear until the early 20th century). Peter formed a modern regular army built on the German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility , as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included

2337-550: A rudimentary military presence was possible due to the distance from Europe. The campaign in France was marked by persistent advances made by the Russian-led forces towards Paris despite attempts by Alexander's allies to allow Napoleon an avenue for surrender. In a brilliant deceptive manoeuvre Alexander was able to reach, and take Paris with the help of the surrender of Marshal Marmont's beleaguered exhausted troops, before Napoleon, who

2460-503: A scorched earth policy of retreat, broken only by the Battle of Borodino on 7 September, when the Russians stood and fought. This was bloody and the Russians eventually retreated, opening the road to Moscow. Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov made the decision in order to preserve the army. By 14 September, the French captured Moscow. The Russian governor Prince Rastopchin ordered the city burnt to

2583-403: A secondary leader in the middle so that the back rows could move off to the sides if more frontage was needed. A tetrarchia was a unit of four files and a tetrarchès or tetrarch was a commander of four files; a dilochia was a double file and a dilochitès was a double-file leader; a lochos was a single file and a lochagos was a file leader; a dimoiria was a half file and a dimoirites

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2706-433: A ship were delegated to different subordinates. Specifically, the kybernètès was the helmsman, the keleustēs managed the rowing speed, and the trièraulès was the flute player who maintained the strike rate for the oarsmen. Following further specialization, the naval strategos was replaced by a nauarchos , a sea officer equating to an admiral . With the rise of Macedonia under Philip II of Macedon and Alexander

2829-527: A strict hierarchy—a king was conceived of as first among equals , not a monarch as later or ancient societies understood the concept, and all nobles were theoretically equals (hence " peers "). A nobleman was obligated to bring a set number of troops when asked by his liege-lord, a king or merely a higher-ranked noble who had obtained his service by the gift of land . The troops' lord retained at least nominal control over them—many post-classical military planning sessions involved negotiating each lord's role in

2952-468: A stroke at the French strategic left wing. The main force of the blow was evaded by the French at the Battle of Mohrungen in late January 1807. In response, Napoleon mounted a counterattack designed to cut off the Russians. Bennigsen managed to avoid entrapment and the two sides fought the Battle of Eylau on 7 and 8 February 1807. After this indecisive bloodbath both sides belatedly went into winter quarters. In early June, Bennigsen mounted an offensive that

3075-447: A title borne by the officer sent with military powers to represent the king in certain provinces. A lieutenant du roi was sometimes known as a lieutenant général to distinguish him from lieutenants subordinate to mere captains. The sergeant acting as staff officer to the captain general was known as the sergeant major general . This was eventually shortened to major general , while captain general began to be addressed, depending on

3198-471: Is derived from the 17th-century French peloton , meaning a small ball or small detachment of men, which came from pelote , a ball. The commissioned officer carrying the (infantry) company's flag was the ensign . The word ensign was derived from the Latin word insignia . In cavalry companies the equivalent rank was cornet . In English usage, these ranks were merged into the single rank of second lieutenant in

3321-733: Is not only used to designate leadership, but to establish pay-grade as well. As rank increases, pay-grade follows, but so does the amount of responsibility. In modern armed forces, the use of ranks is almost universal. Communist states have, on several occasions, abolished the use of ranks (e.g., the Soviet Red Army 1918–1935, the Chinese People's Liberation Army 1965–1988, and the Albanian People's Army 1966–1991 ), but they have had to re-establish them after encountering operational difficulties in command and control . From 501 BC,

3444-406: Is unclear whether there was any badge of office granted to a Strategos though given current customs one should suspect that there was such a badge of office. The confusion regarding the "Ranking" of Strategos surely stems from the modern custom of granting Police Commissioners and Sheriff's a badge-of-office that happens to be in the shape of what is commonly understood to be a very high rank within

3567-456: The Athenians annually elected ten individuals to the rank of strategos , one for each of the ten "tribes" that had been created with the founding of the democracy . Strategos means "army leader" and is usually translated as " general ". Originally these generals worked together with the old polemarchos ("warlord") but over time the latter figure was absorbed into the generalship: each of

3690-726: The Baku area of the Caucasus from Qajar Iran as much due to the news of Napoleon's defeat in 1812 as the fear by the Shah of a new campaign against him by the resurgent Russian Army where the 1810 campaign led by Matvei Platov failed. This was immediately used to raise new regiments, and to begin creating a greater foothold in the Caucasus. By the early 19th century, the empire also was firmly ensconced in Alaska reached via Cossack expeditions to Siberia, although only

3813-544: The First French Empire , but as an adversary to Napoleon , the leadership of the new emperor, Alexander I of Russia (r. 1801–1825), who came to the throne as the result of his father's assassination (in which he was rumoured to be implicated) became crucial. The Russian Army in 1805 had many characteristics of Ancien Régime organization: there was no permanent formation above the regimental level, senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles, and

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3936-703: The Gulf of Bothnia . The eastern part became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland . The Russo-Turkish War broke out in 1805–06 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars . The Ottoman Empire , encouraged by the Russian defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz , deposed the Russophile hospodars of its vassal states Moldavia ( Alexander Mourouzis ) and Wallachia ( Constantine Ypsilantis ). Simultaneously, their French allies occupied Dalmatia and threatened to penetrate

4059-461: The Minister of War in 1810, he instituted further reorganization and other changes in the army, down to company level, that saw the creation of separate grenadier divisions, and dedication of one brigade in each division to the jaeger light infantry for skirmishing in open order formations. The Nikolaev General Staff Academy was established in 1832 with the involvement of Antoine-Henri Jomini ,

4182-535: The Napoleonic Wars the active Russian Army was maintained at just over 1 million men, which was increased to 1.7 million during the Crimean War . It remained at around this level until the outbreak of World War I , at which point Russia had the largest peacetime standing army in Europe, about 1.3 million. The wartime mobilization increased this to a strength of 4.5 million, and in total 15 million men served from 1914 to 1917. In March [ O.S. February] 1917

4305-570: The Oder , Napoleon pushed east to seize Warsaw . In late December, the initial clashes between the French and Russians at Czarnowo , Golymin , and Pułtusk were without result. The French emperor put his troops into winter quarters east of the Vistula River, but the new Russian commander Levin August von Bennigsen refused to remain passive. Bennigsen shifted his army north into East Prussia and launched

4428-477: The Russian Invasion of Northern and Central Manchuria . The army's share of the budget fell from 30% to 18% in 1881–1902. By 1904 Russia was spending 57% and 63% of what Germany and Austria-Hungary were spending on each soldier, respectively. Army morale was broken by crushing over 1500 protests from 1883 to 1903. The Mosin–Nagant rifle was produced in 1891 and in the same year began to be used. The army

4551-591: The V Infantry Corps commanded at Borodino by General Lieutenant Lavrov and two cavalry divisions with their own artillery and train by the conclusion of the 1814 campaign. At Austerlitz in 1805 the artillery of the Guard included the Lifeguard Artillery Battalion under General Major Ivan Kaspersky. At Borodino in 1812 the artillery of the Guard included the Lifeguard Artillery Brigade (now

4674-628: The Wachtmeister is the lowest NCO-rank (assignment group M BUO 2 / professional NCO; respectively M ZUO 2 / longer-serving volunteer) in the Austrian Bundesheer . The Wachtmeister will normally be deployed as a leader (Austrian: Kommandant) of a squad (8 to 13 soldiers). Regarding the promotion to the rank there are three possibilities: Wachtmeister was a cavalry rank of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces (1867–1918). It

4797-489: The cavalry and artillery . Besides Austria and Switzerland today, the rank was also used elsewhere, for example in Germany, Russia, and Poland ( wachmistrz ). In the German police service, Wachtmeister denoted the lowest rank; it was abolished in the 1980s, but is still the colloquial term referring to police patrolling in uniform. The Wachtmeister was in the beginning responsible guard, sentry, or sentinel, responsible for

4920-474: The company sergeant major appointment to army units (de: Kompaniefeldwebel / popularly: Spiess), the NCOs with port épée on board larger warships wears the designation «Wachtmeister». Among other responsibilities, he might be required to deal with S1 (coordinating staff area – personnel service) obligations. Assigned to this role will be experienced port épée NCOs up to the rank of Hauptbootsmann (OR7) or higher. In

5043-407: The governor , and only the second and further legions stationed in a province had their own legatus legionis . The real commanders and the legates together were, in modern terms, the general officers . Immediately beneath the commander (or his legate) were six military tribunes ( tribuni militum ), five of whom were young men of equestrian rank and one of whom was a nobleman who was headed for

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5166-498: The military branch , as general of the infantry , general of the cavalry or general of the artillery , and these ones, over time, were shortened to simply general . This is the reason a major outranks a lieutenant, but a lieutenant general outranks a major general. In modern times recruits attending basic training, also referred to as boot camp by some branches, are instructed in the hierarchical structure of military rank. Many new enlisted civilians find it difficult to understand

5289-419: The sergeant was dropped from both titles since both ranks were used for commissioned officers. This gave rise to the modern ranks of major and major general. The full title of sergeant major fell out of use until the latter part of the 18th century, when it began to be applied to the senior non-commissioned officer of an infantry battalion or cavalry regiment. Regiments were later split into battalions with

5412-406: The 19th century. Not all officers received a commission from the king. Certain specialists were granted a warrant, certifying their expertise as craftsmen. These warrant officers assisted the commissioned officers but ranked above the non-commissioned officers (NCOs). They received their authority from superior officers rather than the king. The first NCOs were the armed servants ( men-at-arms ) of

5535-503: The Belgian campaign, re-entered combat against the minor French forces in the East and occupied several important fortresses. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Nicholas I maintained a large army to keep Russia as a major power in Europe, which at the start of the Crimean War in the 1850s numbered 1,151,319 troops. The main focus of the army was on parades and artificial war games overseen by

5658-626: The Danubian principalities at any time. In order to safeguard the Russian border against a possible French attack and support the First Serbian uprising , a 40,000-strong Russian contingent advanced into Moldavia and Wallachia . The Sultan reacted by blocking the Dardanelles to Russian ships in 1807 and declared war on Russia. The war lasted until 1812. In the Finnish War Alexander wrested

5781-547: The Feldwebel of the cavalry, later also of the artillery and other armed service branches. As regards to the three Feldwebel-ranks until 1945 there were the equivalent ranks Unterwachtmeister, Wachtmeister and Oberwachtmeister. Until 1970 in the GDR NPA the Feldwebel of the artillery was designated Wachtmeister. Until the 1970s year the artillery and air defence troops used the designation Feuerwerker instead of Wachtmeister . Today,

5904-536: The German army ground forces, the designation of the Feldwebel rank of Cavalry and Artillery was the «Wachtmeister» until 1945. In the GDR National People´s Army (NPA), the «Wachtmeister» was replaced by Feldwebel in 1970. In the Imperial German Navy , Reichsmarine , and Kriegsmarine , the lowest port épée NCO rank of the sea operations divisions was named «Wachtmeister» as well. However,

6027-520: The Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden in 1809, and acquired Bessarabia from Turkey in 1812. The requirement of joining France's Continental Blockade against Britain was a serious disruption of Russian commerce, and in 1810 Alexander repudiated the obligation. This strategic change was followed by a substantial reform in the army undertaken by Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly as the Minister of War. At

6150-508: The Great accelerated the modernization of Russia's armed forces, including with a decree in 1699 that created the basis for recruiting soldiers, military regulations for the organization of the army in 1716, and creating the College of War in 1718 for the army administration. Starting in 1700 Peter began replacing the older Streltsy forces with new Western-style regiments organized on the basis of his already existing Guards regiments. After

6273-493: The Great maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps known as streltsy . These were originally raised by Ivan the Terrible ; originally an effective force, they had become highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war, the armed forces were augmented by peasants. The regiments of the new order , or regiments of the foreign order ( Полки нового строя or Полки иноземного строя , Polki novovo (inozemnovo) stroya ),

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6396-454: The Great , the Greek military became professional, tactics became more sophisticated and additional levels of ranking developed. Foot soldiers were organized into heavy infantry phalanxes called phalangites . These were among the first troops ever to be drilled, and they fought packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column (or file) and

6519-757: The Imperial Army swore loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II , though the official status of the monarchy was not resolved until September 1917, when the Russian Republic was declared. Even after the February Revolution , despite its ineffectiveness on the offensive, the majority of the army remained intact and the troops were still at the front lines. The "old army" did not begin disintegrating until early 1918. Russian tsars before Peter

6642-563: The Prussian model by the emperor's father Paul I against wishes of most of its officer corps, and with his demise immediate changes followed to remove much of the Prussianness from its character. Although the army had conventional European parts within it such as the monarch's guard, the infantry and cavalry of the line and field artillery, it also included a very large contingent of semi-regular Cossacks that in times of rare peace served to guard

6765-550: The Roman army's command structure was very different from the organizational structure of its modern counterparts, which arose from the early modern, Thirty Years' War mercenary companies, rather than from the writings of fourth-century Roman writer Vegetius and Caesar 's commentaries on his conquest of Gaul and the civil war. Military command properly so-called was a political office in Rome. A commander needed to be equipped with imperium ,

6888-596: The Russian Empire's southern borders, and in times of war served as fully-fledged light cavalry, providing invaluable reconnaissance service often far better than that available to other European armies due to the greater degree of initiative and freedom of movement by Cossack detachments. The Ukrainian lands of the Empire also provided most of the Hussar and Ulan regiments for the regular light cavalry . Another unusual feature of

7011-463: The Russian rank table (XIV, before XIII). However, the reorganisation was never accepted in practical usage, although such a position would have been equivalent to the rank of cornet . In the Military of Switzerland the Wachtmeister (abbr. Wm , French: sergent , Italian: sergente ) is a non-commissioned officer rank. The rank is higher than a Korporal , and lower than an Oberwachtmeister . Until

7134-470: The Russian soldier, in line with 18th-century practice, was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle. Nevertheless, the Russians did have a fine artillery arm manned by soldiers trained in academies and who would regularly fight hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands. Both

7257-646: The Russians and Austrians met a decisive military defeat at the hands of Napoleon during the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) involving Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and the United Kingdom against France formed within months of the collapse of the previous coalition. In August 1806, King Frederick William III of Prussia made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power except neighbouring Russia. Another course of action might have involved declaring war

7380-402: The aristocracy, assigned to command, organize and train the militia units raised for battle. After years of commanding a squad, an NCO could be promoted to sergeant , the highest NCO rank. While a sergeant might have commanded a squad upon promotion, he usually became a staff officer. While commissioned staff officers assisted their commander with personnel, intelligence, operations and logistics,

7503-505: The armies' guard duty. Later he became the Feldwebel equivalent NCO-grade of the cavalry and artillery . In the Landsknecht armies and in the town of the 16th century, Wachtmeister was the official title to a «war experienced, skilful, and honest fellow», which was – in line to the order of his superior – responsible for the security of the military compound, or/and had to take care for

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7626-651: The army that was seen twice during the period was the constitution of the Narodnoe Opolcheniye , for the first time since the coming to power of the Romanov dynasty . In 1806, most of the Inspections were abolished, and replaced by divisions based on the French model although still territorially based. By 1809, there were 25 infantry divisions as permanent field formations, each organised around three infantry brigade and one artillery brigade. When Barclay de Tolly became

7749-459: The battle of Lützen 1632). It was introduced to overcome the normal army structure, consisting of regiments. The so-called " brigada " was a mixed unit, comprising infantry, cavalry and normally artillery , designated for a special task. The size of such brigada was a reinforced company up to two regiments. The brigada was a 17th-century form of the modern "task force". In some armies "brigadier general" has been shortened to " brigadier ". Around

7872-424: The bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms of a number of countries . Ranking systems have been known for most of military history to be advantageous for military operations , in particular with regards to logistics, command, and coordination. As time went on and military operations became larger and more complex, more ranks were created and the systems of ranking became more complex. Rank

7995-494: The cohorts by one of their three manipulum's centurions; the most senior cohort-commanding centurions was called primus pilus . The ranks of centurions in the individual cohorts were, in descending order, pilus prior , pilus posterior , princeps prior , princeps posterior , hastatus prior , and hastatus posterior . Individual soldiers were referred to as soldiers ( milites ) or legionaries ( legionarii ). See Mongol military tactics and organization . There were no ranks in

8118-416: The coming battle—and each lord was allowed to leave after a predetermined amount of time had passed. The command structure of armies was generally loose and varied considerably. Typically, the king and high-ranking lords would call out for all lords to gather their troops for a campaign. They would appoint a renowned noble to organize the assembling forces, the marshal . The term field marshal came from

8241-400: The company commanders using the money to recruit the troops. As armies grew larger, composed of multiple companies, one captain was granted general (overall) authority over the field armies by the king. (National armies were the armies of the kings. Field armies were armies raised by the king to enter the battle field in preparation for major battles.) In French history, lieutenant du roi was

8364-464: The company was the lieutenant . Lieutenant was derived from the French language ; the lieu meaning "place" as in a position; and tenant meaning "holding" as in "holding a position"; thus a "lieutenant" is somebody who holds a position in the absence of their superior. When he was not assisting the captain, the lieutenant commanded a unit called a platoon , particularly a more specialized platoon. The word

8487-423: The defence of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea littorals, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be transported in from Siberia and Turkestan. Among the army's higher formations during the war were the Western Front , the Northwestern Front and the Romanian Front . The war in the East began with Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914) and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia . The first ended in

8610-476: The duties of a corporal themselves. It was this second function that made armies increasingly regard their lancepesades as a grade of corporal rather than a grade of private. As a result, the rank of lance corporal was derived from combining lancepesade and corporal. As the post-classical came to an end, kings increasingly relied on professional soldiers to fill the bottom ranks of their armies instead of militiamen. Each of these professionals began their careers as

8733-428: The emperor approved a conscription statute that made military service compulsory for all 21-year-old males with the term reduced for land army to six years plus nine years in reserve. This conscription created a large pool of experienced military reservists who would be ready to mobilize in case of war. It also permitted the Russian Empire to maintain a smaller standing army in peacetime. The system of military education

8856-510: The emperor. Following Russia's defeat in the Crimean War during the reign of Emperor Alexander II , the Minister of War , Count Dmitry Milyutin , instituted a series of military reforms, which had their basis in the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 . The modernization of the Imperial Army included reorganizing the Ministry of War for better centralized leadership, the creation of new technical and support organizations, changes to finances, and

8979-619: The end of the 16th century, companies were grouped into regiments. The officers commissioned to lead these regiments were called " colonels " (column officers). They were first appointed in Spain by King Ferdinand II of Aragon where they were also known as " coronellos " (crown officers) since they were appointed by the Crown. Thus the English pronunciation of the word colonel . The first colonels were captains granted command of their regiments by commission of

9102-653: The equivalent rank of land operations divisions was named Feldwebel . In the GDR National People's Army (NPA) the «Wachtmeister» was replaced by the universal rank designation Feldwebel. The equivalent rank of the Volksmarine (en: People's Navy) was the Meister of the Volksmarine . In Poland, "Wachmistrz" was a sergeant serving in cavalry. To the Russian Army , the rank of Wachtmeister ( ru : Ва́хмистр / Vakhmistr )

9225-468: The field on the same principles as it had been in the 18th century of units being assigned to campaign headquarters, and the "army" being known either for its senior commander, or the area of its operations. Administratively, the regiments were assigned to Military Inspections, the predecessors of military districts , and included the conscript training depots, garrisons and fortress troops and munitions magazines . The army had been thoroughly reorganised on

9348-423: The ground and large parts of it were destroyed. Alexander I refused to capitulate, and with no sign of clear victory in sight, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow's ruins. So the disastrous Great Retreat began, with 370,000 casualties largely as a result of starvation and the freezing weather conditions, and 200,000 captured. Napoleon narrowly escaped total annihilation at the Battle of Berezina , but his army

9471-523: The imminent threat of Russian invasion of Poland. The Grande Armée, 650,000 men (270,000 Frenchmen and many soldiers of allies or subject powers), crossed the Neman on 23 June 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, while Napoleon proclaimed a Second Polish war, but against the expectations of the Poles who supplied almost 100,000 troops for the invasion force he avoided any concessions toward Poland, having in mind further negotiations with Russia. Russia maintained

9594-440: The king. The lieutenants of the colonel were the lieutenant colonels . In the 17th century, the sergeant of the colonel was the sergeant major . These were field officers, third in command of their regiments (after their colonels and lieutenant colonels), with a role similar to the older, army-level sergeants major (although on a smaller scale). The older position became known as sergeant major general to distinguish it. Over time,

9717-465: The legion), each consisting of three manipula , each of them of two centuries (a rather small company in modern terms), each consisting of between 60 and 160 men. Each century was led by a centurion ( centurio , traditionally translated as captain ), who was assisted by a number of junior officers, such as an optio . Centuries were further broken into ten contubernia of eight soldiers each. The manipula were commanded by one of their two centurions,

9840-488: The marching troops. He organized and controlled the guards, was responsible for discipline and attention, and took care for knowing the watchword. The watch service was provided almost by the cavalry, and often the mounted troops were responsible to guard the whole army, what was the case for instance in Brandenburg about 1620. With the formation of standing armies, the designation Wachtmeister became of universally valid for

9963-431: The marshal then leading the army on the march, and being in charge of organizing camps and logistics. Tactics for an upcoming battle were often decided by councils of war among the nobles leading the largest forces. Outside of campaigns, the high constable had authority over the local constables, and commanders of the garrisons of major castles. The high constable might have authority in the army due to his role of head of

10086-475: The modern sense of a hierarchy of titles, although the army was organized into a hierarchical command. The organization of the army was based on the decimal system, employed by Modun Chanyu . The army was built upon a squad of ten ( aravt ) led by an appointed chief. Ten of these would then compose a company of a hundred ( zuut ), also led by an appointed chief. The next unit was a regiment of a thousand ( myangat ) led by an appointed noyan . The largest organic unit

10209-445: The most senior) general , lieutenant general , major general , and brigadier general , although there are many variations like division general or (air-, ground-) force general. Flag-officer ranks, named after the traditional practice of showing the presence of such an officer with a flag on a ship and often land, typically include (from the most senior) admiral , vice admiral and rear admiral . In some navies, such as Canada's ,

10332-410: The people"; in addition, they must not either be confused with the "military tribunes with consular authority", who in early republican times could replace the consuls. The third highest officer of a legion, above the angusticlavian tribunes, was the praefectus castrorum . He, too, would have a colonel's rank in modern armies, yet he differed much from the tribunes in that his office was not part of

10455-467: The post-classical army was the company , a band of soldiers assigned (or raised) by a vassal lord on behalf of his lord (in later times the king himself). The vassal lord in command of the company was a commissioned officer with the rank of captain . Captain was derived from the Late Latin word capitaneus (meaning "head man" or chief ). The commissioned officer assisting the captain with command of

10578-519: The previous year and joining Austria and Russia. This might have contained Napoleon and prevented the Allied disaster in the Battle of Austerlitz . In any event, the Russian Army, an ally of Prussia, still remained far away when Prussia declared war. Napoleon smashed the main Prussian armies at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806 and hunted down the survivors during the remainder of October and November. Having destroyed all Prussian forces west of

10701-539: The rank of commodore is a flag rank . In the United Kingdom and most other Commonwealth air forces, air-officer ranks usually include air chief marshal , air marshal , air vice-marshal and air commodore . For some air forces, however, such as those of Canada , United States and many other air forces, general officer rank titles are used. In the case of the United States Air Force , that service

10824-433: The rather administrative cursus , but normally filled by former centurions. (Modern armies have a similar distinction on a lower scale—i.e., between commissioned and non-commissioned officers.) The fighting men in the legion were formed into "ranks", rows of men who fought as a unit. Under Marius's new system, legions were divided into ten cohorts ( cohortes ) (roughly equivalent to battalions and immediately subject to

10947-421: The regular cavalry. As the European and Asian Middle Ages came to an end, the rank structure of post-classical armies became more formalized. The top officers were known as commissioned officers because their rank came from a royal commission. Army commissions were usually reserved for those of high stature—the aristocracy of mainland Europe and the aristocracy and gentry of Great Britain. The basic unit of

11070-552: The same time, Russia continued its expansion. The Congress of Vienna created the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland), to which Alexander granted a constitution. Thus, Alexander I became the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic Emperor of Russia. He was also the Grand Duke of Finland, which had been annexed from Sweden in 1809 and awarded autonomous status. The Russo-French alliance gradually became strained. Napoleon

11193-529: The same year, under the influence of religious mysticism, Alexander initiated the creation of the Holy Alliance , a loose agreement pledging the rulers of the nations involved—including most of Europe—to act according to Christian principles. This emerged in part due to the influence religion had played in the army during the war of 1812, and its influence on the common soldiers and officers alike. The Russian occupation forces in France, though not participating in

11316-402: The senate. The latter is called laticlavian tribune ( tribunus laticlavius ) and was second in command. If in modern divisions the deputy commander is a brigadier general , the laticlavian tribune can perhaps be translated with this rank, though he commanded no formation of his own. The other tribunes are called tribuni angusticlavii and are equivalent to staff officers in both senses of

11439-474: The sergeant was a jack of all trades, concerning himself with all aspects of administration to maintain the enlisted men serving under his commander. Over time, sergeants were differentiated into many ranks as various levels of sergeants were used by the commanders of various levels of units. A corporal commanded a squad . Squad derived from the Italian word for a "square" or "block" of soldiers. In fact, corporal

11562-564: The so-called Army reform XXI (in effect from 1 January 2004), the rank was regularly assigned to a Zugführer-Stellvertreter (deputy platoon leader). However, in 2014, a newly appointed Wachtmeister was to be a squad leader or vehicle leader ( Gruppenführer , Wagenkommandant ), e.g. a gun commander ( Geschützführer ). In United Nations missions and in NATO Partnership for Peace, the rank Wachtmeister will be designated in English with Sergeant (Sgt). Military rank Uniforms denote

11685-450: The structure of general staff ranks as stated before, it becomes somewhat complicated to understand when applying basic rationale. As armies grew bigger, heraldry and unit identification remained primarily a matter of the regiment. Brigades headed by brigadier generals were the units invented as a tactical unit by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus II ("Gustav II Adolf", who was killed at

11808-699: The system of military training getting a complete overhaul. The Main Staff of the Army was subordinated to the Ministry of War and the Department of the General Staff became the operations section of the Main Staff. The engineering, medical, supply, and ordnance services of the army were also placed under the Ministry of War. The last part of Milyutin's reforms focused on military recruitment and occurred in 1874. On 1 January 1874,

11931-487: The ten generals would rotate as polemarch for one day, and during this day his vote would serve as tie-breaker if necessary. As an elected official a Strategos is by definition not ranked. Strategos thus is a Hierarchical Position above the military, politically similar in nature to a modern-day Sheriff or Police Commissioner. This is completely different from a modern day Commissioned Military General who never stands for election at any point in their careers. Historically it

12054-407: The term: of ranks major , lieutenant colonel , colonel , and with administrative duties. They did not command a formation of their own. The term military tribune is even sometimes translated into English as "colonel"—most notably by the late classicist Robert Graves in his Claudius novels and his translation of Suetonius ' Twelve Caesars —to avoid confusion with the political " tribunes of

12177-477: The traditional military hierarchy. This "rank-shaped" badge-of-office a formal representation of Public Civilian authority over military matters. The ten generals were equal to one another; there was no hierarchy among them. However, a basic form of democracy was in effect: for example, at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the generals determined the battle plan by majority vote. Particular assignments might have been given to individual generals; inevitably there

12300-573: The treaty, and Alexander made use of his alliance with Napoleon for further expansion. Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw out of former Prussian territory. At the Congress of Erfurt (September–October 1808) Napoleon and Alexander agreed that Russia should force Sweden to join the Continental System, which led to the Finnish War of 1808–1809 and to the division of Sweden into two parts separated by

12423-533: The war, Emperor Nicholas II appointed his cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief. On mobilization, the Russian Army totalled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). There were only 2 army ambulances and 679 cars. Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Germany, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Austria-Hungary, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for

12546-511: Was a baivarabam and was commanded by a baivarapatis . The Greeks called such masses of troops a myrias or myriad . Among mounted troops, an asabam was a cavalry unit led by an asapatis . Historians have discovered the existence of the following ranks in Parthian and Sassanian armies: Post-classical militaries did not have a unified rank structure; while the feudal lords were in some ways equivalent to modern officers, they did not have

12669-415: Was a drill or weapons instructor. Once Athens became a naval power, the top generals of the land armies had authority over the naval fleets as well. Under them, each warship was commanded by a trièrarchos or trierarch , a word which originally meant " trireme officer" but persisted when other types of vessels came into use. Moreover, as in modern navies, the different tasks associated with running

12792-419: Was a half-file leader. Another name for the half file was a hèmilochion with a hèmilochitès being a half-file leader. Different types of units, however, were divided differently and therefore their leaders had different titles. For example, under a numbering system by tens, a dekas or dekania was a unit of ten led by a dekarchos , a hekatontarchia was a unit of one hundred led by a hekatontarchos and

12915-408: Was a regular division of responsibilities. The rank that was subordinate to a top general was a taxiarchos or taxiarhos , something akin to the modern brigadier . In Sparta , however, the title was " polemarchos ". Below this was the syntagmatarchis , which can be translated as "leader of a regiment " ( syntagma ) and was therefore like a modern colonel . Below him was the tagmatarches ,

13038-418: Was a ten thousand man unit ( tumen ) also led by an appointed noyan . The army of ancient Persia consisted of manageable military groupings under the individual commands. Starting at the bottom, a unit of 10 was called a dathabam and was led by a dathapatis . A unit of 100 men was a satabam led by a satapatis . A unit of 1,000 was a hazarabam and was commanded by a hazarapatis . A unit of 10,000

13161-516: Was adopted in 1711, by order of the Tsar Peter the Great . Until 1877, there were the unofficial ranks of starshij vakhmistr (Старший ва́хмистр) and mladshij vakhmistr ( Младший ва́хмистр) in order to identify and distinguish between what could be called platoon non-commissioned officers. The Wachtmeister was responsible for providing support to the troop commander, which normally was Rittmeister (cavalry captain, roughly equivalent to OF-2) Among

13284-417: Was also reformed, and elementary education was made available to all the draftees. Milyutin's reforms are regarded as a milestone in the history of Russia: they dispensed with the military recruitment and professional army introduced by Peter the Great and created the Russian army such as it continued into the 21st century. Up to Dmitry Milyutin's reforms in 1874 the Russian Army had no permanent barracks and

13407-718: Was billeted in dugouts and shacks. The army saw service against the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War . During the Boxer Rebellion 100,000 Russian troops fought to pacify part of Manchuria and to secure its railroads. Some Russian military forces were already stationed in China before the war, and one of them met a grotesque end at the Battle of Pai-t'ou-tzu when the dead Russians were mutilated by Chinese troops, who decapitated them and sliced crosses into their bodies. Other battles fought include Boxers attacks on Chinese Eastern Railway , Defence of Yingkou , Battles on Amur River , and

13530-579: Was comparable to Cavalry Master-sergeant in Anglophone armed forces. In the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces Wachtmeister was equivalent to: Then rank insignia was a gorget patch on the stand-up collar of the so-called Waffenrock (en: tunic), and consisted of three white stars on 13 mm ragged yellow silk galloon. The gorget patch and the stand-up collar showed the particular Waffenfarbe (en: corps colour). Similarly to

13653-567: Was concerned about Russia's intentions in the strategically vital Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. At the same time, Alexander viewed the Duchy of Warsaw , the French-controlled reconstituted Polish state, with suspicion. The result was the War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to 1814. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to compel Alexander I to remain in the Continental System and to remove

13776-706: Was defeated by Japan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, notable engagements being the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden . After the mobilizations in the spring of 1905, by the summer the Russian army in the Far East grew to a strength of almost one million well-equipped and -trained soldiers facing an exhausted Japanese army, but the Russian naval defeat at the Battle of Tsushima made peace talks more desirable. The first reservists to be mobilized were older men with minimal training, some of whom had never held

13899-430: Was derived from the Italian caporal de squadra (head of the squad). Corporals were assisted by lancepesades . Lancepesades were veteran soldiers; lancepesade was derived from the Italian lancia spezzata meaning broken spear—the broken spear being a metaphor for combat experience, where such an occurrence was likely. The first lancepesades were simply experienced privates; who either assisted their corporal or performed

14022-454: Was noted for the number of sieges the Russian Army conducted and a large number of Narodnoe Opolcheniye ( irregular troops ) that continued to serve in its ranks until newly trained recruits could reach the area of combat operations. Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov emerged as one of the leading and talented senior commanders of the army, participating in many important battles, including the Battle of Leipzig . In 1813 Russia gained territory in

14145-408: Was once part of the U.S. Army and evolved as a separate service in 1947, carrying over its extant officer rank structure. Brazil and Argentina use a system of general officer ranks based on the term brigadier . Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army ( Russian : Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия , romanized :  Rússkaya imperátorskaya ármiya )

14268-524: Was out of position and rushing to Paris to defend it, could reinforce its garrison, effectively ending the campaign. More pragmatically, in 1814 Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia had formed the Quadruple Alliance . The allies created an international system to maintain the territorial status quo and prevent the resurgence of an expansionist France. This included each ally maintaining a corps of occupation in France. The Quadruple Alliance, confirmed by

14391-466: Was quickly parried by the French. Napoleon launched a pursuit toward Königsberg but the Russians successfully fended it off at the Battle of Heilsberg . On 14 June, Bennigsen unwisely fought the Battle of Friedland with a river at his back and saw his army mauled with heavy losses. Following this defeat, Alexander was forced to sue for peace with Napoleon at Tilsit on 7 July 1807, with Russia becoming Napoleon's ally. Russia lost little territory under

14514-448: Was reduced to 20 years plus five years in the reserve, and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years in the reserve. The history of the Russian Army in this era was principally linked to the name of Russian General Alexander Suvorov , considered to be one of the few great generals in history who never lost a battle. From 1777 to 1783 Suvorov served in the Crimea and in the Caucasus , becoming

14637-404: Was split into two and led by two hipparchos or hipparch , but Spartan cavalry was led by a hipparmostes . A hippotoxotès was a mounted archer. A Greek cavalry company was led by a tetrarchès or tetrarch . The rank and file of the military in most of the Greek city states was composed of ordinary citizens. Heavily armed foot soldiers were called hoplitès or hoplites and a hoplomachos

14760-479: Was technically either consul or proconsul. The commander could appoint a deputy, a so-called legate ( legatus ). The association of " legatus " with "legion" is folk etymology , as the meaning of legatus is "proxy" or "envoy". Legates were typically drawn from the Roman Senate for three-year terms. The political nature of high military command was even reflected here, in that legions were always subordinate to

14883-657: Was the Russian term that was used to describe military units that were formed in the Tsardom of Russia in the 17th century according to the Western European military standards. There were different kinds of regiments, such as the regulars ( infantry ), dragoons , and reiters . In 1631, the Russians created two regular regiments in Moscow. During the Smolensk War of 1632–1634, six more regular regiments, one reiter regiment, and

15006-637: Was the armed land force of the Russian Empire , active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops. A regular Russian army existed after the end of the Great Northern War in 1721. During his reign, Peter

15129-522: Was wrecked nevertheless. By December only 20,000 fit soldiers from the main army were among those who recrossed the Neman at Kaunas . By this time Napoleon had abandoned his army to return to Paris and prepare a defence against the advancing Russians. As the French retreated, the Russians pursued them into Poland and Prussia, causing the Prussian Corps under Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg that had been formerly

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