User:Andrewa/List of highest military ranks

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This is a list of the highest military ranks in modern armies.

To be on this list a rank must:

  • Be superior to a full (four star) General
  • Have been either proposed for or actually awarded to a particular person
  • Either:
    • Have been the highest rank in their country's armed forces for at least part of the time it was held
    • OR Would have been the highest rank had it been awarded at the time proposed

There are many factors other than rank affecting the superiority of one officer over another, including date of appointment (seniority), retirement, distinctions between operational and ceremonial appointments, particular appointments (such as captaining a ship) in the chain of command, and the relationships between regular and reserve officers. This list is concerned only with superiority of rank.

These high ranks tend to be theater ranks carrying authority across all services, but in some countries there have been two or more similtaneous highest ranks, for example the army rank of Field Marshall and the naval rank of Admiral of the Fleet, with no clear superiority one over the other. In such cases all are shown.

Rank name Country Awarded/Proposed Currently in the rank structure? Year of first award/proposal First recipient/Proposed first recipient Number of actual recipients Insignia
General of the Army USA Awarded No 1866 Ulysses S. Grant 3 [1]
Admiral of the Navy USA Awarded No 1903 George Dewey 1
General of the Armies USA Awarded No 1919 John J. Pershing 1
Field marshal Australia Awarded Yes 1925 William Birdwood[2] 2
Generalissimo Republic of China Awarded 1928 Chiang Kai-shek[3]
Reichsmarschall Germany Awarded No 1940 Hermann Göring 1
General of the Army USA Awarded Yes but not currently held 1944 George Marshall[4] 5
Generalissimus of the Soviet Union Soviet Union Awarded but refused No 1945 Joseph Stalin 1
General of the Armies of the United States USA Awarded posthumously Yes 1976 George Washington 1
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See also[edit]

Note and references[edit]

  1. ^ In 1872 this was changed to two stars with the coat of arms of the United States in between
  2. ^ A. J. Hill, 'Birdwood, William Riddell (Baron Birdwood) (1865 - 1951)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 293–296.
  3. ^ His rank was Tèjíjiàng (特級上將), or "General Special Class". Jay Taylor:The Generalisimo:Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China (2009) Harvard Press
  4. ^ Although Pershing's rank was superior to that of Marshall, Marshall outlived Pershing and thus became the highest ranking officer in the USA
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