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History of the Russian military
Military history of Russia History of Russian military ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union
v t e

Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to 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 Russian regular army in late 1600s.

Muscovy

The rulers of the Kievan Rus entities had no standing army besides permanent group of personal guards, druzhina (дру́жина); members of the unit were called druzhinnik (дру́жинник). In case of emergency, a militia was raised from volunteers from the peasantry, and the druzhina served as the core of the troops. The local knyaz served as the military leader of the troops. Thus there were no need in permanent ranks or positions and they were created randomly, based on the task(s) in hand.

Upon the formation of Strelets troops, the low-level commanding officers were appointed to one of the following ranks:

• strelets (стреле́ц), a basic soldier;
• desyatnik (деся́тник, 'of ten men'), acting as sergeant/corporal;
• sotnik (со́тник, 'of hundred men'), acting as captain.

These were not personal ranks and were retained only as long as the officer held the position. For battles, the troops were organized unto temporary high-level units, usually polk (полк, Old Slavonic for group of troops), a regiment commanded by golova (голова́, head) or voevoda (воево́да); these commanding positions were not permanent and did not sustain after the battle. The cossack cavalry units had their own ranks of kazak (коза́к), yesaul (есау́л) and ataman (атама́н); they were not comparable to the strelets ranks.

Upon the formation of standing regiments (prikaz, later polk), new ranks were inserted in between of the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik (пятидеся́тник, of fifty men) acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment (also, tysyatskiy (ты́сяцкий, 'of thousand men'). Later, a polugolova (полуголова́) rank was introduced; eventually golova was renamed polkovnik (полко́вник, regimental commander), and polugolova was renamed podpolkovnik (sub-polkovnik). As usual, voevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.

At the same time, the companies of foreign mercenaries were formed; these incorporated foreign ranks of Lieutenant and Rittmeister. They were later changed into New Regiments of the Streltsy Troops and more Western ranks were adopted, including General. Finally, by 1680 the ranks of the New Regiments were unified with Strelets Troops.

Russian Empire

During the beginning of 1700s, military ranks were frequently changed by the tsar during efforts to reform the army and create a strong Navy. These many changes were routinely documented into Army's Rules of Engagement since 1716, until they were finally incorporated into the first variant of Table of Ranks in 1722. Comparing to Strelets Troops, a few more non-commissioned ranks were added, the soldier rank was replaced with many speciality ranks and a few more General ranks were added. The naval ranks were created from the scratch.

The officers were styled according to their rank as defined by the Table.

1731-1798

By 1731, the ranks of both enlisted staff and commissioned/non-commissioned officers were somewhat settled; these ranks survived until the Russian Revolution with only minor adjustements.

Captain-Poruchik rank is comparable to Lieutenant Captain. Note that Poruchik can sometimes be styled as Porutchik, as it was originally written by the tsar.

commissioned officers of artillery, engineers enjoyed a handicap of 1 grade, and the Leib Guard enjoyed a handicap of 2 grades.

1798-1884

In 1798-1884 timeline, the General ranks were streamlined and a Brigadier was abolished. The Captain-Poruchik rank was reestablished again, this time as Stabbs-Captain. Courious Second Major and Premier Major ranks were united. In 1826, Russian Army adopted shoulder insignia and distinct Cossack cavalry ranks.

1884-1917

In 1884, a Major and Captain-Lieutenant ranks were abolished again and the ranks below were shifted several grades up. The latter was not reintroduced until 1909.

RSFSR and Soviet Union

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1917-1925

The October Revolution of 1917 cancelled the privileges of Russian nobility (Dvoryanstvo). The Table of Ranks was abolished and so were the personal military ranks. The army and the navy has returned to a system of positional ranks that were acronyms of the full position names. For example, komdiv was an acronym of Division Commander; likewise kombat was Battalion Commander, etc. These acronyms have survived as informal position names to the present day.

1925-1935

The personal ranks were not reintroduced until 1935, and General ranks were restored in May 1940. The ranks were based on Russian Empire military ranks, although they underwent some modifications; the modified Imperial rank insignia was reintroduced in 1943.

1935-1943

1943-1991

In the 1970s, the non-commissioned officers serving under contract and holding Starshina (Master Sergeant) rank were reassigned to newly-created Praporshchik rank (not to be confused with similarly named Russian Empire rank of commissioned officers); starshina was reserved for conscripts only.

The table of Soviet military ranks is in the section below (as they were the same as present military ranks of the Russian Federation).

Russian Federation

The independent Russia inherited the ranks of the Soviet Union, although the insignia and uniform was altered a little. The following is a table ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Russian armed forces have three styles of ranks - all-forces ranks (army style ranks), deck ranks (navy style ranks) and flying ranks (air style ranks) - like as such follows rank structure Russian Ground Forces with the addition of the part " of aviation " to each rank.

All-forces ranks are used by:

1. Ground Forces.

2. Strategic Missile Troops (Independent Core).

3. Militsiya, Internal Troops - under Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).

4. Federal Security Service (FSB), Border Guard service of the FSB.

5. Civil Defense Troops, Fire Rescue Service - under Ministry of Civil Defense And Emergency Situations.

6. Airborne Troops (Independent Core).

7. Naval Infantry (Marine Corps), various shore services of the navy.

8. Air Force.

9. Military Space Troops (Independent Core).

Deck (Navy) ranks are used by:

1. Navy (Except Naval Infantry, Navy Medical Service, and other shore services).

2. Maritime units of the Border Guard Service of FSB.

Notes

1. Marshal of the Russian Federation - in the present time is not an active a senior-most military rank of the modern Military Forces of the Russian Federation that is considered the highest Russian Army (Ground Forces) position. The only officer who presently holds the rank is the former Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev, who was elevated from the General of the Army of the Military Space Troops. Since Russian military ranks system a Marshal of the Russian Federation should be considered as a honorary title equivalent to a Field Marshal, Marshal or General of the Army in other countries, created in the event of a major war or as the result of extreme military accomplishment.

2. Chief Marshal of the Air Force of the Russian Federation - in the present time is not an active a theoretical (hypothetical) senior-most military rank of the modern Russian Air Force that is considered the highest Russian aerial position. For all time of existence of this rank in modern Russia it still nobody was appointed.

3. Admiral of the Fleet of the Russian Federation - in the present time is not an active a theoretical (hypothetical) senior-most military rank of the modern Russian Navy Force that is considered the highest Russian naval position. For all time of existence of this rank in modern Russia it still nobody was appointed.

See also

• Army ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation
• Russian military
• Russia

Links

• Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
• FSB
• Border Guard service of the FSB.
• Ministry of Civil Defense And Emergency Situations.

External links

• Federal Law No. 58-FZ from March 12, 1998 "On military duty and military service" (in Russian)
• Presidential Decree No. 531 from May 8, 2005 "On military uniform, rank insignia of the servicemen and state bodies' rank insignia" (in Russian)

• Military of Imperial Russia
• Military of the Soviet Union
• Russian military ranks