History of Russian military ranks
Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to the 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 the Russian regular army in the late 17th century.
Russian Tsardom
The Kievan Rus had no standing army apart from small druzhina, a permanent group of personal guards for the local knyaz ; an individual member of such a unit called a druzhinnik. In times of war, the knyaz raised a militia comprising volunteers from the peasantry, and the druzhina served as the core of the troops. Each local knyaz served as the military leader of his troops. Such arrangements did not need permanent ranks or positions; they were created ad hoc, based on the task at hand.Upon the formation of Strelets troops in the mid-16th century, the low-level commanding officers were appointed to one of the following ranks:
- strelets, a basic soldier
- desyatnik, acting as sergeant/corporal
- sotnik, acting as captain
Upon the formation of standing regiments by Ivan IV, new ranks insinuated themselves into the hierarchy between the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment. Later, a polugolova rank appeared; eventually golova was renamed polkovnik, and polugolova was renamed podpolkovnik. As usual, voyevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.
Later, under the Romanov dynasty the companies of foreign mercenaries were formed; these incorporated the foreign ranks of Lieutenant and Rittmeister. They were later changed into the 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 the 18th century, 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 in the Army's Rules of engagement since 1716 until they were finally incorporated into the first variant of Table of Ranks in 1722. Compared to Strelets Troops, a few more non-commissioned ranks were added, the soldier rank was replaced with many specialty ranks, and a few more General ranks were added. The naval ranks were created from scratch, ranks for the naval infantry and engineers would only come in the 19th century.The officers were styled according to their rank as defined by the Table.
1722–1917: Army
By 1722, the ranks of both enlisted staff and commissioned/non-commissioned officers were somewhat settled; these ranks survived until the Russian Revolution with only minor adjustments.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 himself.
Commissioned officers of artillery and engineers enjoyed a handicap of 1 grade, and the Leib Guards units enjoyed a handicap of 2 grades, ending in Life Guards Colonel.
In the 1798–1884 timeline, the General ranks were streamlined and the Brigadier rank was abolished. The Captain-Poruchik rank was reestablished again, this time as Staff-Captain. The Second Major and First Major ranks were united. In 1826, the Russian Army adopted shoulder insignia and distinct Cossack cavalry ranks.
In 1884, Major and Captain-Lieutenant ranks were abolished again and the ranks below were shifted several grades up. The latter was not reintroduced until 1907, but then again abolished in 1911.
1722–1917: Navy
As stated earlier, most of the naval ranks and rates were formed from scratch in the 18th century, with many changes since then. Ranks for naval infantry, shore service personnel, and engineers would only come in the 19th century.White Movement (1918–1921)
Although the White Movement generally retained the old imperial system, there were a few modifications. Most importantly, the ranks of praporshchik and lieutenant colonel were abolished as redundant by 1919.RSFSR and Soviet Union
1918–1925
The October Revolution of 1917 abolished the privileges of the Russian nobility. The Table of Ranks was abolished and so were personal military ranks.Based on the teachings of Karl Marx to replace a regular army with the general arming of the people, the Bolsheviks abolished the Imperial army on 16 March 1918. But the need for an armed struggle against the counter-revolution, and foreign military intervention forced the CEC and the CPC, January 15, 1918, to issue a decree establishing of the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", very early before the disbandment of the Imperial ground forces.
At first, the new army had no ranks, aside from the single rank of "RedArmyMan". However, due to a real need, first informally and then more formally in official correspondence acronyms began to appear representing position-holder titles. For example, komdiv was an acronym of Division Commander; likewise kombat stood for Battalion Commander, etc. By the middle of the civil war, these "positional ranks" became quite formal, and since January 1920 the names of officers were fixed by the Order of the Red Army. Instead of ranks, these were officially known as "categories of the Red Army." This system was maintained until May 1924. Some of these acronyms have survived as informal position names to the present day.
During the civil war, ships did not play a significant role. Many of the sailors and petty officers of the fleet went to fight on land in the Red Army. For a long time, a scale of naval ranks did not exist at all. Most of the naval officers were addressed either by their position or by their tsarist rank with the addition of the prefix byvshiy, which meant "former". In 1924, the real rehabilitation and creation of the fleet began. Personal ranks as such did not exist during this period in the Navy.
By then, the only new rank created was the Sergeant Major rank in the Red Army. It was first introduced in the Worker's and Peasant's Red Navy at the same time, with the old Imperial Naval rank of Bootsmann in the Navy the only old rank still used.
The Soviet Air Forces began as a committee for ex-Imperial military aviation in 1918 and was later transformed into a separate service as the Workers and Peasants Red Air Fleet. It shared the same ranks as the Army and the naval air component shared the ranks of its mother service.
1925–1935
By that year, the ranks were expanded to match the military ranks of other countries' armed forces. The Soviet Air Forces soon received its own ranks.| Categories | Names of key posts | Names of key posts | Names of key posts | Groups |
| Categories | Army appointments | Naval appointments | Aviation appointments | Groups |
| K-14 | Front Commander Командующий фронтом ' | Chief of Navy of the Republic Главнокомандующий флотом республики ' | Chief of the Soviet Air Force 'Hачальник BBC CCCP ' | Supreme Commanders |
| K-13 | Commandarm Командующий армией ' & Assistant of Front Commander Помощник командующего фронтом ' | Fleet Commander Командующий флотом ' | Deputy Chief of the Soviet Air Force Помощник начальника BBC CCCP ' | Supreme Commanders |
| K-12 | Comcor Командир корпуса ' & Assistant of Army Commander Помощник командующего армией ' | Flotilla Commander Командующий флотилией ' | Air Brigade Commander Командующий авиабригады ' | Supreme Commanders |
| K-11 | Comdiv Командир дивизии ' & Assistant of Corps Commander Помощник командира корпуса ' | Escadre Commander Командующий эскадрой ' | Supreme Commanders | |
| K-10 | Combrig Командир бригады ' & Assistant of the Divizia Commander Помощник командира дивизии ' | Ship Brigade Commander Командир бригады кораблей ' | Air Squadron Commander Командующий эскадрильи ' | Supreme Commanders |
| K-9 | Regimental Commander Командир полка ' & Assistant of the Brigade Commander Помощник командира бригады ' | Ship Commander, 1st rank Командир корабля 1-го ранга ' | Air Park Commander Командующий авиапарка ' | Senior Commanders |
| K-8 | Assistant of the Regimental Commander Помощник командира полка ' | Senior Assistant of Ship Commander 1st rank Старший помощник командира корабля 1-го ранга ' | Air Flight Senior Commander Командующий отдельного авиаотряда ' | Senior Commanders |
| K-7 | Combat Командир батальона ' | Ship Commander, 2nd rank Командир корабля 2-го ранга ' | Air Flight Commander Командующий авиаотряда ' | Senior Commanders |
| K-6 | Assistant of Battalion Commander Помощник командира батальона ' | Ship Commander, 3rd rank Командир корабля 3-го ранга ' & Senior Assistant of Ship Commander 2nd rank Старший помощник командира корабля 2-го ранга ' | Air Detail Commander Командующий авиазвена ' | Middleweight Commanders |
| K-5 | Company Commander Командир роты ' | Ship Commander, 4th rank Командир корабля 4-го ранга ' & Senior Assistant of Ship Commander 3rd rank Старший помощник командира корабля 3-го ранга ' | Senior Pilot Старший летчик ' | Middleweight Commanders |
| K-4 | Assistant of Company Commander Помощник командира роты ' | Senior Assistant of Ship Commander 4th rank Старший помощник командира корабля 4-го ранга ' | Junior Pilot Младший летчик ' | Middleweight Commanders |
| K-3 | Platoon Commander Командир взвода ' | Combatant Commander Командир боевой части ' & Assistant of Ship Commander 4th rank Помощник командира корабля 4-го ранга ' | Air Platoon Commander Командир взвода ' | Middleweight Commanders |
| K-2 | Starshina Старшина ' | Chief Starshina Главный cтаршина ' ,& Chief Boatswain/Bootsmann Главный боцман ' | Senior Motorist Старший моторист ' | Junior Сommanders |
| K-2 | Assistant of Platoon Commander Помощник командира взвода ' | Senior Boatswain/Bootsmann Старший боцман ' | Motorist Mоторист ' | Junior Сommanders |
| K-1 | Squad Commander Командир отделения ' | Squad Commander Командир отделения ' & Boatswain/Bootsmann Боцман ' | Junior Motorist Младший моторист ' | Junior Сommanders |
| K-1 | Fireteam Commander Командир звена ' & Assistant of Squad Commander Помощник командира отделения ' | Group Commander Командир группы ' & Assistant of Squad Commander Помощник командира отделения ' | Junior Сommanders | |
| К-0 | Redarmyman Красноармеец ' | Redfleetman Краснофлотец ' | Redairfleetman Красновоздухоплаватель ' | Privates''' |