Military Rank: Strategic Hierarchies, Command, Power, and the Dynamics of Authority

By Fouad Sabry

What is Military Rank

Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Military rank

Chapter 2: Company (military unit)

Chapter 3: Regimental sergeant major

Chapter 4: Platoon

Chapter 5: Non-commissioned officer

Chapter 6: Sergeant

Chapter 7: Commander

Chapter 8: Staff sergeant

Chapter 9: Master sergeant

Chapter 10: Sergeant major

(II) Answering the public top questions about military rank.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Military Rank.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 31, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Military rank

Within the armed forces, military ranks are a system of hierarchical connections, ) but they had to re-establish them after running into operational problems with command and control. Uniforms show the bearer's rank via specific insignia affixed to the uniforms in a number of countries.

The rank of strategos, which is typically translated as general, was instituted by the Athenians in 501 BC, and ten people were elected each year. Each of the 10 generals would rotate as polemarch for one day, and during this day his vote would act as a tie-breaker if necessary. Originally, these generals collaborated with the old polemarchos (warlord), but over time, the latter figure was absorbed into the generalship.

There was no hierarchy among the ten generals; they were all on an equal footing. A fundamental kind of democracy was nevertheless in place; for instance, at the Combat of Marathon in 490 BC, the generals chose the battle strategy by a majority vote. Even though specific tasks might have been assigned to specific generals, there was invariably a regular division of labor.

A taxiarchos or taxiarhos, comparable to the contemporary brigadier, was the rank beneath a high general. But the name was polemarchos in Sparta. The syntagmatarchis, which can be translated as leader of a regiment (syntagma), was immediately below this and was comparable to a colonel in the modern era. The tagmatarches, a tagma's commanding officer, was below him (near to the modern battalion). The position roughly equated to a Roman legion's legatus. The lokhagos came next, an officer who commanded an infantry company, or lokhos, of about 100 men, similar to a modern company led by a captain.

A hipparchia, or Greek cavalry unit (hippikon), was directed by an epihipparch.

Two hipparchos or hipparch lead the two halves of the unit, however, a hipparmostes headed the Spartan cavalry.

A hippotoxotès was a mounted archer.

A Greek cavalry company was led by a tetrarchès or tetrarch.

In the majority of Greek city states, commoners made up the military's rank and file.

Heavily armed foot soldiers were called hoplitès or hoplites and a hoplomachos was a drill or weapons instructor.

Athens was formerly a maritime power, The maritime fleets were also under the command of the top generals of the land forces.

Under them, each warship was commanded by a trièrarchos or trierarch, a phrase that originally meant trireme officer, but stuck around as other kinds of vessels started to be used.

Moreover, as in contemporary fleets, Varied subordinates were given different responsibilities for managing a ship.

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.

after additional specialization, A nauarchos took the place of the naval strategos, a sea officer with the rank of admiral.

The ascent of Macedonia under Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great led to the professionalization of the Greek military, the development of more advanced tactics, and the emergence of new echelons of rank. Phalangites, or heavy infantry phalanxes, were formed from foot soldiers. They fought in a compact rectangular formation, usually eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column (or file) and a secondary leader in the centre so that the back rows could advance to the flanks if greater frontage was required. These troops were among the first to ever be trained.

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 file leader was a lochagos, and a lochos was a single file; A dimoiria was a member of the half-file, and a dimoirites was its leader.

Another name for the half file was a hèmilochion with a hèmilochitès being a half-file leader.

However, different unit types were separated in a variety of ways, and as a result, the titles of their leaders varied. A dekas or dekania was a unit of ten headed by a dekarchos, a hekatontarchia was a unit of one hundred led by a hekatontarchos, and a khiliostys or khiliarchia was a unit of a thousand led by a khiliarchos, for instance, under a numbering system by tens.

The cavalry, which Alexander gained the most notoriety (in a military sense), expanded in variety.

There were heavy cavalry and wing cavalry (ilè) units, the latter under an ilarchos' instruction.

Following Marius' reforms, the Roman legions adopted structured ranks on a large scale. However, there can only be loose comparisons to modern ranks because the command structure of the Roman army was very different from that of its contemporary organizations, which originated from the Thirty Years' War mercenary companies rather than from the writings of fourth-century Roman author Vegetius and Caesar's commentaries on his conquest of Gaul and the civil war.

Rome's military command was actually a political office. A political-religious notion called imperium was necessary for a leader to possess. To prevent a restoration of the monarchy, the king who had it (the rex sacrorum) was expressly forbidden to possess it. In the republic, only consuls, (rarely) praetors, or, in dire circumstances, a dictator, were permitted to exercise command. After the formation of the post, proconsuls were employed. In imperial times, the emperor, who was formally either a consul or a proconsul, oversaw each legion.

The commander had the option of designating a deputy, or legate (legatus). Since legatus means proxy or envoy, the link of legatus with legion is a folk etymology. For three-year tenure, legates were normally chosen from the Roman Senate. Legions were always under the governor's authority, and only the second and subsequent legions stationed in a province had their own legatus legionis, reflecting the political aspect of high military command. In modern parlance, the general officers were the real leaders and the legates collectively.

Six military tribunes (tribuni militum), five of whom were young men of equestrian rank and one of whom was an aristocrat destined for the senate, stood directly beneath the commander (or his legate). The latter was second in command and is known as the laticlavian tribune (tribunus laticlavius). Although the laticlavian tribune did not command any formation of his own, if the deputy commander in contemporary divisions is a brigadier general, then it is possible to translate him to this rank. The other tribunes, known as tribuni angusticlavii, are administrative officers with the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel and are comparable to staff officers in both meanings of the word. They didn't have their own formation under their command. To avoid confusion with the political tribunes of the people, the term military tribune is 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—as well as with the military tribunes with consular authority, who in early republican times could take the place of the consuls.

The praefectus castrorum was the second-highest official in a legion, after the angusticlavian tribunes. In contemporary armies, he would also hold the title of colonel, but he distinguished himself from the tribunes in that his position did not fall under the administrative cursus and was instead typically held by ex-centurions. (Modern militaries distinguish between commissioned and non-commissioned officers, which is on a smaller scale.)

The fighting members of the legion were organized into ranks, or lines of men who engaged in solitary combat. According to Marius' new system, legions were divided into ten cohortes (roughly equivalent to battalions and immediately under the command of the legion), each of which was made up of three manipula, each of which was of two centuries (a rather small company in modern terms), and each of which contained between 60 and 160 men. A centurion (centurio, often translated as captain) oversaw each century and was supported by several more junior officers, such as an optio. Additionally, centuries were divided into 10 contubernia, each with eight troops. One of their two centurions oversaw the manipula, while one of their three centurions oversaw the cohorts. The centuron in charge of the most senior cohort was known as primus pilus. Pilus previous, Pilus posterior, Princeps prior, Princeps posterior, Hastatus prior, and Hastatus posterior were the ranks of centurions in each cohort, listed in descending order. Individual soldiers were known as legionaries or soldiers (milites) (legionarii).

See the structure and tactics of the Mongol military.

Although the army was structured into a hierarchical command, there were no ranks in the modern sense of a hierarchy of titles. The Modun Chanyu decimal system, which was used to organize the army, served as its foundation. The foundation of the army was a ten-man squad (aravt) under the command of a chief. A company (zuut) of 100 would then be made up of ten of these, likewise under the direction of a designated chief. The next group was a regiment of 1,000 men (myangat) under the command of a noyan who had been appointed. The largest organic unit (tumen), which had 10,000 soldiers, was also commanded by an appointed noyan.

The ancient Persian army was divided up into manageable combat units that were commanded by specific individuals. A dathabam, or group of ten people, was commanded by a dathapatis and began at the bottom. A satapatis headed a group of 100 men known as a satabam. A hazarapatis was in charge of a 1,000-person unit known as a hazarabam. A baivarapatis led a unit of 10,000 people known as a baivarabam. Such vast armies were referred to as myrias or myriads by the Greeks. A cavalry regiment commanded by an asapatis was known as an asabam among mounted soldiers.

The Parthian and Sassanian armies had the following ranks, according to historians:

Chief of Staff: Eran Spahbod (to be replaced with four spahbods, one for each frontier of the empire during the reign of Khosrau I)

Aspwargan Salar (Parthian) or Aswaran Salar, commander of the cavalry (Sassanian)

Tirbodh is the archers' commander.

Paygan Salar is the infantry's commander.

Argbadh or argbod in Castellan

A marzpawn (Parthian) or a marzban will lead a border march (Sassanian)

Kanarang was the name of the Central Asian marches' marzban.

Although feudal lords were somewhat comparable to modern officers, post-classical military lacked an uniform rank system. A king was thought of as the first among equals, not a monarch as later or ancient nations interpreted the idea, and all nobles were conceptually equal (hence peers). When requested to do so by his liege-lord, a monarch, or simply a higher-ranking noble who had won his loyalty through the gift of land, a nobleman was required to bring a specific number of men. A lot of post-classical military planning meetings consisted negotiating each lord's participation in the next fight, and each lord was permitted to leave after a certain period of time had passed. The lord of the troops maintained at least nominal control over them.

Armies often had a loose command organization that varied greatly. Typically, all lords would be summoned to gather their armies for a campaign by the monarch and high-ranking lords. A well-known aristocrat would be chosen to serve as the marshal and organize the assembling soldiers. The title field marshal refers to the general who was in charge of setting up camps and supplies while the army was on the march. Councils of war among the lords commanding the biggest forces were frequently used to decide the tactics for an approaching fight. The local constables and the leaders of the garrisons at significant castles were under the control of the high constable outside of campaigns. Due to his position as