General

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General is a military rank, in most nations the highest rank, although some nations have the higher rank of Field Marshal. The title is used by land and sometimes air forces. In the navies of the world, the equivalent rank is Admiral. Its equivalent rank in the Royal Air Force and air forces of many Commonwealth Countries is Air Chief Marshal. A "general officer" refers to any rank of general.

The term began appearing around the time of the organization of professional armies in the 17th century. At first, it was added as an adjective to existing names of ranks, yielding "Captain-General", "Lieutenant-General" and the like, used to distinguish the ruler's most important officers and usually made up as needed for individuals, often involving a certain amount of negotiation over precedence. Later, as part of further professionalization efforts, some of the terms, such as "Major-General" (originally "Sergeant-Major-General"), were assigned to specific ranks.

In the United States Armed Forces, "General" may mean either any rank of general officer, or the highest regular rank, which is usually referred to as full general, or four-star general, if it is necessary to identify it specifically. The different ranks of general are identified by the number of stars worn; a General of the Army wears five stars, a General four stars, a Lieutenant General three stars, a Major General two stars, and a Brigadier General one star.

In the British Army, a General's insignia is a crossed sword and baton. This appeared on its own for the now obsolete rank of Brigadier General. A Major General has a star (sometimes called a "pip") over this emblem; a Lieutenant General a crown instead of a pip; and a full General both a pip and a crown. The insignia for the highest rank of Field Marshal, equivalent to an American five-star general, consists of crossed batons within a wreath and surmounted by a crown. Brigadiers, although equivalent to Brigadier Generals in other armies, are not considered to be general officers in the British Army.

Some nations maintain a rank known as Colonel-General which outranks a full general but is subordinate to a Field Marshal. The rank of Colonel General is most often used in militaries which do not have an equivalent to Brigadier General.

During the American Civil War, all generals in the Confederate military irrespective of grade wore an insignia of three stars in a row with the middle one being slightly larger and placed in an open wreath. One exception to this was General Robert E. Lee who chose to wear the insignia rank of a colonel (three stars) even after he became overall commander of the Confederate armies in 1865.

The correspondent rank for General in the Israeli Defence Forces is Rav Aluf. There can only be one active "Rav Aluf" at a time. The "Rav Aluf" rank is given only to the RAMATKAL (Chief of the General Staff), which is the highest position within the IDF.

Similarly, in Switzerland, General is a title held by the chief of the Army in time of war only. Senior officers usually hold the rank of Colonel (there are "Brigade Colonels", for instance). Generals were appointed during the First World War and Second World War, although Switzerland did not take part to either of these conflicts.

In France, generals are named after the type of unit they command: Général de Brigade (two stars), Général de Division (three stars), Général de Corps d'Armée (four stars) and Général d'Armée (five stars). There is no one-star general. The title of Maréchal de France exists (seven stars), but is purely honorific.

Look up General in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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Generals of World War II

da:General de:General fr:Général ja:将軍 nl:Generaal sl:General

General

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