Generalfeldmarschall (German:[ɡenəʁaːlˈfɛltmaʁʃal]ⓘ; fromOld High Germanmarahscalc, "marshal, stable master, groom"; English:general field marshal,field marshal general, orfield marshal; often abbreviated toFeldmarschall) was a rank in the armies of severalGerman states and theHoly Roman Empire, (Reichsgeneralfeldmarschall); in theHabsburg monarchy, theAustrian Empire andAustria-Hungary, the rankFeldmarschall was used. The rank was the equivalent toGroßadmiral (English:Grand Admiral) in theKaiserliche Marine andKriegsmarine, afive-star rank, comparable to OF-10 in today'sNATO naval forces.
Paroli (uniform)
The rank existed in theAustrian Empire asKaiserlicher Feldmarschall ("imperial field marshal") and inAustria-Hungary asKaiserlicher und königlicher Feldmarschall -Császári és királyi tábornagy ("imperial and royal field marshal"). Both were based on prior usage during theHoly Roman Empire. TheEmperor-King held the rankex officio, other officers were promoted as required. Between 1914 and 1918, ten men attained this rank, of whom four were members of the reigningHabsburg-Lorraine dynasty.
In theRoyal Prussian Army, the subsequentImperial German Army and later in theWehrmacht ofNazi Germany, the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall had several privileges, such as elevation to nobility, equal protocol rank with Cabinet ministers, the right of reporting directly to themonarch, and a constant escort.
In 1854, the rank ofGeneraloberst (colonel general) was created in order to promote Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia (the laterWilhelm I, German Emperor) to senior rank without breaking the rule that only wartime field commanders could receive the rank of field marshal for a victory in a decisive battle or the capture of a fortification or major town. The equivalent ofGeneraloberst in the German Navy wasGeneraladmiral (general admiral or admiral-general).
In 1870,Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia andCrown PrinceFriedrich Wilhelm—who had commanded armies during theFranco-Prussian War—became the first Prussian princes appointed to the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall.
The exalted nature of the rank was underscored duringWorld War I, when only five German officers (excluding honorary promotions to members of royal families and foreign officers) were designatedGeneralfeldmarschall:Paul von Hindenburg,August von Mackensen,Karl von Bülow,Hermann von Eichhorn, andRemus von Woyrsch. Only a single naval officer,Henning von Holtzendorff, was designated Grand Admiral. Not even such well-known German commanders asErich Ludendorff,Erich von Falkenhayn, orReinhard Scheer received marshal's batons or Grand Admiral rank.
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| General field marshal Generalfeldmarschall | |
|---|---|
 Rank flag | |
  | |
 | |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| Service branch |  German Army Luftwaffe |
| Formation | 20 April 1936 |
| Abolished | 1945 |
| Next higher rank | Reichsmarschall |
| Next lower rank | Generaloberst |
| Equivalent ranks | Großadmiral |
Before theSecond World War,Adolf Hitler reintroduced the rank into theWehrmacht with the promotion of the Reich Minister of War,GeneraloberstWerner von Blomberg (20 April 1936), and the Aviation Minister,Hermann Göring (4 February 1938), to the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall. In theWehrmacht ofNazi Germany during the Second World War, the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall remained the highest military rank untilJuly 1940, whenHermann Göring was promoted to the newly created higher rank ofReichsmarschall. The equivalent of aGeneralfeldmarschall in the navy wasGroßadmiral (grand admiral).
UnlikeKaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler distributed the rank more widely, promoting 25Heer andLuftwaffe officers in total and twoKriegsmarine Grand Admirals. (Another promotion, that of Austrian GeneralEduard von Böhm-Ermolli, was honorary.) Four weeks after theHeer andLuftwaffe had won theBattle of France, Hitler promoted nine Army generals and three of the air force to the rank of field marshal on19 July 1940:Walther von Brauchitsch,Wilhelm Keitel,Gerd von Rundstedt,Fedor von Bock,Wilhelm von Leeb,Wilhelm List,Günther von Kluge,Erwin von Witzleben andWalter von Reichenau (of theHeer); andAlbert Kesselring,Erhard Milch andHugo Sperrle (of theLuftwaffe).[2] The holders of this rank had the right to a “direct presentation to theFührer”.
In 1942, three other men were promoted—Wüstenfuchs ('Desert Fox')Erwin Rommel (22 June) for thesiege of Tobruk,Erich von Manstein (30 June) for theSiege of Sevastopol, andGeorg von Küchler (30 June) for his success asOberbefehlshaber derHeeresgruppe Nord (commander-in-chief of Army Group North).
Hitler promotedFriedrich Paulus, commander of the6th Army at theBattle of Stalingrad, to the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall via field radio on 30 January 1943, a day before his army's inevitable surrender, in order to encourage him to continue to fight until death or commit suicide.[3] In the promotion, Hitler noted that no German or, before that, Prussian field marshal had ever been captured alive.Generalfeldmarschall Paulus surrendered the following day anyway, claiming,Ich habe nicht die Absicht, mich für diesen bayerischen Gefreiten zu erschießen. ("I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bavarian corporal.")[4] A disappointed Hitler commented, "That's the last field marshal I make in this war!" Nevertheless, he appointed seven more, three on the very day following Paulus' surrender:Ernst Busch,Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist andMaximilian von Weichs (all members of theHeer). Later that same month, Hitler promotedLuftwaffe GeneralWolfram von Richthofen to the rank for his service in theCrimean campaign, and the later part of theBattle of Stalingrad.
From 1944 to 1945, three more men would reach this rank. In early 1944,Walter Model, one of Hitler's most loyal generals, was promoted to the rank; he was also the last German field marshal to receive a ceremonial marshal's baton.Ferdinand Schörner, another loyal officer, was promoted on 5 April 1945. Three weeks later, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the German Army inHitler's last will and testament. On 25 April, just five days beforehis own suicide, Adolf Hitler madeLuftwaffe GeneralRobert Ritter von Greim a field marshal and commander in chief of the German Air Force after Göring had fallen out of Hitler's favour, making Greim the last German field marshal in history.
Financially, the rank ofGeneralfeldmarschall in Nazi Germany was very rewarding as, apart from a yearly salary, Hitler introducedtax freefringe benefits for generals in the range of 2,000 to 4,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (€8897–17793 in 2021) per month in 1940. He also bestowed generous presents on his highest officers, with Leeb receiving 250,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (€1,112,067 in 2021) for his 65th birthday from Hitler.[5]
Promotion to the rank did not guarantee Hitler's ongoing favour, however. As the tide of the war turned, Hitler took out his frustrations on his top commanders, relieving most of theGeneralfeldmarschalls of duty before the war's conclusion. Bock, Brauchitsch, Leeb, and List were all relieved of their posts in 1942 for perceived failures duringOperation Barbarossa and took no further active part in the war. Kleist, Manstein and Sperrle were similarly retired in 1944 and Rundstedt and Weichs in March 1945. Grand AdmiralErich Raeder wasretired in January 1943 following a fierce argument with Hitler over the future of the German surface fleet. Model, one of Hitler's most successful commanders, had nevertheless lost the Fuhrer's confidence by war's end and committed suicide to avoid capture and likely trial as awar criminal. Milch was relieved after conspiring unsuccessfully to have Göring removed from command of theLuftwaffe, and even Göring himself was stripped of his offices and expelled from the Nazi Party in Hitler's last days. Schörner ignominiously abandoned his command to save himself in the war's last days. Kluge, Witzleben and Rommel were either executed or forced to commit suicide for their real or imagined roles in the20 July plot against Hitler. By war's end, only Keitel, Kesselring, Greim and Grand AdmiralKarl Dönitz were still in positions of military responsibility.
TheNational People's Army of theDeutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) (German Democratic Republic, i.e.East Germany) created the rank ofMarshal of the German Democratic Republic on 25 March 1982. A general could be appointed to this rank by theState Council (Staatsrat; the head-of-state council of the GDR) during wartime or for exceptional military achievement; no one ever held the rank, however.
The ranks ofGeneralfeldmarschall,Generaloberst,Großadmiral andGeneraladmiral no longer exist in the new German (until 1990West German) Armed Forces, theBundeswehr, which were created in 1956. Currently, the highest military grades in theBundeswehr aregeneral andadmiral.
TheCommander-in-Chief of theBundeswehr is, in peacetime, according to Article 65a of theBasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (constitution), thecivilianFederal Minister of Defence, who holds supreme command authority over all soldiers. In wartime, during theState of Defence, that supreme command authority is transferred to theFederal Chancellor. TheInspector General of theBundeswehr is the militarychief of defence and heads theArmed Forces Command Staff (German:Führungsstab der Streitkräfte).
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The rank of Field Marshal was first used in the northern German State ofSaxony within the Holy Roman Empire in 1631. It was then used nine further times in that century and seven times in the 18th century. It was used twice in the 19th century by theKingdom of Saxony after it became part of theGerman Empire in 1871.
The rank of Field Marshal General was first used inEthiopia in 2022. On 8 January 2022, Prime MinisterAbiy Ahmed presided over theEthiopian National Defense Force promotion ceremony, that saw the rank be introduced toBirhanu Jula,Chief of General Staff.[6][7]
The Rank of General-Field marshal (Russian: Генерал-фельдмаршал) was used in theRussian Empire until 1917 when theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, as part of the rank system being abolished as a whole, abolished it.[8] In 1935, it was reintroduced as theMarshal of the Soviet Union (Russian: Маршал Советского Союза) underJoseph Stalin, which lasted until thedissolution of the Soviet Union.[9] In 1993, with thedeclaration of the Russian Federation, it was reintroduced once more as theMarshal of the Russian Federation (Russian: Маршал Российской Федерации).[10]
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