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General officer

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Military rank

"General" redirects here. For other uses, seeGeneral (disambiguation).

"Generale" redirects here. For the 1978 song, seeGenerale (song).

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Comparative military ranks

General officers,Flag officers,Air officers
	Armies, air forces (non-Commonwealth)	Navies, coast guards	Air forces (Commonwealth system)
	Marshal or field marshal	Admiral of the fleet	Marshal of the air force
	General or colonel general or army general	Admiral	Air chief marshal
	Lieutenant general or army corps general	Vice admiral	Air marshal
	Major general or divisional general	Rear admiral or counter admiral	Air vice-marshal
	Brigadier or brigadier general	Commodore or flotilla admiral	Air commodore
Senior officers
	Colonel	(Ship-of-the-line) Captain	Group captain
	Lieutenant colonel	Commander or frigate captain	Wing commander
	Major or commandant	Lieutenant commander orcorvette captain	Squadron leader
Junior officers
	Captain	Lieutenant	Flight lieutenant
	First lieutenant or lieutenant	Lieutenant junior grade or sub-lieutenant	Flying officer
	Second lieutenant or junior lieutenant	Ensign or midshipman	Pilot officer
Senior NCOs
	Warrant officer or sergeant major	Warrant officer or chief petty officer	Warrant officer
Junior NCOs
	Sergeant	Petty officer	Sergeant
	Corporal or bombardier	Leading seaman	Corporal
Enlisted ranks
	Lance corporal or Lance bombardier or specialist	Able seaman	Leading aircraftman or Air specialist
	Private or gunner or trooper or Sepoy or sapper	Seaman	Aircraftman or airman or aviator

Ageneral officer is anofficer of high rank in thearmies, and in some nations'air andspace forces,marines ornaval infantry.^[a]

In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank abovecolonel.^[1]

The adjectivegeneral had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction.

French Revolutionary system

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For more information, seeGénéral.

Marshal orCaptain general

Army general

Corps general

Divisional general

Brigade general

Arab system

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Rank	Transliteration	Translation	Notes
مشير	Mushīr	Counsellor	compareCounsellor of State,State Counsellor etc. compareetymology"mushir" with"shura"
فريق أول	Fariq 'awal	First general	equivalent to Commonwealth "full" general
فريق	Fariq	General	equivalent tolieutenant general orcorps general
لواء	liwāʾ	Ensign	(more loosely "flag officer" or "banner")
عميد	ʿamīd	Colonel (not to be confused withaqīd, the equivalent rank to a Commonwealth colonel)	compareetymology with "ʿamood" ("column"); etymologically, translates as "colonel" but equivalent tobrigadier/brigade general

Other variations

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Other nomenclatures for general officers include the titles and ranks:

Adjutant general
Commandant-general
Inspector general
General-in-chief
General of the Air Force (USAF only)
General of the Armies of the United States (of America), a title created for GeneralJohn J. Pershing, and subsequently granted posthumously toGeorge Washington andUlysses S. Grant
Generaladmiral ("general admiral") (German Navy)
Air general and aviation general
Wing general and group general
General-potpukovnik (transl. Lieutenant colonel general, a Serb/Slovenian/Macedonian rank immediately inferior to colonel general, and roughly equivalent to Commonwealth/US major general)
Director general (a common administrative term sometimes used as an appointment in military services)
Director general of national defence (most senior rank in the Mexican Armed Forces)
Controller general (general officer rank in theFrench National Police)
Prefect general (the most senior rank of theArgentine Naval Prefecture)
Master-General of the Ordnance (very senior British military position)
Police General (most senior rank in some national police)
Commissioner (highest rank of theBureau of Immigration)

In addition to militarily educated generals, there are also generals in medicine and engineering. The rank of the most senior chaplain, (chaplain general), is also usually considered to be a general officer rank.

Specific rank of general

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In the old European system, a general, without prefix or suffix (and sometimes referred to informally as a "full general"), is usually the most senior type of general, abovelieutenant general and directly belowfield marshal as afour-star rank (NATO OF-9).

Usually it is the most senior peacetime rank, with more senior ranks (for example, field marshal, marshal of the air force, fleet admiral) being used only in wartime or as honorary titles.

In some armies, however, the rank ofcaptain general,army general orcolonel general occupied or occupies this position. Depending on circumstances and the army in question, these ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a "full" general or to a field marshalfive-star rank (NATO OF-10).

The rank of general came about as a "captain-general", the captain of an army in general (i.e., the whole army). The rank of captain-general began appearing around the time of the organisation of professional armies in the 17th century. In most countries "captain-general" contracted to just "general".

General ranks by country

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The following articles deal with the rank of general, or its equivalent, as it is or was employed in the militaries of those countries:

General (Australia)
General (Bangladesh)
General (Canada)
Shangjiang (China) – People's Republic of China (PRC) and Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan)
General (Denmark),General
General (Estonia),Kindral
General (Finland),Kenraali
General (Germany),General
Strategos (Greece)
General (India)
Daejang (North and South Korea)
General (Mexico)
General (Nigeria)
General (Pakistan)
General (Poland),Generał
General (Sri Lanka)
General (Sweden),General
General (Switzerland)
General (United Kingdom)
General (United States)
General (Yugoslav People's Army)

Air force and naval equivalents

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Some countries (such as the United States) use the general officer ranks for both thearmy and theair force, as well as theirmarine corps; other states only use the general officer ranks for the army, while in the air force they useair officers as the equivalent of general officers. They use the air force rank ofair chief marshal as the equivalent of the specific army rank of general. This latter group includes the BritishRoyal Air Force and many current and former Commonwealth air forces—e.g.Royal Australian Air Force,Indian Air Force,Royal New Zealand Air Force,Nigerian Air Force,Pakistan Air Force, etc.

In mostnavies,flag officers are the equivalent of general officers, and the naval rank ofadmiral is equivalent to the specific army rank of general. A noteworthy historical exception was theCromwellian naval rank "general at sea". In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to useflag officer andflag rank to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively.

Notes

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^WithinNATO rank structure, all branches (navy included) are referred to as general officers. In the United States, General Officers authorized to display a flag showing their rank are also called "flag officers". Refer:"Flag officer".Merriam-Webster. Archived fromthe original on September 10, 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}. In other usages the term "flag officer" usually applies to naval ranks such asadmiral,vice-admiral, orrear-admiral.

References

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External links

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Look upgeneral officer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Generals of World War II
Schema-root.org: US Generals News feeds for US Generals in the news
Marines.mil: General Officer Biographies Archived 2008-03-18 at theWayback Machine Biographies of US Marine Corps General Officers
Bios & Information on Generals of Western History Information on 10 Generals who influenced Western History

Military ranks and insignia by country

List of comparative military ranks

Africa

Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros DR Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
States with limited recognition	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland
Former	People's Republic of Angola Biafra Bophuthatswana Ciskei Kingdom of Egypt Ethiopian Empire Katanga People's Republic of Mozambique Rhodesia South West Africa Transkei Venda Zaire
Comparative	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted Apartheid States in Southern Africa

Americas

Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Officers: Army Navy Air Force Coast Guard Enlisted: Army Navy Air Force Coast Guard Other: Marine Corps Space Force Warrant officer Opposing forces Uruguay Venezuela
Former	Canada (pre-Unification) Confederate States of America Union Army Navy Costa Rica Republic of Cuba Empire of Brazil Panama Republic of Texas Army Navy United States Army enlisted World War I World War II
Comparative	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted

Asia

Afghanistan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia PR of China Army Navy Air Force Rocket Force Aerospace Force Cyberspace Force Information Support Force Joint Logistics Support Force Armed Police China Coast Guard India Army Air Force Navy Coast Guard Border Roads Organisation Paramilitary forces Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Korea North South Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Army Navy Air Force Marines Civil Armed Forces Maritime Security Agency Philippines Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Army Navy Air Force Coast Guard Syria Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan (Republic of China)
Former	Artsakh China Empire Republic (1912–1949) Dutch East Indies East Turkestan (Second Republic) People's Republic of Kampuchea Imperial Iran Imperial Japan Army Navy Korea Empire Liberation Army Kingdom of Laos Manchukuo Mengjiang Mongolian People's Republic Tibet Tuva Vietnam State South South Yemen
Comparative	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted

Europe

Albania Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Army Navy Air Force Home Guard Estonia Finland France Army Navy Gendarmerie Air and Space Force Foresters Germany Georgia Greece Hungary Iceland Land Forces Coast Guard Ireland Italy Army Navy Air Force Carabinieri Finance Guard Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg North Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Army Navy Air Force Cossacks Between 1994 and 2010 San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Officers: Army Navy Air Force Other: Army Navy Air Force Vatican
States with limited recognition	Kosovo Northern Cyprus Transnistria
Former	Albania Kingdom People's Socialist Republic Austria–Hungary Army Navy Bulgaria Kingdom People's Republic Independent State of Croatia Czechoslovakia German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany Army Navy Air Force East Germany Kingdom of Greece Army Navy Air Force France Napoleonic Grand Army Hungary Kingdom People's Republic Italy Kingdom Social Republic Ottoman Empire Polish People's Republic Republika Srpska Romania Kingdom Socialist Republic Russian Empire White Movement Slovakia (First Republic) Soviet Union 1918–35 1935–40 1940–43 1943–55 1955–91 Spain 2nd Republic State Yugoslavia Kingdom Socialist Federal Republic Federal Republic
Comparative	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted

Oceania

Australia Fiji New Zealand Papua New Guinea Tonga Vanuatu
Comparative	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted

Language

Anglophone	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted
Arabophone	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted
Francophone	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted Gendarmerie Officers Enlisted
Hispanophone	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted
Lusophone	Army Officers Enlisted Navy Officers Enlisted Air force Officers Enlisted Military police Officers Enlisted

Post-Soviet states

Commonwealth of Nations

European Union

NATO

Comparative ranks of

v t e Star officer grades
General officer Flag officer Air officer
By star ranks	Six-star rank(proposed) Five-star rank Four-star rank Three-star rank Two-star rank One-star rank
By titles	Generalissimo Generalissimo of the Soviet Union Supreme Allied Commander Admiral of the Navy General of the Armies Generalfeldmarschall Field marshal Mareşal Marshal of the air force Marshal of the Russian Federation Marshal of the Soviet Union Mushir/Müşir Caudillo Magister militum Spāhbed Ispahsalar Beylerbey Constable of France Grand Domestic Dux bellorum Grand marshal Hetman Jenderal besar Reichsmarschall Sardar Serasker Strategos autokrator First marshal of the empire Dai-gensui Taewonsu Wonsu Yuan shuai /Da yuan shuai Field Marshal /Marshal of Yugoslavia Marshal