Talk:Comparative officer ranks of World War I

Missing
The Luftwaffe was formed in WWI and there were also Austrian and Ottoman Navies. Information on these should be added if anyone knows Dainamo 21:25, 1 May 2004 (UTC)


 * Actually, the German air force remained part of the army during WWI. -- Necrothesp 22:56, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thank you, that has saved me some confusion in other areas to do with this Dainamo

The rank of Generaloberst (or "Colonel-General") in the German and Austrian armies would come between those of General and Field-Marshal in the British army. General/General, Lieutenant-General/Generalleutnant and Major-General/Generalmajor were all equivalent. The German and Austrian armies had no rank corresponding to that of Brigadier-General. Donald


 * It's generally considered that German ranks equated to one below apparently equivalent British ranks (Generalmajors usually commanded brigades, Generalleutnants commanded divisions and Generals commanded corps, one level below British Major Generals, Lieutenant Generals and Generals) and that Generaloberst equated to General in the British Army. But as with all rank equivalents, it's not an exact science. -- Necrothesp 20:58, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * 'generally considered' is not a term for an encyclopedia - what about a source???? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.183.213.15 (talk) 12:52, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

The Russian military ranks, just as their court ranks, were based on Prussian/German ranks. The list is wrong in showing a Russian Major-General to be senior to a German one, they, and the other similarly named ranks for both countries, were equivalent. This is also true for WW2. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.143.173.178 (talk) 19:53, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

translations
Is there any reason why the Russian rank names are in most cases translated (or pseudo-translated) into English but the others countries' are not? If it's just a desire to have some Latin characters in there then a transliteration would seem more appropriate.
 * I would oppose translations. 12.220.94.199 01:36, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Not sure where you're coming from here. They are transliterated, not translated. Since they were generally based on German ranks, the transliteration just doesn't look very Russian. -- Necrothesp 03:40, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Belgium and others
Here is a source for Belgium and other countries. 12.220.94.199 01:36, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Ritt baron
Rittmeister was also used (I think) by WW1 German air service; von Richthoven was Rittmeister Manfred Baron vR.

Has anybody considered a pre-WW1/historical table? Trekphiler 17:39, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Majors in the Russian Army
The rank of Major in the Russian army was discontinued in 1884! (source: uniforminsignia.net)

Lukasz-40

Air Ranks? / German Generals
Is there any particular need to include the air ranks? At the moment only the British column has them, and they're identical to the army rank - I assume that these are representing the Royal Flying Corps, and not the Royal Naval Air Service. IIRC the RAF was the first independent air service, and not until after the war - it seems to me that air ranks, if they differ, should be handled similarly to the Germanic Rittmeister rank, as an alternative within whatever branch of service the air unit is part of.

On an unrelated topic, I was under the impression that both Germany and Austria-Hungary used the form "General der [branch]", as shown in the Austro-Hungarian column. Xt828 21:40, 30 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The British Air Ranks are legitimate since the RAF was formed before the end of the war in 1918 with military ranks up to Lieutenant General. It was not until 1919 that irs current ranks were implemented. Dainamo (talk) 18:27, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Americans?
Why aren't Americans included? CsikosLo (talk) 14:53, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Why are they listed first? They were only in it at the end, they cowered & hid for the first 3 years or so. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.241.222.56 (talk) 13:47, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

So you had to get saved by cowering hiders? Ouch Venqax (talk) 04:21, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

American Ranks
Why is General of the Armies listed as a World War 1 rank? It was not created till 1919, the year after the war had ended. The 4-gold stars is not really an officially recognized insignia for the rank, either, but that is a different issue obviated by that of why is it is there to begin with. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Venqax (talk • contribs) 19:09, 16 February 2019 (UTC)

Serbian ranks
What about Serbian ranks? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.2.19.32 (talk) 12:28, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Country inclusion
Some people listed a few countries that were not included in the table (Serbia, Belgium, etc.). It seems to have been a clumsy, incomplete list that was created piecemeal. I think it makes more sense to remove the list altogether and simply state: "Not all combatant countries shown in table." I have made this change. If you feel a reversion is necessary, then please ensure that the list is complete. Otherwise it is silly to include it.Nojamus (talk) 23:14, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Aren't Enlisted Men in the Military?
Where are the enlisted ranks?

```` — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.218.100.214 (talk) 05:12, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Probably on a different table as appropriate: The title and subject is "Comparative officer ranks of World War I" (emphasis mine)Venqax (talk) 04:18, 9 June 2017 (UTC)

French General ranks
I suspect this is going to cause some reversions, but it seems pretty clear to me that General d'armee, General de corps d'armee, Amiral and Vice-amiral d'escadre did not exist in the WWI French military. Sources are regrettably both in French, but the gist is fairly easy to work out; http://www.defense.gouv.fr/bog/officiers-generaux/donnees/grades-officiers-generaux?nav=web and http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/Les-grades-dans-l-armee-de-terre.html

In particular "Général de corps d’armée : la première mention de ce grade, qui n’est encore qu’une fonction, apparaît dans la notice sur les uniformes du 17 mars 1921. Le grade est créé en 1939." Google translation: "The first mention of the grade, which was still a function, appears in the record on the uniforms of 17 March 1921. The grade is created in 1939."

RaiderAspect (talk) 12:04, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

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