User:Andrewa/List of highest military ranks

This is a list of the highest military ranks in modern armies.

To be on this list a rank must:
 * Be superior to a full (four star) General
 * Have been either proposed for or actually awarded to a particular person
 * Either:
 * Have been the highest rank in their country's armed forces for at least part of the time it was held
 * OR Would have been the highest rank had it been awarded at the time proposed

There are many factors other than rank affecting the superiority of one officer over another, including date of appointment (seniority), retirement, distinctions between operational and ceremonial appointments, particular appointments (such as captaining a ship) in the chain of command, and the relationships between regular and reserve officers. This list is concerned only with superiority of rank.

These high ranks tend to be theater ranks carrying authority across all services, but in some countries there have been two or more similtaneous highest ranks, for example the army rank of Field Marshall and the naval rank of Admiral of the Fleet, with no clear superiority one over the other. In such cases all are shown.