Russian military ranks

Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch and Polish ranks upon the formation of Russian regular army in late 1600s.

Muscovy

The rulers of the Kievan Rus entities had no standing army besides permanent group of personal guards, druzhina (????????); members of the unit were called druzhinnik (??????????). In case of emergency, a militia was volunteered from the peasants and druzhina served as a core of the troops. The respective knyaz served as the military leader of the troops. Thus, there were no need in permanent ranks or postitions and they were created randomly, based on current tasks.

Related Topics:
Kievan Rus - Druzhina - Druzhinnik - Militia - Volunteer - Peasant - Knyaz

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Upon the formation of Strelets troops, the low-level commanding officers were apointed one of the following ranks:

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• strelets (????????), a basic soldier;
• desyatnik (?????????, 'of ten men'), acting as sergeant/corporal;
• sotnik (???????, 'of hundred men'), acting as captain.

These were not personal ranks and were retained only as long as the officer held the position. For battles, the troops were organized unto temporary high-level units, usually polk (????, Old Slavonic for group of troops), a regiment commanded by golova (???????, head) or voevoda (????????); these commanding positions were not permanent and did not sustain after the battle. The cossack cavalry units had their own ranks of kazak (??????), yesaul (??????) and ataman (???????); they were not comparable to the strelets ranks.

Related Topics:
Old Slavonic - Regiment - Voevoda - Cossack - Cavalry - Yesaul - Ataman

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Upon the formation of standing regiments (prikaz, later polk), new ranks were inserted in between of the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik (?????????????, of fifty men) acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment (also, tysyatskiy (?????????, 'of thousand men'). Later, a polugolova (???????????) rank was introduced; eventually golova was renamed polkovnik (??????????, regimental commander), and polugolova was renamed podpolkovnik (sub-polkovnik). As usual, voevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.

Related Topics:
Regiment - Lieutenant - Colonel - Voevoda - Commander

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At the same time, the companies of foreign mercenaries were formed; these incorporated foreign ranks of Lieutenant and Rittmeister. They were later changed into New Regiments of the Streltsy Troops and more Western ranks were adopted, including General. Finally, by 1680 the ranks of the New Regiments were unified with Strelets Troops.

Related Topics:
Companies - Mercenaries - Lieutenant - Rittmeister - New Regiments - General - 1680

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