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A General Officer is an officer of high Military Rank . The term is used by nearly every country in the world. General may be a rank on its own or can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer. The various grades of general officer are at the top of the rank structure, but in some countries the highest general officers are titled Field Marshal or Marshal . 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 organization of professional armies in the 17th Century . In most countries " Captain-General " contracted to just "General". General was also added as an adjective to existing names of ranks, yielding Colonel General , Lieutenant General and Sergeant Major General . Other terms then came about such as lieutenant-general, i.e. lieutenant (assistant leader) over the army in general. All officers who commanded more than a single Regiment (the most significant level of unit) came to be known as a "general officer". General officer ranks often include the word "general", e.g. Major-general , but not always, e.g. Brigadier . While historically an Army rank, General is also used in many Air Force s, although many air forces are based on the British Royal Air Force system (e.g. UK, India , Pakistan , New Zealand , Nigeria etc.) and use Air Marshal instead, with Air Officer being the generic title for general officers in these air forces. In most Navies of the world, the equivalent rank is Admiral and the generic term is Flag Officer ; however a noteworthy historical exception was the Cromwellian naval rank ''General at sea''. In recent years in the American service there is a tendency to use "Flag Officer" and "Flag Rank" to refer to generals and admirals of the services collectively. GENERAL OFFICER RANKS Common systems There are two common systems of using general ranks. One form, used in the United Kingdom , eventually spread to the Commonwealth and the United States . The system is not particularly British in origin, and variations of this system were once used throughout Europe. Some variations use a Brigadier rank, others use no Brigadier rank and add a Colonel General rank. The other is an ostensibly more logical derived from the French Revolution , where generals' ranks are named according to the unit they (theoretically) command. Old European system This system uses five ranks: either brigadier rank and no colonel general rank, or colonel general rank and no brigadier rank. (i.e. Excluding one of the italicised ranks.) French (Revolutionary) system In the old system, a General, without prefix or suffix (and sometimes referred to informally as a "full general"), is usually the most senior general officer rank, above Lieutenant General . In some armies, however, the rank of Captain General , General of the Army, Army General or Colonel General occupied or occupies this position. These ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a full General or to a Field Marshal, depending on the army in question. In some nations (particularly in the Commonwealth ), the equivalent to Brigadier General is Brigadier , which is not always considered by these armies to be a general officer rank ''a part entiere'', although it is always treated as equivalent to the rank of Brigadier General for comparative purposes. Other versions Other versions of general include:
GENERAL RANKS BY COUNTRY The following articles deal with the rank of General as it is employed in the militaries of various countries.
GENERAL EQUIVALENT RANKS
OTHER GENERAL RANKS SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
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