Military ranks of the German Empire

Summary

The military ranks of the German Empire were the ranks used by the military of the German Empire. It inherited the various traditions and military ranks of its constituent states.

Ranks of the Imperial German Army edit

State specific insignia edit

State Bavaria Brunswick Hesse Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Prussia Saxony Württemberg
Button                
NCO sword knot
(infantry)
               
NCO sword knot
(cavalry)
               
Officer sword knot                

Cockades edit

Officer corps edit

Critics long believed that the Army's officer corps was heavily dominated by Junker aristocrats, so that commoners were shunted into low-prestige branches, such as the heavy artillery or supply. However, by the 1890s, the top ranks were opened to highly talented commoners.[1][2]

General officers / Generäle edit

Rank group General Officers
Insignia            
Rank designation Generalfeldmarschall Generaloberst mit dem
Rang als Generalfeldmarschall
Generaloberst General der Waffengattung Generalleutnant Generalmajor
(English designation) General Field Marshal Colonel General in the rank of Field Marshal Colonel General General of the branch Lieutenant General Major General

Field officers / Stabsoffiziere edit

Rank group Staff Officers
insignia      
Rank designation Oberst Oberstleutnant Major
(English designation) Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Major

Captains and subalterns / Hauptleute und Subalternoffiziere edit

Rank group Subalterns
insignia        
Rank designation Hauptmann/Kapitän I Klasse: infantry and artillery
Rittmeister I Klasse: cavalry
Hauptmann/Kapitän II Klasse: infantry and artillery
Rittmeister II Klasse: cavalry
Oberleutnant
Feuerwerksoberleutnant
Leutnant: infantry, cavalry and other arms
Feuerwerksleutnant: artillery
(English designation) Captain Staff Captain[a] 1st Lieutenant 2nd Lieutenant

Warrant officers and officer cadets edit

  • Cadet (Fahnenjunker, ranking between Sergeant and Vizefeldwebel) – served as cadets in the various military academies and schools.
  • Ensign (Fähnrich, ranking between Vize-Feldwebel and Etatmäßiger Feldwebel)
  • Deputy Officer (Offizierstellvertreter, ranking above Etatmäßiger Feldwebel)
  • Uncommissioned Lieutenant (Feldwebelleutnant, a permanent rank as youngest 2nd Lieutenant, with Lieutenant's pay, but without officer's commission and still member of the NCO's Mess until 1917, when he became eligible for the Officer's Mess)

Non-commissioned officers / Unteroffiziere edit

Rank group Unteroffizier mit Portepee Unteroffizier ohne Portepee
Collar        
Epaulette
Title Etatmäßiger feldwebel Vizefeldwebel Sergeant Unteroffizier
Cavalry/
Artillery
Etatmäßiger wachtmeister Vizewachtmeister

Enlisted (Mannschaften/Gemeine) ranks edit

Rank group Enlisted
Collar  
Epaulette
Title Kapitulant Einjährig-freiwilliger Obergefreiter Gefreiter Soldat
English designation Capitulant One-Year Volunteer Enlistee Senior Lance Corporal Lance Corporal Private

Additionally, the following voluntary enlistees were distinguished:

  • One-Year Volunteer Enlistee (Einjährig-Freiwilliger): despite the name, one-year volunteers were actually conscripts who served a short-term form of active military service, open for enlistees up to the age of 25. Such enlisted soldiers were usually high school graduates (Matura, Abitur), who would opt to serve a one-year term rather than the regular two or three-year conscription term, with free selection of their chosen military service branch and unit, but throughout were obligated to equip and subsist themselves at entirely their own cost. In today's monetary value, this could at bare minimum cost some 10,000 euro, which purposely reserved this path open to sons from mostly affluent social class families wishing to pursue the Reserve-Officer path; it was the specific intention of Wilhelm II that such Reserve-Officer career path should only be open to members of so-called "officer-material" social classes.[5] On absolving their primary recruit training, those aspiring to become Reserve-Officers would have to qualify and achieve suitability for promotion to the Gefreiter rank and then would continue to receive further specialized instruction until the end of their one-year term, usually attaining and leaving as surplus Corporals (überzählige Unteroffiziere) (Reservists), with the opportunity to advance further as reservists. Enlistees who did not aspire to officer grade would leave at the end of their one-year term as Gemeine[c] (Ordinary soldier) enlisted rank (for example Musketier or Infanterist) and a six-year reserve duty obligation.[5] Eligibility for this specific one-year path of military service was a privilege approved upon examining the enlistee's suitability and academic qualifications.
  • Long-Term Volunteer Enlistee "Capitulant" (Kapitulant): enlisted soldiers who had already absolved their regular two or three-year military conscription term and had now volunteered to continue serving for further terms, minimum was 4 years, generally up to 12 years.[7][d]

Note: Einjährig-Freiwilliger and Kapitulant were not ranks as such during this specific period of use, but voluntary military enlistee designations. They, however, wore a specific uniform distinction (twisted wool piping along their shoulder epaulette edging for Einjährig-Freiwilliger, the Kapitulant a narrow band across their lower shoulder epaulette) in the colours of their respective nation state. This distinction was never removed throughout their military service nor during any rank grade advancements.

Naval ranks and ratings edit

The Imperial German Navy's rank and rating system combined that of Prussia's with the navies of other northern states.

Commissioned officer ranks edit

The rank insignia of commissioned officers.

Rank group General / flag officers Senior officers Junior officers Officer cadet
Epaulette[9]                    
Sleeve insignia
[10][11]
                   
Großadmiral Admiral Vizeadmiral Konteradmiral Kapitän zur See/
Kommodore
Fregattenkapitän Korvettenkapitän Kapitänleutnant Oberleutnant zur See Leutnant zur See

Rank flags edit

Title Großadmiral Admiral Vizeadmiral Konteradmiral
Command flag        

Officer cadets edit

Officer training ranks
Title Oberfähnrich zur See Fähnrich zur See Seekadett
Epaulette[9]  
Sleeve      
English designation Midshipman Sea cadet Junior sea cadet

Warrant officers edit

Warrant officers
Title Deckoffiziere
als Offizier-Stellvertreter
Oberdeckoffizier Deckoffizier
Shoulder[9]      
English designation Chief Warrant Officer
as Acting Commissioned Officer.
Chief Warrant Officer Warrant Officer
Specialty designations Offizier-Stellvertreter Oberbootsmann
Obersteuermann
Oberfeuerwerker
Bootsmann
Steuermann
Feuerwerker
English designation Acting Commissioned Officer Chief Boatswain
Chief Helmsman
Chief Artificer
Boatswain
Helmsman
Artificer

Petty officers edit

Senior Petty Officers Junior Petty Officers
Title Feldwebel Vize-Feldwebel Obermaat Maat
Sleeve[9]      
English designation Chief Petty Officer 1st Class
(with additional stripe around the sleeve)
Chief Petty Officer Petty Officer 1st Class

(Chief Mate)

Petty Officer

(Mate)

Seamen edit

Seamen
Title Obermatrose Einjährig-Freiwilliger Matrose
Sleeve[9]    
English designation Seaman 1st Class Seaman Volunteer
(i.e.: Reserve Officer Candidate)
Seaman

Notes edit

  1. ^ Several German armies and national contingents, including Prussia and Bavaria, traditionally used two different captain ranks that originated with the ownership of units. By the end of the 19th century that dual-system had been gradually phased out and replaced by a single rank.
  2. ^ Duden; Origin and meaning of "Korporal", in German.[3]
  3. ^ Duden; Definition of "Gemeine", in German.[6]
  4. ^ Duden; Definition of "Kapitulant", in German.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ Ulrich Trumpener, "Junkers and Others: The Rise of Commoners in the Prussian Army, 1871–1914," Canadian Journal of History (1979) 14#1 pp 29–47
  2. ^ Dennis E. Showalter, "The Political Soldiers of Bismarck's Germany: Myths and Realities," German Studies Review (1994) 17#1 pp. 59–77 in JSTOR
  3. ^ Korporal
  4. ^ a b "Gefreiter" – Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, Erste Section, A-G, (Universal Encyclopaedia of the Sciences and Arts, First Section, A-G), Author: Johann Samuel Ersch and Johann Gottfried Gruber, Publisher: F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1852, Page 471-472, in German. [1]
  5. ^ a b Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th Edition, Volume 6, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, Page 659. in German
  6. ^ Gemeine Buchstabe Soldat
  7. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th Edition, Volume 10, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, Page 116, in German
  8. ^ Kapitulant
  9. ^ a b c d e "Dienstgrade und Uniformen." Kleinen Kreuzers “Dresden” (I). Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  10. ^ Bunkley 1918, pp. 174–175.
  11. ^ Williams 1918, p. 274.
  • Bunkley, Joel William (1918). Military and Naval Recognition Book: A Handbook on the Organization, Uniforms and Insignia of Rank of the World's Armed Forces (2nd ed.). New York: D. Van Nostrand Company. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  • Williams, Dion (1918). "XI: Uniforms and Insignia of Foreign Armies and Navies". Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia. New York, N.Y.: Frederick A. Stokes Company. pp. 216–292. Retrieved 5 July 2022.

Further reading edit

  • Kraus, Jürgen (2006). The German Army in the First World War: Uniforms and Equipment, 1914 to 1918. Militaria Verlag. ISBN 978-3950164268.
  • Somers, Johan (2004). Imperial German Field Uniforms And Equipment 1907-1918, Volume 2. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0764322624.
  • Somers, Johan (2007). Imperial German Field Uniforms And Equipment 1907-1918, Volume 3. Schiffer Military History. ISBN 978-0764327780.
  • Woolley, Charles (1999). Uniforms & Equipment of the Imperial German Army 1900-1918. Schiffer Military History. ISBN 978-0764309359.

External links edit

  • Die Uniformen der Deutschen Armee II (in German). Leipzig: Verlag von Moritz Ruhl. 1899. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  • Plates illustrating the New German field service uniform of the Prussian army. London: General Staff, War Office. 1916. Retrieved 14 October 2023.