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Soviet Armed Forces
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Ranks of the Soviet Military
Military ranks of the Soviet Union
History of the Soviet Military
Military history of the Soviet Union History of Russian military ranks
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The military ranks of the Soviet Union were those introduced after the October Revolution of 1917. From then the Imperial Table of Ranks was abolished, as was the right of the pre Soviet nobility to acquire personal ranks or special rights assigned to them previously. Soviet ranks were abolished in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although modern Russian military insignia has been largely adopted from the Soviet system.

Rank Table

Chart shows ranks during the time before the collapse of the Soviet Union, circa 1980-1991.

History of Soviet Ranks

The October Revolution of 1917 cancelled the privileges of Russian nobility (Dvoryanstvo). The Table of Ranks was abolished and so were the personal military ranks. The army and the navy has returned to a system of positional ranks that were acronyms of the full position names. For example, komdiv was an acronym of Division Commander; likewise kombat was Battalion Commander, etc. These acronyms have survived as informal position names to the present day.

The personal ranks were not reintroduced until 1935, and General ranks were restored in May 1940. The ranks were based on Russian Empire military ranks, although they underwent some modifications; the modified Imperial rank insignia was reintroduced in 1943.

In the 1970s, the non-commissioned officers serving under contract and holding Starshina (Master Sergeant) rank were reassigned to newly-created Praporshchik rank (not to be confused with similarly named Russian Empire rank of commissioned officers); starshina was reserved for conscripts only.

The table of Soviet military ranks is in the section below (as they were the same as present military ranks of the Russian Federation).

Notable ranks

Two notable ranks during the era of the Soviet Union include that of Marshal of the Soviet Union, along with Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, which was a rank used by Joseph Stalin after 1943. Other notable ranks include that of Chief Marshal and that of the Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union.

Marshal of the Soviet Union

The ranks of Marshal of the Soviet Union (transliteration: Marshal Sovietskogo Soyuza) () was in practice the highest military rank of the Soviet Union. (The highest rank in theory, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, was created for Joseph Stalin and held by him alone). The rank was abolished in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and was replaced by the Marshal of the Russian Federation rank.

List of those awarded the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union:

• Kliment Voroshilov (1881-1969), appointed November 1935
• Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893-1937), appointed November 1935
• Aleksandr Yegorov (1883-1939), appointed November 1935
• Semyon Budyonny (1883-1973), appointed November 1935
• Vasily Blyukher (1890-1938), appointed November 1935
• Semyon Timoshenko (1895-1970), appointed May 1940
• Grigory Kulik (1890-1950), appointed May 1940
• Boris Shaposhnikov (1882-1945), appointed May 1940
• Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974), appointed January 1943
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895-1977), appointed February 1943
• Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), appointed March 1943
• Ivan Koniev (1897-1973), appointed February 1944
• Leonid Govorov (1897-1955), appointed June 1944
• Konstantin Rokossovsky (1896-1968), appointed June 1944 (As Konstanty Rokossowski he was also a Marshal of Poland from 1949)
• Rodion Malinovsky (1898-1967), appointed September 1944
• Fedor Tolbukhin (1894-1949), appointed September 1944
• Kirill Meretskov (1897-1968), appointed October 1944
• Lavrenty Beria (1899-1953), appointed July 1945
• Vasily Sokolovsky (1897-1968), appointed July 1946
• Nikolai Bulganin (1895-1975), appointed November 1947
• Ivan Bagramian (1897-1982), appointed March 1955
• Sergei Biriuzov (1904-64), appointed March 1955
• Andrei Grechko (1903-76), appointed March 1955
• Andrei Yeremenko (1892-1970), appointed March 1955
• Kirill Moskalenko (1902-85), appointed March 1955
• Vasily Chuikov (1900-82), appointed March 1955
• Matvei Zakharov (1898-1972), appointed May 1959
• Filipp Golikov (1900-80), appointed May 1961
• Nikolai Ivanovich Krylov (1903-72), appointed May 1962
• Ivan Yakubovsky (1912-76), appointed April 1967
• Pavel Batitsky (1910-84), appointed April 1968
• Petr Koshevoi (1904-76), appointed April 1968
• Leonid Brezhnev (1906-82), appointed May 1976
• Dmitry Ustinov (1908-84), appointed July 1976
• Viktor Kulikov (born 1921), appointed January 1977
• Nikolai Ogarkov (1917-94), appointed January 1977
• Sergei Sokolov (born 1911), appointed February 1978
• Sergei Akhromeev (1923-91), appointed March 1983
• Semyon Kurkotkin (1917-90), appointed March 1983
• Vasily Petrov (born 1917), appointed March 1983
• Dmitry Yazov (born 1924), appointed April 1990

Generalissimo of the Soviet Union

Was a rank acquired by Stalin in 1943 during World War II. It has never been used since, and could be observed as a rank similar to General of the Armies of the United States or North Korea's rank of Dae Wonsu.

Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union

Was a rank equivalent to that of Marshal of the Soviet Union in the Soviet Navy. This rank was abolised in 1991, and replaced with Fleet Admiral of the Russian Federation.

List of those awarded the rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union:

• Nikolai Kuznetsov (1902-74): Appointed March 3, 1955; demoted February 17, 1956; restored posthumously July 26, 1988
• Ivan Isakov (1894-1967): Appointed March 3, 1955
• Sergei Gorshkov (1910-88): Appointed October 28, 1967

Chief Marshal

The rank of Chief Marshal was included in five Soviet military branches; these being the Air Force, Artillery, Tank Forces, Engineer Forces, and Signal Forces. These ranks were established in 1943, but were largely restricted to the artillery and Air Force by 1984, and had ceased to be conferred in these branches as well.

List of Chief Marshals

• Chief Marshals of the Air Forces
  • Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov (1944
  • Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov (1944 - 1955)
  • Pavel Fedorovich Zhigarev (1955 - 1959)
  • Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin (1959 - 1972)
  • Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov (1972 - 1977)
  • Boris Pavlovich Bugaev (1977 - 1984)
  • Alexander Ivanovich Koldunov (1984) served as commander of air defense from 1978 to 1987
• Chief Marshals of Artillery
  • Nikolai Nikolaevich Voronov (1944-1959)
  • Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin (1959 - 1961)
  • Sergei Sergeevich Varentsov (1961 - 1983)
  • Vladimir Fedorovich Tolubko (1983 - 1984)
• Chief Marshals of Tank Forces
  • Pavel Alexeevich Rotmistrov (1962 - 1975)
  • Amazasp Khachaturovich Babadzhanian (1975 - 1984)

Rank insignia

Army

Navy

See also

• Air Force ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation
• Army ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation
• Naval ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation
• Russian military ranks

Notes

1. US Army Field Manual 100-2-3 - The Soviet Army; Troops Organisation and Equipment. June 1991.

References

• Military Ranks of Russia
• Russian military
• Field Marshals of the Soviet Union

External links

• Federal Law No. 58-FZ from March 12, 1998 "On military duty and military service" (in Russian)
• Presidential Decree No. 531 from May 8, 2005 "On military uniform, rank insignia of the servicemen and state bodies' rank isnignia" (in Russian)

• Military of the Soviet Union
• Russian military ranks
• Military ranks