History of Russian military ranks

In times of war, the knyaz raised a militia comprising volunteers from the peasantry, and the druzhina served as the core of the troops.

Such arrangements did not need permanent ranks or positions; they were created ad hoc, based on the task(s) at hand.

For battles, the knyaz organized his troops into temporary high-level units, usually a polk (полк, Old Slavonic for group of troops), a regiment commanded by a golova (голова́, head) or voyevoda (воево́да, war leader); these commanding positions were not permanent and did not persist after the battle.

Upon the formation of standing regiments (prikaz, later polk) by Ivan IV, new ranks insinuated themselves into the hierarchy between the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik (пятидеся́тник, of fifty men) acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment (also, tysyatskiy (ты́сяцкий, 'of thousand men').

As usual, voyevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.

They were later changed into the New Regiments of the Streltsy Troops and more Western ranks were adopted, including General.

During the beginning of the 18th century, military ranks were frequently changed by the tsar during efforts to reform the army and create a strong Navy.

These many changes were routinely documented in the Army's Rules of engagement since 1716 until they were finally incorporated into the first variant of Table of Ranks in 1722.

In 1826, the Russian Army adopted shoulder insignia and distinct Cossack cavalry ranks.

But the need for an armed struggle against the counter-revolution, and foreign military intervention forced the CEC and the CPC, January 15, 1918, to issue a decree establishing of the "Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", very early before the disbandment of the Imperial ground forces.

However, due to a real need, first informally and then more formally (although no document on an introduction of ranks or names of commanders was issued) in official correspondence acronyms began to appear representing position-holder titles.

Most of the naval officers were addressed either by their position or by their tsarist rank with the addition of the prefix byvshiy (abbreviated as "b.

In 1942, the political commissars' service in the Red Army was finally disbanded for good, and its ranks dissolved.

On June 27, 1945, the rank of Generalissimus Sovietskogo Soyuza (Generalissimo of the Soviet Union) was created and granted to Joseph Stalin following the tradition of the Russian Imperial Army which granted to the Tsars the military rank in their capacity as Commanders-in-Chief.

At the same time all rank insignia became uniform for the Army and Air Force plus the other services, the Navy retained theirs.

The independent Russia inherited the ranks of the Soviet Union, although the insignia and uniforms were altered a little.

For example, the rank of a serviceman of a "Guards" unit, formation, or ship may be followed by the word "Guards" ("Gefreitor of Guards"); the rank of a serviceman of the legal, medical, or veterinary professions is followed by "of Justice", "of the Medical service", or "of the Veterinary service" ("Captain of the Medical Service"); and the rank of a reserve or retired serviceman is followed by the words “Reserve” or “Retired,” respectively ("Major of Reserve").

Privates, Airmen, and Seamen sport plain shoulder epaulets and the chevrons are removed for the ranks of senior NCOs and are now replaced by plain bars (small horizontal from Corporal/Senior Airman/Leading Seaman to Sergeant/Staff Sergeant/Petty Officer increasing by seniority, large horizontal for Staff Sergeants, Flight Sergeants, and Chief Petty Officers, and vertical bars for petty officers and Ship CPOs).

WO's and Officer ranks received updated shoulder rank epaulets (and for the Navy, cuff rank insignia), and all General Officer and Flag Officer rank insignia now reflecting service affiliation in the duty dress uniform (the old pattern epaulets were replaced by the army green, aerospace forces blue and navy blue epaulets (duty dress depending on service) and gold (parade dress) epaulets similar to those used in the mid-1970s by the Soviet Armed Forces).

As part of the 2008 Russian military reform, the Praporshchik (Warrant Officer) rank was effectively abolished in the Russian Armed Forces, though the rank still may be used in other uniformed services of the government such as the Interior Ministry, the Police, The Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Border Guard Service.