Field marshal (Russian Empire)

Field marshal (General-feldmarshal, General-fel'dmarshal, General field marshal, or simply Fieldmarshal; Russian: Генерал-фельдмаршал) was, with the exception of Generalissimo, the highest military rank of the Russian Empire. It was a military rank of the 1st class in the Imperial Russian Army and equal to those of Chancellor and Active Privy Councillor, 1st class in civil service, and General Admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy.[1][2][3] After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the rank was abolished, alongside the Table of Ranks. In 1935 however, the Red Army introduced the equivalent rank of "Marshal of the Soviet Union" (Russian: Маршал Советского Союза) as the highest military rank of the Soviet Union, when ranks were restored under Stalin's rule.

The Field Marshals' Hall of the Winter Palace. Russian cuirassiers can be seen observing the paintings.
Uniform of a Russian General-feldmarshal (1793).

Russian field marshals

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The rank of field marshal was bestowed on the following 64 Imperial Russian Army officers:[4]

Appointed Portrait Name Lifespan
1700 Count Fyodor Golovin 1650–1706
1701 Count Boris Sheremetev 1652–1719
1709 Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov 1673–1729
1725 Prince Anikita Repnin 1668–1726
1725 Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn 1675–1730
1726 Count Jacob Bruce 1670–1735
1726 Jan Kazimierz Sapieha Before 1679–1730
1728 Prince Ivan Trubetskoy 1667–1750
1728 Prince Vasily Vladimirovich Dolgorukov 1667–1746
1732 Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich 1683–1767
1736 Count Peter von Lacy 1678–1751
1742 Prince Ludwig Gruno von Hesse-Homburg 1705–1745
1756 Stepan Apraksin 1702–1758
1756 Prince Nikita Trubetskoy 1699–1767
1756 Count Alexander Buturlin 1694–1767
1756 Count Alexei Razumovsky 1709–1771
1759 Count Pyotr Saltykov 1698–1772
1761 Count Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov 1710–1771
1761 Count Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov 1711–1762
1761 Peter August Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck 1697–1775
1762 Prince Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp 1719–1763
1762 Count Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin 1693–1766
1762 Prince Nikita Trubetskoy 1699–1769
1764 Count Kirill Razumovsky 1728–1803
1769 Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn 1718–1783
1770 Count Pyotr Rumyantsev 1725–1796
1773 Count Zakhar Chernyshev 1722–1784
1784 Prince Grigory Potemkin 1739–1791
1794 Prince Aleksandr Suvorov 1729–1800
1796 Count Ivan Saltykov 1730–1805
1796 Prince Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin 1734–1801
1796 Prince Nikolai Saltykov 1736–1816
1796 Count Ivan Chernyshyov 1726–1797
1797 Count Johann Martin von Elmpt 1725–1802
1797 Count Valentin Musin-Pushkin 1735–1804
1797 Count Mikhail Kamensky 1738–1809
1797 Victor François de Broglie, 2nd Duke of Broglie 1718–1804
1807 Prince Alexander Prozorovsky 1732–1809
1807 Count Ivan Gudovich 1741–1820
1812 Prince Mikhail Golenischev-Kutuzov 1745–1813
1814 Prince Mikhail Barclay de Tolly 1761–1818
1825 Prince Fabian Gottlieb von der Osten-Sacken 1752–1837
1826 Ludwig Adolph Peter, Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg 1769–1843
1829 Prince Ivan Paskevich 1782–1856
1829 Count Hans Karl von Diebitsch-Zabalkansky 1785–1831
1850 Prince Pyotr Volkonsky 1776–1852
1856 Prince Mikhail Vorontsov 1782–1856
1859 Prince Aleksandr Baryatinsky 1815–1879
1866 Count Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg 1793–1874
1878 Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich 1831–1891
1878 Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich 1832–1909
1894 Count Iosif Vladimirovich Gurko 1828–1901
1898 Count Dmitry Milyutin 1816–1912

Foreign field marshals

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The rank of field marshal was also bestowed on several foreign citizens:

Epaulette of Field marshal of Russian Vyborg 85th Infantry Regiment of German Emperor Wilhelm II
Epaulette of Field marshal of Russian Vologda 18th Infantry Regiment of Romanian King Carol I
Uniform of Field marshal of Russian 15th Firing Regiment of Montenegrin King Nicholas I
Appointed Portrait Name Lifespan
1700 Holy Roman Empire Charles Eugène, Duc de Croy 1651–1702
1762 Schleswig-Holstein Charles Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck 1690–1774
1774 Hesse Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt 1719–1790
1818[5] United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 1769–1852
1836 Austrian Empire Josef Graf zu Radetzky von Radetz 1766–1858
1837 Austrian Empire Archduke Johann of Austria 1782–1859
1872 German Empire Helmuth Graf von Moltke 1800–1891
1872 Austria-Hungary Archduke Albrecht of Austria 1817–1895
1872 German Empire Albert, Crown Prince of Saxony 1828–1902
1872 German Empire Prince Friedrich Karl Alexander of Prussia 1801–1883
1872 German Empire Prince Friedrich Karl Nikolaus of Prussia 1828–1885
1872 German Empire Prince Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht of Prussia 1809–1872
1872 German Empire Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia 1831–1888
1888[6] German Empire Wilhelm II, German Emperor 1859–1941
1910 Kingdom of Montenegro King Nicholas I of Montenegro 1841–1921
1912 Kingdom of Romania King Carol I of Romania 1839–1914

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Segrillo, Angelo (November 2016). "A First Complete Translation into English of Peter the Great's Original Table of Ranks: Observations on the Occurrence of a Black Hole in the Translation of Russian Historical Documents" (PDF). lea.vitis.uspnet.usp.br.
  2. ^ "Table of Ranks". Global Security. globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Peter the Great's Table of Ranks". The University of Virginia. faculty.virginia.edu. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. ^ (in Russian) Генерал-фельдмаршалы Российской империи
  5. ^ James William Edmund Doyle (1886). "Wellington". The Official Baronage of England: Showing the Succession, Dignities, and Offices of Every Peer from 1066 to 1885. Vol. 3. London: Longmans Green and Co. pp. 615–620.
  6. ^ Полное собрание законов Российской Империи. Собрание третье. Том VIII: 1888 год (Приказы № 4933–5685). Приказ №5356 от 14 июня 1888 года.