![]() Foot soldiers were organized into heavy infantry phalanxes called phalangites. With the rise of Macedonia under Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the Greek military became professional, tactics became more sophisticated and additional levels of ranking developed. Following further specialization, the naval strategos was replaced by a nauarchos, a sea officer equating to an admiral. Specifically, the kybernètès was the helmsman, the keleustēs managed the rowing speed, and the trièraulès was the flute player who maintained the strike rate for the oarsmen. ![]() Moreover, as in modern navies, the different tasks associated with running a ship were delegated to different subordinates. Under them, each warship was commanded by a trièrarchos or trierarch, a word which originally meant " trireme officer" but persisted when other types of vessels came into use. Once Athens became a naval power, the top generals of the land armies had authority over the naval fleets as well. Heavily armed foot soldiers were called hoplitès or hoplites and a hoplomachos was a drill or weapons instructor. ![]() The rank and file of the military in most of the Greek city states was composed of ordinary citizens. A Greek cavalry company was led by a tetrarchès or tetrarch. The unit was split into two and led by two hipparchos or hipparch, but Spartan cavalry was led by a hipparmostes. Next was the lokhagos, an officer who led an infantry unit called a lokhos that consisted of roughly a hundred men, much the same as in a modern company led by a captain.Ī Greek cavalry ( hippikon) regiment was called a hipparchia and was commanded by an epihipparch. The rank was roughly equivalent to the legatus of a Roman legion. Below him was the tagmatarches, a commanding officer of a tagma (near to the modern battalion). Below this was the syntagmatarchis, which can be translated as "leader of a regiment" ( syntagma) and was therefore like a modern colonel. In Sparta, however, the title was " polemarchos". The rank that was subordinate to a top general was a taxiarchos or taxiarhos, something akin to the modern brigadier. Particular assignments might have been given to individual generals inevitably there was a regular division of responsibilities. However, a basic form of democracy was in effect: for example, at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the generals determined the battle plan by majority vote. The ten generals were equal to one another there was no hierarchy among them. Originally these generals worked together with the old polemarchos ("warlord") but over time the latter figure was absorbed into the generalship: each of the ten generals would rotate as polemarch for one day, and during this day his vote would serve as tie-breaker if necessary. Strategos means "army leader" and is usually translated as " general". Communist states have sometimes abolished ranks (e.g., the Soviet Red Army 1918–1935, the Chinese People's Liberation Army 1965–1988, and the Albanian People's Army 1966–1991 ), but they had to re-establish them after encountering operational difficulties of command and control.įrom 501 BC, the Athenians annually elected ten individuals to the rank of strategos, one for each of the ten "tribes" that had been created with the founding of the democracy. Within modern armed forces, the use of ranks is almost universal. As rank increases, pay-grade follows, but so does the amount of responsibility. Rank is not only used to designate leadership, but to establish pay-grade as well. As time went on and military operations became larger and more complex, military ranks increased and the ranking systems themselves became more complex. Ranking systems have been known for most of military history to be advantageous for military operations, in particular with regards to logistics, command, and coordination. Uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms on a number of countries. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command-the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. A poster showing the rank insignia of the officers of several armed forces at the time of the Second World War.
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