Colonel

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For other uses, see Colonel (disambiguation).
Common military ranks
Navies1 Armies2 Air Forces3
Admiral of
the Fleet		 Field Marshal Marshal of
the Air Force
Admiral General Air Chief Marshal
Vice Admiral Lt. General Air Marshal
Rear Admiral Major General Air Vice-Marshal
Commodore Brigadier Air Commodore
Captain Colonel Group Captain
Commander Lt. Colonel Wing Commander
Lt. Commander Major Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Captain Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant Flying Officer
Warrant Officer Sergeant Major Warrant Officer
Petty Officer Sergeant Sergeant
Leading Rate Corporal Corporal
Seaman Private Aircraftman
1 in the English-speaking world          2 also some Air Forces
3 In many Commonwealth countries

Colonel (IPA: /ˈkɜ:nəl/) is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. The rank of colonel is one of the oldest in existence, dating as far back as the time of the Roman Empire. It is also used in some police forces and other non-military rank structures.

Today, a colonel is usually a military title rated as the highest, or the second-highest field rank below the general, or "star" grades. In some small military forces, it can be the highest rank held.

Contents


[edit] History and origins

The term colonel derives from Latin columnella 'small column'. However, it was never actually a Roman rank. The system of ranks in the Roman military was quite different. As a rank the term arose in the late sixteenth century Italy where it referred to the officer in charge of a column (Italian colonna, plural colonne) or field force. The term is first attested as colonnello, but it is perhaps a truncation of something like capitano colonnello 'captain of the column, the captain designated to command the column'. In this context colonna seems to refer to a force marching in column, rather than to a battle formation — a battle or battlation of pike.

As the office of colonel became an established practice, the colonel became the senior captain in a group of companies which were all sworn to observe his personal authority — to be ruled or regimented by him. This regiment was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, his regiment or standing regulation(s). By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonel's regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well.

With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, a colonel (normally a member of the aristocracy) became a holder (German Inhaber) or proprietor of a military contract with a sovereign. The colonel purchased the regimental contract — the right to hold the regiment — from the previous holder of that right or direct from the sovereign when a new regiment was formed or an incumbent was killed.

In French usage of this period the senior colonel in the army or in a field force — the senior military contractor — was the colonel general and, in the absence of the sovereign or his designate, the colonel general might serve as the commander of a force. The position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. (The head of a single regiment or demi brigade would be called a mestre de camp or, after the Revolution, a chef de brigade.)

By the late 19th century, colonel was a professional military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. Along with other ranks it has become progressively more a matter of ranked duties, qualifications and experience and of corresponding titles and pay scale than of functional office in a particular organization.

As European military influence has expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by nearly every nation in existence under a variety of names.

With the rise of communism, some of the large Communist militaries saw fit to expand the Colonel rank into several grades, resulting in the unique senior colonel rank which was found and is still used in such nations as China and North Korea.

In modern English, the word colonel is pronounced similarly to kernel (of grain) as a result of entering the language from Middle French in two competing forms, dissimilated coronel and colonel. The more conservative spelling colonel was favored in written use and eventually became the standard spelling even as it lost out in pronunciation to coronel.

[edit] Colonel-in-Chief

Main article: Colonel-in-Chief

In many modern armies the 'regiment' has more importance as a ceremonial unit or a focus of common loyalty amongst its members, rather than as an actual battle formation. Troops tend to be deployed in 'Battalions' (commanded by a lieutenant colonel) as a more convenient size of military unit, and as such colonels have tended to have a higher profile in specialist and command roles rather than as actual commanders of regiments. However, in Commonwealth armies the position of the colonel as the figurehead of a Regiment is maintained in the honorary role of colonel-in-chief, usually held by members of the Royal Family,[1] the nobility, or retired senior military officers. The Colonel-in-Chief wears a Colonel's uniform and encourages the members of the regiment, but takes no active part in the actual command structure or in any operational duties.[2]

[edit] Colonel and equivalent ranks by country

[edit] Colonel in individual military forces

The following articles deal with the rank of colonel as it is used in various national militaries.

[edit] Eastern European equivalent ranks

Since the 16th century, the rank of regimental commander was adopted by several Central and Eastern European armies, most notably the forces of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Cossacks and then Muscovy. In countries with slavic languages, the exact name of the rank maintains a variety of spellings, all descendant from the Old Slavonic word plk or polk meaning unit of standing army (see The Tale of Igor's Campaign), and include the following:

The Hungarian equivalent ezredes literally means "leader of a thousand" (i.e. of a regiment) .

[edit] Western European equivalent ranks

[edit] Other national equivalent ranks

  • Flag of Thailand Thailand Nai Phan (TH: นายพัน) Chief of 1,000
    • Phan Ek (TH: พันเอก) First of 1,000: Colonel
    • Phan Tho (TH: พันโท) Second of 1,000: Lieutenant Colonel

[edit] Colonel as highest ranking officer

Some military forces have a colonel as their highest ranking officer, with no 'general' ranks, and no superior authority (except, perhaps, the head of state as a titular commander-in-chief) other than the respective national government. Examples include the following (arranged alphabetically by country name):

Rank insignia for a COLONEL in several nations which have no higher military rank.
Colonel
Flag of Costa Rica Costa Rica		 Colonel
Flag of Iceland Iceland		 Colonel
Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg		 Colonel CCP
Flag of Monaco Monaco		 Colonel CSP
Flag of Monaco Monaco		 Colonel
Flag of the Vatican City Vatican City

[edit] Other uses of Colonel ranks

[edit] Schutzstaffel

[edit] As a mascot

The "Colonel" is the mascot of various organisations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ See this list of colonel-in-chief appointments held by HRH The Prince of Wales.
  2. ^ A webpage by a Scottish regiment concerning their Colonel-in-Chief.