Imperial Russian Army Ranks

[Alexandra]

I stumbled upon this thread only recently, so I hope that it is not too late to request some help.

Could anyone help me to identify what the various army ranks are called in French? Since many of the sources I use are in that language, and do not always provide the Russian equivalent, any information would be most appreciated. As well, I recently read about a rank called 'capitaine en second' or 'iessaul,' which I can't sort out at all.

Thank you!

Alexandra

[Mike]

'iessaul

Yesaul was a cossack officer rank, equivalent to captain.

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Mike. My dictionaries were of no help at all on that one.

Alexandra

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

I was wondering about the army rank Штер-кригскомиссар (Grade V), which existed untill 1868. I understand that the last bit is German Kriegskommisar, War Commissioner, but what about Штеp, Shtyer? What does it mean in Russian?
Thanks!

[Mike]

Штеp means nothing in Russian. The name assigned to this rank was a curious result of misunderstanding and poor knowledge of German. The rank was initially (apparently in 1730s) named Оберштеркригскомиссар = Oberster Kriegs-Kommissar. It was then transformed by some clerk or official to Обер-штер-кригскомиссар and, when it was decided to split it into two ranks, the higher one was left without change, while the new lower rank was created by truncating the widely used and understood prefix Обер. Customarily at that time, the monarch - Anna or Elisabeth - signed the corresponding decree without even reading it, and then nobody ever wished to touch this - in any case quite insignificant - subject.

[Nicola De Valeron]

I was wondering about the army rank Штер-кригскомиссар (Grade V), which existed untill 1868. I understand that the last bit is German Kriegskommisar, War Commissioner, but what about Штеp, Shtyer? What does it mean in Russian?
Thanks!

Feodor, it's very easy and nothing from the Soviet Commisars here;).

"Kriegskommisar" was not a rank, but post or functionary title and common name of a military functionaries who were responsible for supplying the troops and different military institutions with money, clothing, military equipment, guns, first aid, etc. Something like a military supplies officer/state functionary, but with little addition of great abilities for any typical Russian "corrupt practices". Word "Styer" here means that this man has the V's rank in the Table of Ranks. That's why: "Shtyer-Kriegskommisar".

Of course during Alexander II (maybe the most bright times of Russia) in 1868 a lot of these endless and totally corrupted positions were removed.

[Mike]

it's very easy ..."Kriegskommisar" was not a rank... Word "Styer" here means

It's not "very easy", it's not even just "easy", it's quite a difficult question - the right answer to which is not readily available.
Various ranks of Kriegskommisars were official ranks listed in the Table of Ranks until 1884.
So, what exactly does the word "Styer", or "штер", mean and in what language?

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Thanks, guys! That's an incredible explanation, Mike, but I too believe it to be true, because Ster, steer or stehr doesn't mean anything in German either. (Stier means "bull", but is pronounced /sti:r/, like in the English cognate "steer".)

Yes, Nicolá, I can well imagine that being an actual Штер-кригскомиссар was a perfect position from which to enrich yourself by taking bribes from suppliers and outright stealing from the soldiers' rations! Isn't that something Tolstoy complains about in "War and Peace"?

We had krigskommissære in rankocratic, absolutist Denmark-Norway too. (Both Baron Holger Rosenkrantz, who built Rosendal Castle outside Bergen - Norway's only barony, and Joachim Christian Geelmuyden Gyldenkrantz, who built Damsgård Manor here in Bergen - Europe's most splendid wooden Roccocco building, were both generalkrigskommissære. One can speculate where the building funds came from....... BTW Geelmuyden (ennobled as Gyldenkrantz = Golden Wreath) was "Actual Generalkriegskommissær", but as he was a merchant and General Customs Administrator and first received the title of "Titular Generalkriegskommissær", I'm not sure if his title actually was "actual" and not just a honorific! Makes you wonder who then might have been "Actual Actual Generalkrigskommissær"!? Ah, the joys of absolutist rankocracies......) And it turns out the office of Norwegian generalkrigskommissær wasn't abolished untill 1990! Had I been 10 years older, I would have received my army draft not from some mundane Conscription Office but from a Generalkrigskommissær!

And when considering the very wide responsibilities of a typical absolutist Generalkriegskommissariat: To recruit or conscript the army, raise funds for the army, supply the army with weapons, food and clothing, maintain dicipline, transport the army etc., it's no wonder that the Prussian Generalkriegskommissariat became part of the infamous Prussian General-Ober-Finanz-Kriegs- und Domainen-Direktorium! If Prussia was an army with a country, then the Generalkriegskommissariat was pretty much its actual government!

[JamesAPrattIII]

The site overthefront.com has a listing of WW I ranks of the various nations involved and listings of some military terminolgy of the period.

[Kalafrana]

We  had a Military Commissariat Corps and Commissaries in the British Army in the 19th century as well, a precursor of what is now the Royal Logistic Corps.

Ann