История и эволюция воинских званий в России.

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Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of the Russian regular army in the late 17th century.

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 into Army's Rules of engagement since 1716, until they were finally incorporated into the first variant of Table of Ranks in 1722. Comparing to Strelets Troops, a few more non commissioned ranks were added, the soldier rank was replaced with many speciality ranks and a few more General ranks were added. The naval ranks were created from scratch, ranks for the naval infantry and engineers would only come in the 19th century. The officers were styled according to their rank as defined by the Table.

Although the White Movement generally retained the old imperial system, there were a few modifications. Most importantly, the ranks of praporshchik and lieutenant colonel were abolished as redundant by 1919.

In 1943, all ranks became standardized throughout the Soviet Armed Forces, with the full inclusion of Air/Arm/Branch Marshal and Air/Arm/Branch Chief Marshal ranks. All specialist ranks remaining were replaced by the 1940 standard ranks with the service name attached to them, and Private and Seaman became the basic enlisted ranks. The new Imperial Russian Armed Forces style shoulder rank insignia also debuted. From 1943 to 1961, naval ranks were adjusted to match the naval ranks of other countries. The rank of Admiral of the Fleet was introduced during the Great Patriotic War, and was the equivalent rank to Marshal of the Soviet Union that in 1955, it was renamed Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. The rank was soon revived in 1962 as a General of the Army equivalent rank in compliance to new Soviet Navy regulations for officers. On June 27, 1945, the rank of Generalissimus Sovietskogo Soyuza (Generalissimus 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. Formally it existed until 1993 but it was never used after Stalin's death. In the 1970s, the non commissioned officers serving under contract and holding Starshina (Master Sergeant) rank were reassigned to newly created Praporshchik rank (not to be confused with similarly named Russian Empire rank of commissioned officers); starshina was reserved for conscripts only. In the Soviet Navy, however, as the Midshipman rank was formally elevated to that of a warrant officer, the NCO role of Midshipmen was replaced by the new rank of Ship Chief Master Sergeant as a result of the naval rank change. At the same time all rank insignia became uniform for the Army and Air Force plus the other services, the Navy retained theirs. Generals of the Army and Admirals soon had their insignia changed in 1974. The final change was in 1981 when Senior Praporshchik and Senior Midshipman ranks were added in the ranks of warrant officers. The table of Soviet military ranks can see in military ranks of the Soviet Union or in the section below (as they were the same as present military ranks of the Russian Federation).