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Colonel

January 09, 2023

This article is about the military rank in Anglophone countries. For the equivalent rank in Slavophone armed forces, see Colonel (Eastern Europe). For the equivalent rank in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, see Oberst. For other uses, see Colonel (disambiguation).

Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service. The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank.

Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain.

History and origins

By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to Raymond Oliver, around 1500, the Spanish began explicitly reorganizing part of their army into 20 colunelas or columns of approximately 1000-1250 soldiers. Each colunela was commanded by a cabo de colunela or column head. Because they were crown units, the units were also confusingly called coronelas, and their commanders coronels.[1] Evidence of this can be seen when Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed "the Great Captain", divided his armies in coronelías, each led by a coronel (colonel), in 1508.[2]

Later, in the 16th century, the French army adopted this organizational structure, renaming colunelas regiments. Even so, they simply Gallicized colunela to the French colonel and pronounced it as written. The English then copied the unit and rank from the French. However, for reasons unknown, the English adopted the Spanish pronunciation of coronel, and after several decades of use shortened it to its current two-syllable pronuciation "kernel". Colonel is linked to the word column (from Latin: columna; Italian: colonna; French: colonne) in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade, although in English this relationship is not immediately obvious.[1]

With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the 17th 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 directly from the sovereign when a new regiment was formed or an incumbent was killed.[citation needed]

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

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'.[citation needed]

By the late 19th century, colonel had evolved to a professional military rank that was 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, as well as of corresponding titles and pay scale, than of functional office in a particular organization.[citation needed]

As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by nearly every nation (albeit under a variety of names).[citation needed]

During the 20th century, with the rise of communism, some of the large communist militaries saw fit to expand the colonel rank into several grades, resulting, for example, in the unique senior colonel rank, which was found and is still used in such nations as China and North Korea.[citation needed]

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 members' loyalty 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 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 a member of the royal family,[3] the nobility, or a retired senior military officer. 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.[4]

Colonel of the Regiment

The title Colonel of the Regiment (to distinguish it from the military rank of colonel) continues to be used in the modern British Army. The ceremonial position is often conferred on retired general officers, brigadiers or colonels who have a close link to a particular regiment. Non-military personnel, usually for positions within the Army Reserve may also be appointed to the ceremonial position. When attending functions as "Colonel of the Regiment", the titleholder wears the regimental uniform with rank insignia of (full) colonel, regardless of their official rank. A member of the Royal Family is known as a Royal Colonel. A Colonel of the Regiment is expected to work closely with a regiment and its Regimental Association.[citation needed]

Colonel by country

Insignia

Insignia of army colonels

Insignia of air force colonels

  •  
    Belgium
  •  
    Brazil (coronel)
  •  
    Canada
  •  
    Chile (coronel)
  •  
    Denmark (oberst)
  •  
    France
  •  
    Georgia (პოლკოვნიკი, polkovnik)
  •  
    Germany (oberst)
  •  
    Indonesia (kolonel)
  •  
    Italy (colonnello)
  •  
    Netherlands (kolonel)
  •  
    Philippines
    (Lakan/Coronel)
  •  
    Poland (pułkownik)
  •  
    Portugal (coronel)
  •  
    Russia (polkovnik)
  •  
    Serbia (pukovnik)
  •  
    Spain (coronel)
  •  
    Sweden (Överste)
  •  
    Taiwan
  •  
    United States

Insignia of naval infantry colonels

  •  
    Indonesia
  •  
    Israel
  •  
    Philippines
  •  
    Taiwan
  •  
    United Kingdom
  •  
    United States

Insignia of colonels of other services

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
Iceland Monaco Vatican City
Colonel CCP Colonel CSP
 
 
 
 

Other uses of colonel ranks

Further information: Colonel (disambiguation)

The term colonel is also used as a title for auctioneers in the United States; there are a variety of theories or folk etymologies to explain the use of the term.[6] One of these is the claim that during the American Civil War goods seized by armies were sold at auction by the colonel of the division.[7]

Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's Commission, by issuance of letters patent. Perhaps the best known Kentucky colonel is Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

The rank of colonel is also used by some police forces and paramilitary organizations.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Oliver, Raymond (1983). Why is the Colonel Called Kernal? (PDF). Sacramento, CA: Office of History, Sacramento Air Logistics Center. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
  2. ^ Los tercios españoles. La batalla de Pavía at militar.org.ua (in Spanish, unspecified authorship)
  3. ^ See this list of colonel-in-chief appointments held by The Prince of Wales. 2012-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ A webpage by a Scottish regiment concerning their colonel-in-chief. 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ . Suriname.nu (in Dutch). Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  6. ^ Leab, Daniel J.; Leab, Katharine Kyes (29 December 1981). The auction companion. Harper & Row. ISBN 9780060125561 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Doyle, Robert A.; Baska, Steve (November 2002), , Auctioneer, archived from the original on May 17, 2008, retrieved 2008-06-22

Bibliography

  • Keegan, John; Wheatcroft, Andrew (1996). Who's Who in Military History: From 1453 to the Present Day. London: Routledge.

External links

January 09, 2023
colonel, this, article, about, military, rank, anglophone, countries, equivalent, rank, slavophone, armed, forces, eastern, europe, equivalent, rank, austria, switzerland, germany, oberst, other, uses, disambiguation, abbreviated, senior, military, officer, ra. This article is about the military rank in Anglophone countries For the equivalent rank in Slavophone armed forces see Colonel Eastern Europe For the equivalent rank in Austria Switzerland and Germany see Oberst For other uses see Colonel disambiguation Colonel abbreviated as Col Col or COL is a senior military officer rank used in many countries It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations In the 17th 18th and 19th centuries a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army Modern usage varies greatly and in some cases the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier brigade general or brigadier general In some smaller military forces such as those of Monaco or the Vatican colonel is the highest rank Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship of the line captain In the Commonwealth s air force ranking system the equivalent rank is group captain Contents 1 History and origins 1 1 Colonel in chief 1 2 Colonel of the Regiment 2 Colonel by country 2 1 Insignia 2 1 1 Insignia of army colonels 2 1 2 Insignia of air force colonels 2 1 3 Insignia of naval infantry colonels 2 1 4 Insignia of colonels of other services 3 Colonel as highest ranking officer 4 Other uses of colonel ranks 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksHistory and origins EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message By the end of the late medieval period a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army According to Raymond Oliver around 1500 the Spanish began explicitly reorganizing part of their army into 20 colunelas or columns of approximately 1000 1250 soldiers Each colunela was commanded by a cabo de colunela or column head Because they were crown units the units were also confusingly called coronelas and their commanders coronels 1 Evidence of this can be seen when Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba nicknamed the Great Captain divided his armies in coronelias each led by a coronel colonel in 1508 2 Later in the 16th century the French army adopted this organizational structure renaming colunelas regiments Even so they simply Gallicized colunela to the French colonel and pronounced it as written The English then copied the unit and rank from the French However for reasons unknown the English adopted the Spanish pronunciation of coronel and after several decades of use shortened it to its current two syllable pronuciation kernel Colonel is linked to the word column from Latin columna Italian colonna French colonne in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade although in English this relationship is not immediately obvious 1 With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the 17th 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 directly from the sovereign when a new regiment was formed or an incumbent was killed citation needed As the office of colonel became an established practice the colonel became the senior captain in a group of companies that were all sworn to observe his personal authority to be ruled or regimented by him This regiment or governance was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules also referred to as the colonel s regiment or standing regulation s By extension the group of companies subject to a colonel s regiment in the foregoing sense came to be referred to as his regiment in the modern sense as well citation needed 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 citation needed By the late 19th century colonel had evolved to a professional military rank that was 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 as well as of corresponding titles and pay scale than of functional office in a particular organization citation needed As European military influence expanded throughout the world the rank of colonel became adopted by nearly every nation albeit under a variety of names citation needed During the 20th century with the rise of communism some of the large communist militaries saw fit to expand the colonel rank into several grades resulting for example in the unique senior colonel rank which was found and is still used in such nations as China and North Korea citation needed Colonel in chief Edit Main article Colonel in chief In many modern armies the regiment has more importance as a ceremonial unit or a focus of members loyalty 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 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 a member of the royal family 3 the nobility or a retired senior military officer 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 4 Colonel of the Regiment Edit The title Colonel of the Regiment to distinguish it from the military rank of colonel continues to be used in the modern British Army The ceremonial position is often conferred on retired general officers brigadiers or colonels who have a close link to a particular regiment Non military personnel usually for positions within the Army Reserve may also be appointed to the ceremonial position When attending functions as Colonel of the Regiment the titleholder wears the regimental uniform with rank insignia of full colonel regardless of their official rank A member of the Royal Family is known as a Royal Colonel A Colonel of the Regiment is expected to work closely with a regiment and its Regimental Association citation needed Colonel by country EditColonel Canada Colonel Eastern Europe Colonel Germanic languages Colonel India Colonel Pakistan Colonel Sri Lanka Colonel United Kingdom Colonel United States Insignia Edit Insignia of army colonels Edit Albania kolonel Angola coronel Argentina coronel Australia Bangladesh Belarus Belgium Bolivia coronel Bosnia and Herzegovina pukovnik Brazil coronel Bulgaria polkovnik Canada colonel Cape Verde coronel Chile coronel China shang xiao 上校 Colombia coronel Cuba coronel Czech Republic Plukovnik Denmark oberst Dominican Republic Ecuador coronel El Salvador coronel Equatorial Guinea coronel Finland eversti France Georgia პოლკოვნიკი polkovnik Germany oberst Greece syntagmatarchis Guatemala coronel Guayana Honduras coronel Hungary ezredes India Indonesia Iran sarhang Ireland Israel Italy colonnello Mexico coronel Monaco colonel Mongolia Hurandaa Morocco عقيد Mozambique coronel Netherlands kolonel Nicaragua coronel North Macedonia polkovnik polkovnik Norway oberst Pakistan Paraguay coronel Peru coronel Philippines Lakan Coronel Poland pulkownik Portugal coronel Romania Russia polkovnik Polkovnik Serbia pukovnik South Korea Spain coronel South Africa Syria عقيد Sri Lanka Sweden Overste Taiwan shang xiao Thailand Turkey albay Ukraine polkovnik Polkovnik United Kingdom United States Venezuela coronel Insignia of air force colonels Edit Belgium Brazil coronel Canada Chile coronel Denmark oberst France Georgia პოლკოვნიკი polkovnik Germany oberst Indonesia kolonel Italy colonnello South Korea Netherlands kolonel Philippines Lakan Coronel Poland pulkownik Portugal coronel Russia polkovnik Serbia pukovnik Spain coronel Sweden Overste Taiwan United States VenezuelaInsignia of naval infantry colonels Edit Indonesia Israel Philippines South Korea Taiwan United Kingdom United StatesInsignia of colonels of other services Edit United States Space ForceColonel as highest ranking officer EditSome 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 Antigua and Barbuda 170 personnel Costa Rica about 8 000 personnel Iceland 100 personnel employed only for peacekeeping duties Libya commands all the Armed Forces Muammar Gaddafi until 2011 Monaco two branches with a total of about 250 personnel Suriname 1 800 personnel up to 19 June 2020 5 Vatican City 110 personnel the Swiss Guard Rank insignia for a colonel in several nations which have no higher military rankIceland Monaco Vatican CityColonel CCP Colonel CSP Other uses of colonel ranks EditFurther information Colonel disambiguation The term colonel is also used as a title for auctioneers in the United States there are a variety of theories or folk etymologies to explain the use of the term 6 One of these is the claim that during the American Civil War goods seized by armies were sold at auction by the colonel of the division 7 Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community state or the nation The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel s Commission by issuance of letters patent Perhaps the best known Kentucky colonel is Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame The rank of colonel is also used by some police forces and paramilitary organizations See also EditList of comparative military ranksReferences Edit a b Oliver Raymond 1983 Why is the Colonel Called Kernal PDF Sacramento CA Office of History Sacramento Air Logistics Center p 13 Retrieved 2022 10 04 Los tercios espanoles La batalla de Pavia at militar org ua in Spanish unspecified authorship See this list of colonel in chief appointments held by The Prince of Wales Archived 2012 10 17 at the Wayback Machine A webpage by a Scottish regiment concerning their colonel in chief Archived 2007 12 19 at the Wayback Machine Minister Benschop bevorderd tot Generaal Majoor Suriname nu in Dutch Archived from the original on June 24 2020 Retrieved 14 July 2020 Leab Daniel J Leab Katharine Kyes 29 December 1981 The auction companion Harper amp Row ISBN 9780060125561 via Google Books Doyle Robert A Baska Steve November 2002 History of Auctions From ancient Rome to todays high tech auctions Auctioneer archived from the original on May 17 2008 retrieved 2008 06 22Bibliography EditKeegan John Wheatcroft Andrew 1996 Who s Who in Military History From 1453 to the Present Day London Routledge External links Edit Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Colonel amp oldid 1130766727, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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