Military ranks of the German Empire

The military ranks of the German Empire were the ranks used by the military of the German Empire. It inherited the various traditions and military ranks of its constituent states.

Ranks of the Imperial German Army

The German Army from 1871 to 1914 inherited the various traditions and military ranks of its constituent states, thus becoming a truly federal armed service.

Enlisted (Mannschaften/Gemeine) ranks

• Musketeer (Musketier, Prussian army infantry regiments), Infantryman (Infanterist, Bavarian army infantry regiments), Soldier (Soldat, Saxon army infantry regiments), Gunner (Kanonier, foot artillery), Pioneer (Pionier, pioneer branch). Other unit-specific enlisted ranks were: Fusilier (Füsilier), Grenadier (Grenadier), Huntsman otherwise Light-Infantryman (Jäger), Dragoon (Dragoner), Hussar (Husar), Cuirassier (Kürassier), Uhlan (Ulan), Fusilier Guard (Garde-Füsilier), Grenadier Guard (Garde-Grenadier), etc.
• Lance Corporal (Gefreiter); up until 1918 the only rank (with exception of Obergefreiter in the foot artillery) to which an enlisted soldier could be promoted, the rank was a deputy rank to the Corporal (Unteroffizier)[lower-alpha 1] rank.[2]
• Senior Lance Corporal (Obergefreiter); established in the Prussian Army from 1846 to 1853, reestablished in 1859, then in foot artillery only, replacing the artillery Bombardier rank that had been introduced in 1730.[2]

Additionally, the following voluntary enlistees were distinguished:

• One-Year Volunteer Enlistee (Einjährig-Freiwilliger): despite the name, one-year volunteers were actually conscripts who served a short-term form of active military service, open for enlistees up to the age of 25. Such enlisted soldiers were usually high school graduates (Matura, Abitur), who would opt to serve a one-year term rather than the regular two or three-year conscription term, with free selection of their chosen military service branch and unit, but throughout were obligated to equip and subsist themselves at entirely their own cost. In today's monetary value, this could at bare minimum cost some 10,000 euro, which purposely reserved this path open to officer-material sons from mostly affluent social class families wishing to pursue the Reserve-Officer path; it was the specific intention of Wilhelm II that such Reserve-Officer career path should only be open to members of so-called "officer-material" social classes.[3] On absolving their primary recruit training and shorter military service term, those aspiring to become Reserve-Officers would have to qualify and achieve suitability for promotion to the Gefreiter rank and then would continue to receive further specialized instruction until the end of their one-year term, usually attaining and leaving as surplus Corporals (überzählige Unteroffiziere) (Reservists), with the opportunity to advance further as reservists. Enlistees who did not aspire to officer grade would leave at the end of their one-year term as Gemeine[lower-alpha 2] (Ordinary soldier) enlisted rank (for example Musketier or Infanterist) and a six-year reserve duty obligation.[3] Eligibility for this specific one-year path of military service was a privilege approved upon examining the enlistee's suitability and academic qualifications.
• Long-Term Volunteer Enlistee "Capitulant" (Kapitulant): enlisted soldiers who had already absolved their regular two or three-year military conscription term and had now volunteered to continue serving for further terms, minimum was 4 years, generally up to 12 years.[5][lower-alpha 3]

Note: Einjährig-Freiwilliger and Kapitulant were not ranks as such during this specific period of use, but voluntary military enlistee designations. They, however, wore a specific uniform distinction (twisted wool piping along their shoulder epaulette edging for Einjährig-Freiwilliger, the Kapitulant a narrow band across their lower shoulder epaulette) in the colours of their respective nation state. This distinction was never removed throughout their military service nor during any rank grade advancements.

Non-commissioned officers / Unteroffiziere

Late WWI uniform of the 73rd Fusilier Regiment at the Imperial War Museum in London

Junior NCOs (NCOs without Sword Knot) / Unteroffizier ohne Portepee

• Corporal/Sub-Officer (Unteroffizier)
• Sergeant

Senior NCOs (NCOs with Sword Knot) / Unteroffizier mit Portepee

• Sergeant Major 2nd class (Infantry: Vice-Feldwebel, Cavalry and Artillery: Vizewachtmeister/Vice-Wachtmeister) – rank held by reserve officer candidates after they passed lieutenant's examination
• Sergeant-Major (Infantry: Feldwebel (i.e. Etatmäßiger Feldwebel: CSM officially listed on the regiment's payroll, i.e. Etat), Cavalry and Artillery: (Etatmäßiger) Wachtmeister)

Warrant Officers and Officer Cadets

• Cadet (Fahnenjunker, ranking between Sergeant and Vizefeldwebel) – served as cadets in the various military academies and schools.
• Ensign (Fähnrich, ranking between Vize-Feldwebel and Etatmäßiger Feldwebel)
• Deputy Officer (Offizierstellvertreter, ranking above Etatmäßiger Feldwebel)
• Acting Lieutenant (Feldwebelleutnant, ranking as youngest 2nd Lieutenant, but without officer's commission and still member of the NCO's Mess until 1917)

Officer corps

Critics long believed that the Army's officer corps was heavily dominated by Junker aristocrats, so that commoners were shunted into low-prestige branches, such as the heavy artillery or supply. However, by the 1890s, the top ranks were opened to highly talented commoners.[7][8]

Subalterns / Subalternoffiziere

Designation		Subalterns
Rank insignia	Shoulder
Rank designation		Hauptmann/Kapitän I Klasse: infantry and artillery Rittmeister I Klasse: cavalry	Hauptmann/Kapitän II Klasse: infantry and artillery Rittmeister II Klasse: cavalry	Oberleutnant Feuerwerksoberleutnant	Leutnant: infantry, cavalry and other arms Feuerwerksleutnant: artillery
(English designation)		Captain	Staff Captain[lower-alpha 4]	1st Lieutenant	2nd Lieutenant

Staff Officers / Stabsoffiziere

Designation		Staff Officers
Rank insignia	Shoulder
Rank designation		Oberst	Oberstleutnant	Major
(English designation)		Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Major

General Officers / Generäle

Designation		General Officers
Rank insignia	Shoulder
Rank designation		Generalfeldmarschall	Generaloberst mit dem Rang als Generalfeldmarschall	Generaloberst	General der Waffengattung	Generalleutnant	Generalmajor
(English designation)		General Field Marshal	Colonel General in the rank of Field Marshal	Colonel General	General of the branch	Lieutenant General	Major General

Naval ranks and ratings

The Imperial German Navy's rank and rating system combined that of Prussia's with the navies of other northern states.

Seamen

Designation		Seamen
Rank insignia [9]	Sleeve
Rank designation		Obermatrose	Einjährig-Freiwilliger	Matrose
(English designation)		Seaman 1st Class	Seaman Volunteer (i.e.: Reserve Officer Candidate)	Seaman

Petty Officers

Designation		Senior Petty Officers		Junior Petty Officers
Rank insignia [9]	Sleeve
Rank designation		Feldwebel	Vize-Feldwebel	Obermaat	Maat
(English designation)		Chief Petty Officer 1st Class (with additional stripe around the sleeve)	Chief Petty Officer	Petty Officer 1st Class	Petty Officer

Warrant Officers

Designation		Warrant officers
Rank insignia [9]	Shoulder
Rank designation		Deckoffiziere als Offizier-Stellvertreter	Oberdeckoffizier	Deckoffizier
(English designation)		Chief Warrant Officer as Acting Commissioned Officer.	Chief Warrant Officer	Warrant Officer
Specialty designations		Offizier-Stellvertreter	Oberbootsmann Obersteuermann Oberfeuerwerker	Bootsmann Steuermann Feuerwerker
(English designation)		Acting Commissioned Officer	Chief Boatswain Chief Mate Chief Feuerwerker	Boatswain Mate Feuerwerker

Officer cadets

Designation		Officer cadets
Rank insignia [9]	Shoulder
	Sleeve
Rank designation		Oberfähnrich zur See	Fähnrich zur See	Seekadett
(English designation)		Midshipman	Sea cadet	Junior sea cadet

Naval officers

Designation		Naval Officers
Rank insignia [9]	Shoulder
	Sleeve
Rank designation		Kapitän zur See	Fregattenkapitän	Korvettenkapitän	Kapitänleutnant	Oberleutnant zur See	Leutnant zur See	Deckoffizier- Leutnant
(English designation)		Captain at Sea	Frigate Captain	Corvette Captain	Captain Lieutenant	Over-Lieutenant at Sea	Lieutenant at Sea	Deck Officer Lieutenant (from 1916)

Flag Officers

Designation		Flag Officers
Rank insignia [9]	Shoulder
	Sleeve
	Command flag
Rank designation		Großadmiral	Admiral	Vizeadmiral	Konteradmiral
(English designation)		Grand Admiral	Admiral	Vice Admiral	Rear Admiral

Notes

1. Duden; Origin and meaning of "Korporal", in German.[1]
2. Duden; Definition of "Gemeine", in German.[4]
3. Duden; Definition of "Kapitulant", in German.[6]
4. Several German armies and national contingents, including Prussia and Bavaria, traditionally used two different captain ranks that originated with the ownership of units. By the end of the 19th century that dual-system had been gradually phased out and replaced by a single rank.

References

1. Korporal
2. "Gefreiter" – Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, Erste Section, A-G, (Universal Encyclopaedia of the Sciences and Arts, First Section, A-G), Author: Johann Samuel Ersch and Johann Gottfried Gruber, Publisher: F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1852, Page 471-472, in German.
3. Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th Edition, Volume 6, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, Page 659. in German
4. Gemeine Buchstabe Soldat
5. Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th Edition, Volume 10, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885–1892, Page 116, in German
6. Kapitulant
7. Ulrich Trumpener, "Junkers and Others: The Rise of Commoners in the Prussian Army, 1871–1914," Canadian Journal of History (1979) 14#1 pp 29–47
8. Dennis E. Showalter, "The Political Soldiers of Bismarck's Germany: Myths and Realities," German Studies Review (1994) 17#1 pp. 59–77 in JSTOR
9. "Dienstgrade und Uniformen." Kleinen Kreuzers “Dresden” (I). Retrieved 2017-09-22.