Generalissimo

For other uses, see Generalissimo (disambiguation).

Generalissimo^[1] (/ˌdʒɛn(ə)rəˈlɪsɪmoʊ/ JEN-(ə-)rə-LIS-ih-moh) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used.

Francisco Franco, Generalissimo of Spain from 1936 to 1975.

Proposed insignia of the Generalissimus of USSR (only held by Joseph Stalin)

Usage

The word generalissimo (pronounced [dʒeneraˈlissimo]), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of generale ('general') thus meaning "the highest-ranking of all generals". The superlative suffix -issimo itself derives from Latin -issimus,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} meaning "utmost, to the highest grade". Similar cognates in other languages include generalísimo in Spanish, generalíssimo in Portuguese, généralissime in French, and generalissimus in Latin. The Russian word генералиссимус, generalissimus comes from Latin.^[7]

Historically, this rank was given to a military officer leading an entire army or the entire armed forces of a state,^[8] usually only subordinate to the sovereign.^[9] Alternatively, those of imperial blood or the commanders-in-chief of several allied armies could gain the title.^[10] The military leader Albrecht von Wallenstein in 1632 became the first imperial generalissimo (general of the generals) of the Holy Roman Empire. Other usage of the title has been for the commander of the united armies of several allied powers (such as Ferdinand Foch on the Western Front in 1918 or Joseph Stalin on the Eastern Front in 1945), or if a senior military officer becomes a chief of state or a head of government (like Chiang Kai-shek in the Republic of China or Francisco Franco in Spain).

The rank generalissimus of the Soviet Union would have been a generalissimo but some sources assert that Joseph Stalin refused to accept the rank.^[11][12] In fact the grade was established by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which did not need the approval of Stalin.^[13] The rank of generalissimo for Stalin was used also by Western diplomacy.^[14]

In the 20th century, the term came to be associated with military officers who took dictatorial power in their respective countries, especially due to the Spanish leader Francisco Franco having this rank. As such, it is used in literature depicting fictional Latin American dictatorial regimes, for example Father Hilary's Holiday by Bruce Marshall.^[15]

List of generalissimos

Main category: Generalissimos

Person	Service	Country	Era	Notes
Prince Adolph John, Count Palatine of Kleeburg	The Deluge	Sweden	1655–1660	Named "Generalissimo of the Swedish armies in Poland and Prussia" by his brother King Charles X Gustav of Sweden[16]
Emilio Aguinaldo	Philippine Revolutionary Army	Philippines	1898–1901	Generalissimo of the Katipunan[17]
Crown Prince Charles John	Royal Swedish Army	Sweden	1810–1818	Named Generalissimo of the Swedish Armed Forces on October 20, 1810, upon his arrival to Sweden. Charles John had the singular distinction of having been offered the role of Generalissimo of four different nations: Sweden (accepted), Imperial Russia, offered by Alexander during the Conference at Åbo in 1812,[18] of a restored Bourbon France in 1814 (offered by Louis XVIII's brother the Comte D'Artois),[19] and a desperate offer by Napoleon in early 1814 as an inducement for Sweden to switch its alliance to France.[20] Charles John declined the latter three.[21][22][Note 1]
Prince Charles Gustav	Thirty Years' War	Sweden	1648–1650	He was named "Generalissimo of all Swedish forces in Germany" by his cousin Queen Christina of Sweden in January 1648, however he didn't accomplish much as commander of the Swedish forces in Germany as the war ended in October of the same year.[23]
Chiang Kai-shek	National Revolutionary Army	Republic of China	1926–1975	Appointed commander in chief of the Nationalist Army for the Northern Expedition.[24] Appointed "high general special class" (特級上將 Tèjí shàng jiàng) in 1935
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough	War of the Spanish Succession	Dutch Republic	1702	Referred to as generalissimo by the Dutch States General[25]
Ferdinand Foch	French Army	France	1918	Généralissime was the title used to describe Marshal Ferdinand Foch's Allied Command, starting March 26, 1918. He actually held the rank of général de division, the dignity (rank) of Marshal of France and later the ranks of British field marshal and Marshal of Poland.[26]
Deodoro da Fonseca	Brazilian Army	Brazil	1890	[27]
Francisco Franco	Spanish Armed Forces	Spain	1936–1975	Generalísimo was used as a combination rank as he held the highest possible rank in all three branches of service: capitán general, capitán general del Aire, and capitán general de la Armada.[28]
Prince Consort Frederick of Hesse	Royal Swedish Army	Sweden	1716–1720	Fredrick was named "Generalissimo of the Swedish Armed forces to horse and foot" in 1716 by King Charles XII.[29]
Maurice Gamelin	French Army	France	1939	His rank was général d'armée, but his title as commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces was généralissime.
Prince George of Denmark	British Army	Great Britain	1702–1708	Declared "generalissimo of all our Forces within Our Kingdom of England and Ireland and Elsewhere" by his wife Queen Anne[30][31]
Máximo Gómez	Cuban Liberation Army	Cuba	1895–1898	[32]
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla	Revolutionary Army of Mexico	Mexico	1810–1811	[33]
Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa)	Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan	Japan	1926–1945	Dai-gensui, as sovereign ruler of the Empire of Japan[34]
Agustín de Iturbide	Mexican Army	Mexico	1821–1823	[35]
James, Duke of York	Third Anglo-Dutch War	England	1673	"Generalissimo and supreme commander" over forces employed against the Dutch.[30]
Joseph Joffre	French Army	France	1914	His dignity (rank) was Marshal of France, but his title as commander-in-chief of the French Army was généralissime.[36]
Kalākaua	Hawaiian Army	Hawaii	1886–1891	King of Hawaii, was given titles of "supreme commander and generalissimo of the Hawaiian Army".[37]
Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg	Austrian Army	Austrian Empire	1813–1814	Generalissimo of the Armies of the Habsburg Empire and senior Field Marshal of the combined forces of the Sixth Coalition. He led the largest Allied field army, the Army of Bohemia, during the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the Invasion of France in early 1814.[38]
Kim Il Sung	Korean People's Army	North Korea	1992	Taewonsu[39][40]
Kim Jong Il	Korean People's Army	North Korea	2012	Taewonsu (posthumously awarded)[41][40]
Louis, Grand Dauphin	War of the Spanish Succession	France	1708	Commanded the French Army[42]
Mao Zedong	People's Liberation Army	People's Republic of China	1955	Proposed the rank of Generalissimo of the People's Republic of China (declined usage)
Alexander Danilovich Menshikov	Russian Imperial Army	Russia	1727–1728	[43]
Francisco de Miranda	Venezuelan Army	Venezuela	1812
José María Morelos	Revolutionary Army of Mexico	Mexico	1813–1815	[44]
Ihsan Nuri	Ararat Forces	Ararat	1927–1930	[45]
Alexander Suvorov	Imperial Russian Army	Russia	1799
Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick	Imperial Russian Army	Russia	1740–1741	[46]
Maxime Weygand	French Army	France	1940	His rank was général d'armée, but his title as commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces was généralissime.
José de San Martín	Peruvian Army	Peru	1821–1822	Generalísimo de las Armas del Perú
Joseph Stalin	Soviet Armed Forces	Soviet Union	1945	Generalissimus of the Soviet Union[47] (declined usage)
Sun Yat-sen	National Pacification Army	Republic of China	1921	Technically as dayuanshuai or "grand marshal of the army and navy"[48][49]
Rafael Trujillo	Dominican Army	Dominican Republic	1930	[50]
Albrecht von Wallenstein	Thirty Years' War	Holy Roman Empire	1625	Via the "Principal Decree of the Imperial Deputation"[51][52]
George Washington	Continental Army United States Army	United States	1776	When chosen to be the commander-in-chief, was called by The Virginia Gazette the generalissimo of American forces.[53] Promoted posthumously to General of the Armies of the United States on January 19, 1976, with date of rank of July 4, 1976[54]
William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe	Royal Portuguese Army	Portugal	1762–1763	Became Generalissimus of the Allied Armies in Portugal during the Spanish invasion
Yuan Shikai	Beiyang Army	Republic of China (1912–1949)	1913–1916	Leader of the Beiyang government, declared generalissimo (dayuanshuai) in 1913
Zhang Zuolin	National Pacification Army	Republic of China (1912–1949)	1927–1928	Leader of the Beiyang government, declared generalissimo (dayuanshuai) in June 1927[55]
Our Lady of Aparecida	Brazilian Army	Brazil	1967	Patroness of Brazil[56].

See also

• Admiralissimo
• Capo dei capi
• Caudillo
• Commander-in-chief
• Grand marshal
• Dayuanshuai
• Dai-gensui
• Field marshal
• First marshal of the empire
• General of the Armies
• Generalissimus of the Soviet Union
• Highest military ranks
• Magister Militum
• Marshal General of France
• Shogun
• Six-star rank

Notes

1. The Napoleonic Marshal of France Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates and King Charles XIII in 1810. Given his exalted French military rank, the rank of generalissimus was likely granted him in order to give him precedence over "mere" Swedish field marshals. Once he became King of Sweden and Norway in 1818, the generalissimus rank became superfluous.

References

1. "generalissimo". Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, Enlarged and Improved. Archibald Constable. 1823. p. 484.
2. "issimus". Webster's Third New International Dictionary., French Larousse Étymologique.
3. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on June 5, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
4. "Define Generalissimo at Dictionary.com". Reference.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
5. "Generalissimo – Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
6. "Definition of generalissimo – Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English)". Oxford Dictionary of English. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012.
7. Arsenyev, Konstantin; Petrushevsky, Fyodor (1892). "Генералиссимус" [Generalissimo]. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Vol. 15: Гальберг – Германий. F. A. Brockhaus (Leipzig), I. A. Efron (Saint Petersburg). p. 312.
8. "generalissimo". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) - "A supreme commander; spec. an officer in command of a combined military, naval, and air force, or of several armies. Also: a prefixed title or form of address for such a commander. Frequently figurative."
9. Thomas Hobbes (1660), Chapter XVIII: Of the Rights of Sovereigns by institution, archived from the original on July 3, 2015, retrieved August 16, 2015
10. Arsen'ev, Konstantin Konstantinovich, ed. (1892). "Генералиссимус" [Generalissimus]. Энциклопедический Словарь Ф.А.Брокгауза и И.А.Ефрона (in Russian). Brockhaus and Efron. Retrieved August 2, 2024. Титул Г. всегда присваивался только лицам царской крови или же главнокомандующим несколькими союзными армиями.
11. Service, Robert (2005). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press. pp. 493, 549. ISBN 978-0-674-01697-2.
12. S. M. Shtemenko. The General Staff in the War Years. Moscow, 1985. Vietnamese version (vol. 2) . pp. 587–588.
13. Сборник законов СССР и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР (1938 — июль 1956) / Сост.: М. И. Юмашев, Б. А. Жалейко. — М., 1956. — С. 202.
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15. Marshall, B: Father Hilary's Holiday Doubleday & Company, New York 1965.
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17. Whitefield, George. "Annual report of Major General George W. Davis, United States Army commanding Division of the Philippines from October 1, 1902, to July 26, 1903" (1903) [Textual record]. Archive.Org, ID: annualreportofma03unit, p. 188. Boston Public Library. OCLC 1039990497.
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19. Barton, Sir Dunbar (1925). Bernadotte Prince and King. P. 127. John Murray, London.
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21. (in Swedish) Ancienneté och Rang-Rulla öfver Krigsmagten år 1813
22. Barton, Sir Dunbar (1925). Bernadotte Prince and King. P. 4. John Murray, London.
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24. The New York Times, December 4, 1926, pg.6.
25. Rapin de Thoyras (M., Paul) (1745). Nicholas Tindal (ed.). The History of England. Vol. IV, part 1 (French original: Histoire d'Angleterre, 1724–27). J. and P. Knapton. p. 562. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2018. The Earl of Athlone [Godard van Reede] was set on by the other Dutch Generals, to insist on his quality of Velt-Marshal, and to have the command with the Earl of Marlborough by turns. But, though he was now in high reputation by his late conduct, the States obliged him to yield this point to the Earl of Marlborough, whom they declared Generalissimo of all their forces, and sent orders to all their Generals and other Officers to obey him.
26. John McGroarty :The Gray Man of Christ: Generalissimo Foch (1919) Los Angeles, Walter A Abbott
27. Andermann, Jens; Rowe, William (2006). Images of Power: Iconography, Culture and the State in Latin America. Berghahn Books. p. 176. ISBN 9781845452124. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
28. "Franco of Iberia". Time, October 18, 1943. cover.
29. Pock, Johann Joseph (1724). Der politische, katholische Passagier, durchreisend alle hohe Höfe, Republiquen, Herrschafften und Länder der ganzen Welt. Brechenmacher. p. 832. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2018. wurde 1720. von dem König in Schweden ... zum Generalissimo der sämmtlichen Schwedischen Trouppen ernennet
30. Roper, Michael (1998). The Records of the War Office and Related Departments, 1660–1964. Kew, Surrey: Public Record Office. p. 5.
31. Rapin de Thoyras (M., Paul) (1745). Nicholas Tindal (ed.). The History of England. Vol. IV, part 1 (French original: Histoire d'Angleterre, 1724–27). J. and P. Knapton. p. 104. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2018. The Prince was Duke of Cumberland, Lord High-Admiral of Great-Britain and Ireland, Generalissimo of all her Majesty's forces both by sea and land, and Warden of the Cinque-ports.
32. Rioseco, Pedro. "Generalísimo Máximo Gómez, ejemplo de internacionalismo y genio militar". Contraloría General de la República (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
33. Comunica Miguel Hidalgo su proclamaci n como General simo de Am rica Archived September 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Documentos Historicos de Mexico, October 24, 1810.
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35. Anna, Timothy E. (1985). "The Rule of Agustin de Iturbide: A Reappraisal". Journal of Latin American Studies. 17 (1): 79–110. doi:10.1017/S0022216X00009202. ISSN 0022-216X. JSTOR 157498. S2CID 145054515.
36. Doughty, Robert A. (June 30, 2009). Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Harvard University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-674-03431-0. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
37. "Chapter XXII: Act Act To Organize The Military Forces Of The Kingdom". Laws of His Majesty Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands: Passed by the Legislative Assembly at Its Session of 1886. Honolulu: Black & Auld. 1886. pp. 37–41. OCLC 42350849. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
38. Peck, Harry Thurston (1898). The International Cyclopedia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge, Rev. with Large Additions. Dodd, Mead. p. 238. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
39. "The Daily Yomuiri, 29 September 2010, Kim Jong Un spotlighted / 'Heir apparent' promoted to general, makes DPRK media debut". Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
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41. "The Australian, 15 February 2012, Late Kim Jong-il awarded highest honour by North". Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
42. Rapin de Thoyras (M., Paul) (1745). Nicholas Tindal (ed.). The History of England. Vol. IV, part 1 (French original: Histoire d'Angleterre, 1724–27). J. and P. Knapton. p. 68. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2018. But an unexpected alteration was suddenly made, and the French King declared the Duke of Burgundy Generalissimo of his forces, appointing the Duke de Vendosme [sic: Vendôme] to serve under him; and he was to be accompanied by the Duke of Berry.
43. "Menschikow und Stalin waren die einzigen Heerführer der russischen Geschichte, die sich 'Generalissimus' nennen ließen." [Menshikov and Stalin were the only military leaders in Russian history who declared themselves "generalissimus".] Jena, Detlev (1996): Die russischen Zaren in Lebensbildern, Graz, p. 520.
44. "Inauguration of the exhibition José María Morelos y Pavón. Generalissimo of Mexican America armies". Gobierno de México (in Spanish). Noticias – Dirección General de Asuntos internacionales – Secretaría de Cultura. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
45. Bletch Chirguh, La Question Kurde: ses origines et ses causes, Le Caire, Impimerie Paul Barbey, 1930, front cover, Ihsan Nouri Pacha Généralissime des forces nationales Kurdes (in French)
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47. Joseph Stalin was appointed generalissimus of the Soviet Union. See: Ivan Aleksandrovich Venediktov, Selskokhozyaystvennaya entsiklopediya, Vol. 4, Gos. izd-vo selkhoz, 1956, p. 584. Archived March 11, 2023, at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
48. Linda Pomerantz-Zhang (1992). Wu Tingfang (1842–1922): Reform and Modernization in Modern Chinese History. Hong Kong University Press. p. 255. ISBN 962209287X. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2010.
49. Taylor, Jay (April 15, 2009). The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China. Harvard University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-674-05471-4. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
50. Stanley Walker, Generalissimo Rafael L. Trujillo (1955) Caribbean Library
51. A short history of Germany. Ernest Flagg Henderson, 1908
52. Tilly und Wallenstein – ein Vergleich zweier Heerführer. Harry Horstmann, 2010. (in German)
53. Chadwick, Bruce (2005). George Washington's War: The Forging of a Revolutionary Leader and the American Presidency. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 40. ISBN 9781402226106. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
54. Public Law 94-479 of January 19, 1976 to provide for the appointment of George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States
55. Moore, Frederick (June 18, 1927). "Chang Tso-lin Made Dictator in Move to Beat Back South". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
56. "Nossa Senhora Aparecida recebeu o título de Generalíssima do Exército em 1967". www.a12.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved October 22, 2024.