r/MurderedByWords • u/SkullLeader • 12h ago

Cadet Bonespurs

Post image
24.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

951 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/danlawl 12h ago

Who votes for them to become one then if there is so few of them? Is it their peers?

25

u/capnpetch 11h ago

It’s a quirk of European ranking systems. It was created to allow them to align with the top level generals of European allies during WW2. Didn’t need them before and haven’t needed them since.

3

u/the_tytan 11h ago

Is it because the highest rank (at least in Britain) was Field Marshal?

14

u/Many-Salt-4321 10h ago

That's right. The US system top rank "General" was 4 star. UK (and other EU systems) had field marshal that outranked Generals. So the US added a 5 star "General of the Army" in 1944 to solve any issues with command hierarchy.

There is another rank "General of the Armies" which was created post-WW1 bestowed on Pershing for his service. They also posthumously promoted Grant in 2024 and George Washington in 1976 with the caveat that Washington's rank has "precedence over all other grades of the Army, past or present." This doesn't have any specific star insignia IIRC.