History
Generals were appointed during the 1848 revolution in Baden, the Neuchâtel Crisis, the Franco-Austrian War, the Franco-Prussian War, the First World War and the Second World War, although Switzerland was militarily involved in none of them and the role of the army in these times was mainly to guard the border.
All senior officers used to hold variations on the rank of Colonel (there were "Brigade Colonels", for instance). Nowadays, the general officer ranks are: Brigadier, Divisionär (Major General), Korpskommandant (Lieutenant General) and General (which is not currently used). The senior Swiss officer detached to the line of demarcation in Panmunjeom, South Korea, however, is given the courtesy designation of "General" for equality purposes.
Read more about this topic: General (Switzerland)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)