Muscovy
The rulers of the Kievan Rus entities had no standing army besides permanent group of personal guards, druzhina (дружи'на); members of the unit were called druzhinnik (дружи'нник). In case of emergency, a militia was raised from volunteers from the peasantry, and the druzhina served as the core of the troops. The local knyaz served as the military leader of the troops. Thus there were no need in permanent ranks or positions and they were created randomly, based on the task(s) in hand.
Upon the formation of Strelets troops, the low-level commanding officers were appointed to one of the following ranks:
- strelets (стреле́ц), a basic soldier;
- desyatnik (деся́тник, 'of ten men'), acting as sergeant/corporal;
- sotnik (со́тник, 'of hundred men'), acting as captain.
These were not personal ranks and were retained only as long as the officer held the position. For battles, the troops were organized unto temporary high-level units, usually polk (полк, Old Slavonic for group of troops), a regiment commanded by golova (голова́, head) or voyevoda (воево́да, war leader); these commanding positions were not permanent and did not sustain after the battle. The cossack cavalry units had their own ranks of Kazak (коза́к), yesaul (есау́л) and ataman (атама́н); they were not comparable to the strelets ranks.
Upon the formation of standing regiments (prikaz, later polk), new ranks were inserted in between of the existing grades: pyatidesyatnik (пятидеся́тник, of fifty men) acting as lieutenant, golova acting as colonel of the regiment (also, tysyatskiy (ты́сяцкий, 'of thousand men'). Later, a polugolova (полуголова́) rank was introduced; eventually golova was renamed polkovnik (полко́вник, regimental commander), and polugolova was renamed podpolkovnik (sub-polkovnik). As usual, voyevoda was simply a commander of a large military group and not a rank of any kind.
At the same time, the companies of foreign mercenaries were formed; these incorporated foreign ranks of Lieutenant and Rittmeister. They were later changed into New Regiments of the Streltsy Troops and more Western ranks were adopted, including General. Finally, by 1680 the ranks of the New Regiments were unified with Strelets Troops.
| Category | Foreign regiments | Streltsy | Equivalent Western rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privates | Soldat (солда́т), Reiter (рейта́р), Dragoon (драгу́н) | Strelets (стреле́ц) | Private/Soldier |
| Line Officers (low grades) | Kapral (капра́л) | Desyatnik (деся́тник) | Corporal |
| Podpraporshchik (подпра́порщик, a rank of sub-ensign) | — | Sergeant | |
| Line officers (middle grade) | Praporshchik (пра́порщик, Flag Bearer basing on Old Slavonic prapor (прапор), flag) | — | Master Sergeant/Ensign |
| Leytenant, Poruchik (лейтена́нт, пору́чик; the latter is based on Polish porucznik) | Pyatidesyatnik (пятидеся́тник) | Lieutenant | |
| Kapitan, Rotmistr (капита́н, ро́тмистр; the latter is adaptation of German Rittmeister) | Sotnik (со́тник) | Captain | |
| Line officers (high grade) | Mayor (майо́р) | — | Major |
| Podpolkovnik, also polupolkovnik (подполко́вник, полуполко́вник, a sub-polkovnik) | Polugolova, also pyatisotenny golova (полуголова́, пятисо́тенный голова́) | Lieutenant Colonel | |
| Polkovnik (полко́вник, from Russian polk for regiment) | Golova, also polkovnik ( голова́, полко́вник) | Colonel | |
| Generals | General-Mayor (генера́л-майо́р) | — | Major General |
| General-Poruchik (генера́л-пору́чик) | — | Lieutenant General |
Read more about this topic: History Of Russian Military Ranks