Military hierarchy through history

[Cryptic_Snow]

Does anyone have a list of chain of command by various military's through history? The more positions the better.

[Phrossack]

Originally Posted by Cryptic_Snow

Does anyone have a list of chain of command by various military's through history? The more positions the better.

All I know are the Mongol and Timurid systems.

Mongol:

Arban-u noyan- leader of ten men. Ten arbad comprised one jaghun.

Jaghun-u noyan- leader of 100. Ten jaghud per mingghan.

Mingghan-u noyan- leader of 1,000. Ten mingghan per tumen.

Tumen-u noyan- leader of 10,000.

The Timurid system was basically the same, except particularly gallant warriors could receive the title of tarkhan. This usually came with a land grant and exempted the holder from taxes. Furthermore, they could break almost any law and not be punished until the tenth offense of the same crime. Beats the Medal of Honor, if you ask me.

[Flying Pig]

The British, very roughly, have used this formula since about 1945 - ranks are often fluid, particularly in times of war - Wilfred Owen, for example, was leading his Battalion with the rank of Captain

• Fire Team - four Privates led by a Lance Corporal or Corporal
• Section - two Fire Teams, commanded by the senior of the two Fire Team commanders.
• Platoon - Three Sections, commanded by a Subaltern (2Lt-Capt), with a Sergeant as 2IC. It is not uncommon to see platoons led by their sergeants due to shortages of officers within the battalion.
• Company - three Rifle Platoons, one Support Platoon, and a Company HQ. Commanded by a Major with a Captain as 2IC
• Battalion - same size as a US Regiment, becomes a 'battlegroup' on Operations and is the basic deployed unit of the Army. Consists of HQ Coy, 4 Rifle Companies, Support Coy, as well as other bits tacked on from other cap badges. Commanded by a Lt-Colonel with a Major as Ops Offr, who normally takes up command in the absence of the CO; and an Adjutant, a Captain who served as 2IC, Ops Offr and Admin Officer when I was in, although now is mainly concerned with keeping order among the junior officers.
• Regiment - a purely ceremonial grouping; all of the soldiers in one regiment share a uniform and traditions but will almost never be deployed together. Sizes vary; the Parachute Regiment has 4 Battalions, of which 1 is Territorial. Commanded by a very senior rank although his actual operational role is almost zero: the current Colonel-Commandant of the Parachute Regiment is a Major-General.
• Brigade - Commanded by a Brigadier, composed of about three or four battalions. Before 1945 these were numbered by type, so the 5th Mechanised Brigade was the fifth of five Mechanised Brigades; now the numbers are individual - the unique Airborne brigade's is 16, for example.
• Division - the largest force routinely deployed by the British Army. Composed of three Infantry, Armoured or Mechanised Brigades, and their supporting units. We currently have six, with the capacity to make that figure up to about eight with the addition of extra-Divisional (16 Air Assault and 3 Commando Brigades, for example) forces in the event of a general war. Led by a Major-General.
• Corps - formerly we kept 1 (BR) Corps ('British 1st Corps') in Germany, but doctrine no longer supports the deployment of a formation of this size except in the event of a major war. Currently the British Army forms the nexus for the ARRC in Germany and in the event of war this would be re-constituted into a purely British formation (at present, we share it with Germany). The only time that a British Corps has been deployed into battle since 1945 was II Corps into Suez, in 1956. Commanded by a Lieutenant-General.
• Army - now simply 'the Army' although in times gone by several of these existed. Commanded by a General: the current senior officer is the Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Sir Peter Wall, and he has operational command of the British Army.
• The Queen - as Head of State, is the top-most link in the Chain of Command. Oaths are sworn to her, and to her Heirs and Successors, not to Parliament.

[Cryptic_Snow]

Thank you for the comments guys. It's hard to even know what to search for in Google.