Generał (pronounced ) is the generic

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

term for the rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

. In narrow sense it is used to denote the rank of a four-star general introduced on August 15, 2002 (formerly ''generał armii'' - general of the army). The highest rank of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland () is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a field marshal or general of the army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History Today there are no living ...

, is not used in peacetime, leaving Generał as the highest rank. The symbols of the rank are the ''wężyk generalski'' (pronounced ), or "general's wavy line", and four stars, present on the

rogatywka ''Rogatywka'' (; sometimes translated as '' peaked cap'') is the Polish generic name for a peaked, four-pointed cap used by various Polish military formations throughout the ages. It is a distant relative of its 18th-century predecessor, th ...

cap, sleeves of the uniform, and above the breast pocket of a field uniform.

Background

In Polish military traditions the highest rank was always the rank of

, with three General's grades below. However, the system differed significantly from other systems of rank insignia used in both armies of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

and the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Because of lack of the rank of four-star general, the Polish ranks were usually a grade higher than their name suggested. Thus the rank of

Generał brygady Brigadier general ( Polish: ''generał brygady'' , abbreviated ''gen. bryg.'') is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the land forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the moder ...

was an equivalent of Major General rather than Brigadier General as the name suggested. In 1954, during the integration of the Polish Army with the structures of the

(and, more precisely, of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

), a new rank of ''generał armii'' (General of an Army) was introduced, as a direct copy of the Soviet rank of

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

(). However, after the

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and the end of

Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

in Poland, the general officers rank structure returned to the pre-war pattern. In 1981 Gen.

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...

(being at this time the 1st Secretary of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the National Defense) introduced again the rank of general of the army. As the only person to hold the newly introduced rank, he was thought of as an ''

ersatz An ersatz good () is a substitute good, especially one that is considered inferior to the good it replaces. It has particular connotations of wartime usage. Etymology ''Ersatz'' is a German word meaning ''substitute'' or ''replacement''. Altho ...

-Marshal'', as he could not promote himself to the rank of Marshal of Poland after the death of

Marian Spychalski Marian "Marek" Spychalski (, 6 December 1906 – 7 June 1980) was a Polish architect in pre-war Poland, and later, military commander and a communist politician. During World War II he belonged to the Polish underground forces operating within ...

. In 1995 the rank was yet again abolished; the last pre-NATO generałs were Jaruzelski and Gen.

Florian Siwicki Florian Siwicki (; 10 January 1925 – 11 March 2013) was a Polish military officer, diplomat and communism, communist politician. He was a General (Poland), generał in the Polish Land Forces, Polish Army and Defence minister, Minister of De ...

, who both died in the early 2010s. However, with Poland's entry into the structures of NATO in 1999 a need arose to unify the Polish rank system with that of English-speaking countries (and more precisely, the US). Hence the rank of ''Generał'' was re-introduced. The rank of Marshal of Poland remains as the "wartime" rank, given to the chief of general staff in case of war or a successful military commander after a victorious campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:General Military ranks of Poland Polish generals pl:Generał