The ''prime major'' was the

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

rank of the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Life Guards and the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

of the 18th century. The rank belonged to the 8th class of "

Table of Ranks The Table of Ranks () was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter I of Russia, Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the existing hereditary ...

". According to the regulations of 1716 the

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

s were divided into prime majors and second majors. The prime major was an assistant to the colonel, and the second major was an assistant to his deputy lieutenant colonel. The prime major was in charge of the

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

and the inspection units. He was the third official in the regiment. He exercised real command of the 1st

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

(

divizion {{army units A divizion (dywizjon) (a word in several European languages, mostly Slavic) is a military unit in some armed branches, usually artillery and cavalry, being an equivalent of battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically ...

) of the regiment (the battalion chief was the colonel), and in the absence of the regiment commander and his deputy, he could command the entire regiment. The division into prime and second majors was abolished in 1797. All prime and second majors became majors. In 1827, the majors received as an insignia two stars on the staff-officers' epaulettes.

Sources

* {{cite book, title=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, year=1890–1907 Military ranks of Russia