Colonel () (Col or COL) is a
military rank of a
commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some
police forces and other paramilitary rank structures. A colonel is typically in charge of a
regiment in the army.
Today, a colonel is usually a military title rated as the highest, or the second-highest field rank below the
general, or "flag" grades. In some small military forces, it can be the highest rank held.
History and origins
The term
colonel derives from
Latin columnella 'small column'. However, it was never actually a Roman rank. The system of ranks in the
Roman military was quite different. As a rank the term arose in the late sixteenth century
Italy where it referred to the officer in charge of a column (
Italian colonna, plural
colonne) or field force. The term is first attested as
colonnello, but it is perhaps a truncation of something like
capitano colonnello 'captain of the column, the captain designated to command the column'. In this context
colonna seems to refer to a force marching in column, rather than to a battle formation — a
battle or
battalion of pike.
As the office of colonel became an established practice, the colonel became the senior captain in a group of companies which were all sworn to observe his personal authority — to be ruled or regimented by him. This regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonel's regiment or standing regulation(s). By extension, the group of
companies subject to a colonel's regiment (in the foregoing sense) came to be referred to as his
regiment (in the modern sense) as well.
With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, a colonel (normally a member of the aristocracy) became a holder (German
Inhaber) or proprietor of a military contract with a sovereign. The colonel purchased the regimental contract — the right to hold the regiment — from the previous holder of that right or directly from the sovereign when a new regiment was formed or an incumbent was
killed.
In French usage of this period the senior colonel in the army or in a field force — the senior military contractor — was the
colonel general and, in the absence of the sovereign or his designate, the colonel general might serve as the commander of a force. The position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless
sinecure. (The head of a single
regiment or
demi brigade would be called a
mestre de camp or, after the
Revolution, a
chef de brigade.)
By the late 19th century, colonel was a professional military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a
regiment or equivalent unit. Along with other ranks it has become progressively more a matter of ranked duties, qualifications and experience and of corresponding titles and pay scale than of functional office in a particular organization.
As European military influence has expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by nearly every nation in existence under a variety of names.
With the rise of
communism, some of the large Communist militaries saw fit to expand the Colonel rank into several grades, resulting in the unique
senior colonel rank which was found and is still used in such nations as
China and
North Korea.
In modern English, the word colonel is pronounced similarly to
kernel (of grain) as a result of entering the language from Middle French in two competing forms,
dissimilated coronel and
colonel. The more conservative spelling
colonel was favored in written use and eventually became the standard spelling even as it lost out in pronunciation to
coronel.
Colonel-in-Chief
In many modern armies the 'regiment' has more importance as a ceremonial unit or a focus of common loyalty amongst its members, rather than as an actual battle formation. Troops tend to be deployed in 'Battalions' (commanded by a
lieutenant colonel) as a more convenient size of military unit, and as such colonels have tended to have a higher profile in specialist and command roles rather than as actual commanders of regiments. However, in Commonwealth armies the position of the colonel as the figurehead of a Regiment is maintained in the honorary role of
colonel-in-chief, usually held by members of the Royal Family, the nobility, or retired senior military officers. The Colonel-in-Chief wears a Colonel's uniform and encourages the members of the regiment, but takes no active part in the actual command structure or in any operational duties.
Colonel and equivalent ranks by country
Colonel in individual military forces
The following articles deal with the rank of colonel as it is used in various national militaries.
- Kolonel (Belgium, Estonia & Netherlands )
Central and Eastern European equivalent ranks
Since the 16th century, the rank of regimental commander was adopted by several Central and
Eastern European armies, most notably the forces of
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Cossacks and then
Muscovy. In countries with slavic languages, the exact name of the rank maintains a variety of spellings, all descendant from the
Old Slavonic word
plk or
polk meaning
unit of standing army (see
The Tale of Igor's Campaign), and include the following:
The
Hungarian equivalent
ezredes literally means "leader of a thousand" (i.e. of a regiment)
.
Western European equivalent ranks
Other national equivalent ranks
- * Phan Ek (TH: พันเอก) First of 1,000: Colonel
- * Phan Tho (TH: พันโท) Second of 1,000: Lieutenant Colonel
- عقيد Aqid (Egypt and Most Arab League Member Countries)
Gallery
Colonel as highest ranking officer
Some military forces have a colonel as their highest ranking officer, with no 'general' ranks, and no superior authority (except, perhaps, the head of state as a titular commander-in-chief) other than the respective national government. Examples include the following (arranged alphabetically by country name):
- Iceland (100 personnel, employed only for peacekeeping duties)
- Luxembourg (has only one branch, the army, with a total of 1,500 personnel)
- Monaco (two branches, with a total of about 250 personnel)
Other uses of Colonel ranks
US state of Kentucky Colonels
The governor of
Kentucky may honor persons by making them a
Kentucky colonel.
Schutzstaffel
As a mascot
The "Colonel" is the mascot of various organisations.
- Plantation High School (in Plantation, FL) mascot; the men's teams are referred to as the Fightin' Colonels, and the women's teams are referred to as the Lady Colonels, or Fightin' Lady Colonels.
See also
