A Brigadier is not a General Officer?!

[d_Guy]

 

I am bereft! I was trying for Brigadier by the end of the year (1500 I think) but even I think near 50 in a day would be unseemly. Now I find out that you lot don't even consider a Brigadier a General!! Oh well - a new goal for 2017!

Happy New Year All!

Not-A-General d_Guy

[Techno]

Happy New Year to you too, Bill.

(I think the record for the number of posts by a single person, within 24 hours, was something over 100.) 

Cheers - Phil

[fsn]

Indeed not.

Does it not date back to "general" officers commanding a mix of forces? A brigadier would traditionally command infantry or cavalry.

Someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

(I think the record for the number of posts by a single person, within 24 hours, was something over 100.) 

Don't tell him that ... he'll have a go!

[FierceKitty]

Does it not date back to "general" officers commanding a mix of forces? A brigadier would traditionally command infantry or cavalry

Major generals too, o sbaglio?

[d_Guy]

Of course if I were to go for the 24 hour record I would have to sacrifice my high level of quality! 

fsn, I don't know about Brigadier. It seems to me a bit like "Commadore" - maybe a senior Colonel?
In my period of interest - the tradition seemed to be that the Captain General was in overall command, the Lieutenant General commanded the horse and the (Sargent) Major General Commaned the foot. Although there seems to be as many exceptions as not. Have no  idea when the term "Brigadier" started being used. The term Brigade seems to be back-applied to the 17th century homogeneous groups you mention although a Brigade is sometimes mentioned in contemporary sources (as well a Battalia to add to the confusion).
Senior Colonels often commanded these "Brigades" so maybe that's the origin?

Lots of knowledable folks here so maybe some one will come along to set us straight.

[mollinary]

It seems to be a problem made worse by language and different practices in different armies. The French, of course, have the rank "General de Brigade", (which is the rank de Gaulle held) but the German Brigadegeneral seems to date only from the Bundeswehr about 1950. Neither the Austrian nor the Prussian armies had the rank, and Brigades were commanded either by colonels or Major Generals.  The British seem to have used either Brigadier or Brigadier General at different times.  There was always a story, possibly an urban myth, that the rank had the word General attached in WW1, but that it was removed in the 1920s under Treasury pressure to reduce the number of general officers. I am sure other armies have different practices to confuse the situation still further!

Mollinary

[fred.]

(I think the record for the number of posts by a single person, within 24 hours, was something over 100.) 

Were they about boots?

[jimduncanuk]

Were they about boots?

Boots?

Do you mean the chemist?

Or 'boots on the ground'?

Or an almighty kick up the pitch?

Someone needs to know.

[pierre the shy]

I am bereft! I was trying for Brigadier by the end of the year (1500 I think) but even I think near 50 in a day would be unseemly. Now I find out that you lot don't even consider a Brigadier a General!! Oh well - a new goal for 2017!

Happy New Year All!

Not-A-General d_Guy

Happy new year to all as well.

I'm sure you'll be on the 2017 promotion list DGuy - keep posting your Celtic Fringe stuff please, its a great read and I'm starting into it this year myself.

FWIW one of my grandfathers was in the British Army and reached the lofty rank of Brigadier but it took him 30 odd years to get there.....   

[d_Guy]

Were they about boots?

U-boots?

[d_Guy]

Thanks for the comment on the "Celtic Finge" , Pierre. Looking forward to seeing you out there!

[Raider4]

FWIW one of my grandfathers was in the British Army and reached the lofty rank of Brigadier but it took him 30 odd years to get there.....   

Hmm, he didn't end being offered command of a (fairly) secret Intelligence Taskforce attached to the United Nations by any chance?

Cheers, Martyn
--

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

A Brigadier is not a General in the British Army simply because he only commands one type of troop. A Brigade consists of either Infantry or Cavalry. Engineers, Artillery etc are attached, and whilst coming under brigade orders are still commanded from outside.

IanS

[pierre the shy]

Hmm, he didn't end being offered command of a (fairly) secret Intelligence Taskforce attached to the United Nations by any chance?

Cheers, Martyn
--

No he wasn't ever on Dr Who or command UNIT Martyn.....he did help draft the Geneva Convention in 1949 though.

[DanJ]

Having consulted extensive primary and secondary sources on the subject (actually I went to Wikapedia) I found this

Brigadier (abbreviated as Brig) is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. Brigadier is the superior rank to colonel, but subordinate to major-general. While the corresponding rank of brigadier general in many other nations is a general officer rank, the British Army considers it a field officer rank.

The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-6, placing it equivalent to the Royal Navy commodore and the Royal Air Force air commodore ranks and the brigadier general (1-star general) rank of the United States military and numerous other NATO nations.

Therefore I'd say a brigadier was a general in modern terms however for the purposes of this forum you'd have to get the esteemed membership to agree........

Good luck with that one