Adjutant is a military rank?

Everyone knows that this rank is used in most cases in a military context. A cognitive history of the occurrence of a word in Russian. The meaning of the word "adjutant" helps to understand what exactly these people did and what place they occupied in the military hierarchy.

The emergence of the word

Reforms of Peter I in the army transformed the backward, disunited and unorganized crowd, which was the Russian army, turning it into one of the most effective military armies of the European continent. Like many other military terms, the word "adjutant" is a German innovation of the 17th century. It has Latin roots and comes from Adjutant, which literally means "helping." Thus, the first and most important meaning of the title "adjutant" is the assistant manager.

Adjutant in Petrine Russia

In the second half of the 17th century, the office and writing in the Russian army were carried out by the captains. After the adoption of the military regulations in 1716, this title remains only in the Cossack regiments. An adjutant appears in the regular army. In the Russian army since the 17th century, the adjutant is a military officer with a certain range of duties, the secretary of the commander, whose duties include office work, staff work. The honorary title was also worn by officers, who were commanders of various parts of the troops. The duties of such personal assistants included:

• Keeping personal correspondence of the commander;
• Execution of his instructions;
• Delivery of dispatches, orders, oral and written orders;
• Finding a number in battle.

At court

Since 1711, at the court of Russian monarchs there are two new posts, each of which has a prefix in its name. They were called "Adjutant-General" and "Aide-de-camp". Such a title could be earned only by persons who enjoy the special trust of the high command and the emperor himself, who give orders on his behalf and supervise their implementation. The "table of ranks", published in 1722, already has these posts in its register. From this moment, both titles are equal to the current army ranks.

Initially, the adjutant wing was a military one, consisting of a general, a field marshal or a generalissimo. His duties included the transfer of orders and orders from the commander to the flanks. Since the end of the 17th century in Russia, the "adjutant-general" and the "adjutant's wing" -the suite (court) ranks, only persons who were members of the emperor's suite had the right to wear them.

The word "general" does not mean an army rank, it is more appropriate to add the letter "a" at the end, then it becomes clear that it will be more correct to read this title as "general adjutant". At the behest of Catherine II, the Adjutant General can only be in the Empress's entourage, and this title also becomes a courtier. Many military aristocrats aspired to become an adjutant to the emperor-this title was honorable and profitable. The appointment of the next court rank automatically meant the receipt of an appropriate, higher, military rank.

After 1917, the rank of adjutant was abolished and is currently not applied in the domestic army.