The history of Military ranks is interesting itself, For examples The general of a Roman Legion was a Ducus, which became the Duke of the Middle ages (At the same time the name of the Commander of a Roman Cohort became the Count of the Middle Ages).
During the Middle ages the Position of Captain was introduced, he commanded a Company. During the 1600s Companies started to be organized into columns, the Spanish name for this became our Colonel.
When I was in the Service, everybody wonders why as a Major above a Lieutenant, while a Major General was below a Lieutenant General? The reason was historical, in the 1700s, the term Major referred to the Officer in charge of supply at any level of command, thus a Sargent-Major was in charge Battalion Supply, the Major-Captain was his boss (the Term Major-Captain became Major during the 1700s), while the Major General was in charge of the Army’s supply system. The term Lieutenant referred to the assistant to a more senior officer, thus the Senior Lieutenant-Captain became a first Lieutenant, and th e Second Lieutenant to the Captain became a Second Lieutenant (Some units even had Third Lieutenants in the early 1800s).
Now some ranks have disappeared over the years, Coronets for example. Some ranks have cease to exist except in Military Academies (Cadet for Example). Prior to the mid-1800s a Coronet was Second Lieutenant in a Calvary Troop, while a Ensign was the same rank in an Infantry Company (Both Troops and Company consisted of about 100 officer and men, except one was Calvary the other infantry. Artillery units equivalent was “Battery”).
Another rank that has disappeared was “Musician” . While it sounds like a member of the band, it was not. They may play the fife, but they main job was as “file fillers” in combat i.e. as people fell do to wounds, the Musicians stepped in and replaced them in the line of Infantry. In list of veterans from the Revolution you will see people with this rank, it had disappaered by the Civil War.
The adoption of the Division and Corp during the Napoleonic wars lead to the present set of Ranks. Prior to that date units above Regiment were organized on an ad hoc basis. Thus ranks prior to 1800 varied widely, but stabilized during the 1792-1815 Wars of the French Revolution and the adoption of the modern Division based army. With this adoption, the position of Musician, Coronet, Ensign (Through it would last a few more years than the rest), Major-Colonel (Like a Major, except of Colonels not Captains and as such tied in with formation of Armies, the position was merged into the Major-General position).
Sometime ranks vary based on history of that country, for example y the Time of the American Revolution the British Army had adopted the Brigade, thus Brigadier in the British Army. When the US army adopted the term it adopted it as Brigader-General to show it was a General Rank (and based on how the Navy treated Commodore, these one stars are often called Major General, lower half).
While it is while known that Field- Marshall of the British and German Armies is the same as the US General of the Army (and that General Marshall who was to be the first 5 stars just hated the concept of being called Marshall Marshall) other ranks also have had different names in different countries AND service.
In the US Army a Private first Class is a E-3, the same as a US Marine Lance Corporal (Lance is a French term which is the same as Lieutenant, thus a Lance Corporal is a Lieutenant to a Corporal). A Marine Private First Class is a E-2, or the same as a Private (Often called a Private E-2) in the US Army. A US Marine Private is a E-1, the same as a US Private E-1 (often called a Recruit or Private recruit).
Colonel - General of the Russian and German Armies is the rank just below a full general the German and Russian Armies. Often called the same as a Lieutenant General in the US Army (with the position of Soviet/ German Lieutenant General become the same as a US Major General, the Position of Soviet/German Major General being the same as a US Brigadier General). Some armies have both Brigadier-Generals and Colonel Generals. This brings me to the issue of rank equivalence.
Remember just because two armies have the same name for a rank does not mean it is the same rank. Be carful. This is complicated by the Soviet System where many of the functions of a US NCO was done by a Commissioned officer. Thus at times a Soviet Junior Lieutenant may be the same as a US Sargent First Class (both doing the same function). The Soviet preferred to promote people into officer ranks when they became professional soldiers, unlike the US Army which has a long tradition of Professional NCOs.
As I said above, ranks can differ between armies, I have seen Roman Centurions referred to the same as US Army Sergeants and US Army Captains (And both are correct, a Centurion was BOTH and neither), but the Roman Officer Corp (or want we would call the Officer Corp) only started with the Tribunes, the equivalent of Field Grade Officers in the US Army (Majors and Colonels) but these Officers also did some of the command duties at the Centurion level (thus also performed what the US Army calls Company level Functions). The Army of Rome reflected this difference, as does the difference between the Soviet and US Army. Thus to truly see which rank is the same as others you have to look at what the officer is DOING as while as what his rank is called.
Ranks of Various Countries:
http://www.luther.ca/~dave7cnv/military/militar5.htmlHistory of US Navy Enlisted Ranks:
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq78-1.htmNATO Ranks Codes:
http://www.geocities.com/german_jag/ranks.htmlFor the United Kingdom:
http://www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/stats/ukds/2002/chap2tab229frame.htm1For Soviet Rank Boards see:
http://www.sovietarmy.com/ranks/rank_system.htmlhttp://www-math.mit.edu/~igorvp/Russia/Other/Pogony/pogony.html 
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