Field Marshal Tantawi Allegedly in Charge in Egypt—What's a Field Marshall?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41534216

Published: Friday, 11 Feb 2011 | 12:53 PM ET

By: Ash Bennington
NetNet Writer, Special to CNBC.com

After Hosni Mubarak's resignation, ZeroHedge is reporting that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is in control of Egypt—though, possibly, on an interim basis.

Tantawi has been a commissioned officer in the Egyptian military since 1956, although he did not ascend to his current rank of Field Marshal until 1991.

What exactly is a field marshal?

The United States military has no rank directly corresponding to Field Marshal—but you can think of it as kind of a general on steroids.

[Bigmack]

1. A Field Marshall is the Third-in-Command at a VFW post! nt

[Gaedel]

2. Same as our five star general nt

[NNN0LHI]

4. Field Marshall is generally thought to be the equivalent of a Six Star General

Field Marshall is generally thought to be the equivalent of a Six Star General: And Six Star General is the highest rank a military officer may theoretically hold in the US Military.

Only two American soldiers have ever ascended to the rarefied heights of a sixth star: General 'Blackjack' Pershing, who was honored with the Six Star rank for his service in World War I—and George Washington himself.

[Angry Dragon]

6. Never heard of a Six-Star before

[Gaedel]

8. Not really

George Washington never had any rank above Lieutenant General (current three stars).

John Pershing was styled "General of the Armies" but never wore any insignia greater than four stars.

The rank of General of the Army or "fie stars" (conferred upon Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall, Arnold, and Bradley) was created during WWII priimarily because British field marshalls outranked our generals.

Field Marshall is the next rank above general.

Ironically, the term f=comes from the medieval "marechal" who was the person in charge of care of the horses.

[sarge43]

14. Washington was awarded six star General of the Armies, post-hu of course, in 1976.

By law it will be his alone. The insignia is the five star pentagon with the sixth in the center.

[enlightenment]

18. Like William Marshall - whose grandfather, Gilbert

was Henry I's marechal. He had no surname - just Gilbert (some say Giffard was his surname), but after being honored by the king he adopted 'le marechal', more or less. It was his son, John (William's father) who formally adopted the name and styled himself John FitzGilbert Marshal (or marechal). John was a major jerk who, after handing over his young son, William, as hostage to King Stephen as surety for his (good behaviour), proceeded to fight against the king. When the king threatened to execute the boy, John said, 'go ahead - I have the anvils and hammer to forge a better son'. Fortunately for William - and English history - Stephen was a softie and didn't take John up on the offer. *btw - thanks for the reminder - that's some of my favourite history!*

Didn't they just have a bit on NPR about why they created the five-star rank during WWII - because our generals were in titular charge of the British Field Marshalls' ? Then somebody commented that there were some dead generals who probably should be similarly honored, so they 'gave' the rank to Grant and Washington and Pershing ?



edited to correct quotation

[neverforget]

3. The rough equivalant of a 5 star general

[Puzzler]

5. In the British Army it's ...

... above general. Usually the highest rank. For example, in WW2 Field Marshall Montgomery was the top Army guy.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. Marshall Fields is a department store

I don't suppose that was helpful, sorry

[MineralMan]

9. A Field Marshal is the highest of high mucky-mucks.

Generally, anyhow. It's sort of a European thing, dating back to the days of monarchies.

[kenny blankenship]

10. A Field Marshall is even more fancy than a Drum Major

When the situation calls for decisively more impressive fanciness and the best Drum Major just isn't good enough, you see the Field Marshall go into action.

[MineralMan]

12. And Field Marshals get to wear cool sashes and lots and lots

of medals, too. Very handsome, they always look. The ladies of the court swoon. :rofl:

[sarge43]

15. Don't forget the swag stick n/t

[MineralMan]

16. Non! Non! C'est un baton d'office.

Vraiment.

[sarge43]

21. Mais naturellement n/t

[ClassWarrior]

11. The founder of Marshall Fields?

NGU.

[Peregrine Took]

13. +1. n/t

[jwirr]

17. This is a rank that is familiar in EU.

[NoPasaran]

19. The US considered creating the rank of Field Marshal during World War Two

The US considered creating the rank of Field Marshal during World War Two so that our top generals would hold a rank equivalent to their colleagues in the allied armies but the proposal was vetoed by the US Army Chief of Staff George Marshall who reputedly said "I'll be damned if I'll be Field Marshal Marshall!"

[jwirr]

20. LOL Thanks for the story. I had not heard that.

[FirstLight]

22. funny- I use that term all the time...

...as a single mom who has to sometimes pull 'rank' to get what I want done around here...I go 'field marshal' on them! I bark orders, and basically use my omnipotence to get them to *obey*
That is too funny, I don't know where I got the term, but I have always known it meant a high power or ranking military person! :rofl: