RAWALPINDI, MAY 21 (DNA):Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir has been elevated to the prestigious rank of Field Marshal, in recognition of his distinguished service and commendable leadership during the recent short but significant war with India.
Historical records indicate that nearly 66 years ago, in 1959, the then-Army Chief, Ayub Khan, was granted the rank of Field Marshal by the presidential cabinet of that era.
Ayub Khan, a product of the British Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, took over power through a coup in October 1958, and in 1965, he was elected as the country’s head of state.
History, origin and interesting facts
This five-star rank, which means the custodian or keeper of the king’s horses in the old German language, has existed in many countries for 840 years or since 1185, when General Alberic Clement was appointed the world’s first Field Marshal by French King Philip Augustus, research shows.
Field Marshal Clement had accompanied King Philip to the Third Crusade but died in 1191. Since then, the world has seen a few hundred Field Marshals, including 141 in Great Britain and 64 appointed by the Russian Empire.
The title of Field Marshal was briefly abolished in France between 1793 and 1804. However, this office was later restored and Napoleon became a Field Marshal himself. In Germany, where the rank has existed since 1631, more than 100 generals have gone on to become Field Marshals. German General Hans Boitzenburg was his country’s first Field Marshal in 1631.
In 1700, Count Golovin of the Russian Empire was awarded this title, according to “Encyclopedia Britannica”. In 1736, a British Army officer, General George Hamilton, was decorated as Field Marshal, according to the “Oxford Dictionary of National Biography”. The prestigious slot of Field Marshal has existed in various countries including Great Britain, India, Pakistan, China, Finland, former Soviet Union, Russian Federation, Austria, Italy, Bangladesh, Brunei, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Greece, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Brazil, Oman, South Vietnam, Afghanistan, Albania, Zaire, Nepal, Mongolia, Finland Ethiopia Egypt, Belarus, Bahrain, Yemen, Philippines, Peru, North Korea, Ghana, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Uganda, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Romania, Croatia, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Tunisia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, South Africa, Serbia and Syria, etc.
General Sam Manekshaw was the first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1973. Under his command, the Indian forces had fought the 1971 Pakistan-India War that led to the birth of Bangladesh.
The first Indian Army Commander-in-Chief, General Madappa Cariappa, who led the Indian forces during the Indo-Pak War of 1947-48, was appointed Field Marshal in 1986. Both Manekshaw and Cariappa had lived up to the age of 94.
The Lyallpur-born Indian Air Force Officer, Arjan Singh, was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Air Force in 2002. He spearheaded the Indian Air Force in 1965. He died at 98 in 2017. A Sri Lankan Army Chief, General Sarath Fonseka, was also promoted to this rank for defeating the Tamil Tigers. After retiring from the army in 2009, he pitched himself as a presidential candidate in his country’s 2010 elections, though he was defeated by President Rajapaksa. Consequently, General Fonseka was stripped of his rank and decorations.
In March 2015, the newly appointed Sri Lankan President, Sirisena granted General Fonseka a full pardon and promoted him to the rank of Field Marshal. Kings Birendra and Mahendra of Nepal were designated Field Marshals of the British Army. About a dozen foreign monarchs were also given this title by Britain as ceremonial diplomatic gestures.
However, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I, and Japanese King Hirohito were stripped of these honours when their countries became Britain’s enemies in the two world wars. Arthur Wellesley, a former British premier, was just 44 at the time of his promotion in 1813, according to the “London Gazette”. Charles Moore, 91, was the oldest to be promoted in 1821, while a further 23 officers were promoted as Field Marshal in their eighties. A few members of the British royal family, including George V, George VI, George VII, George VIII, Queen Elizabeth’s sons Charles and Edward, and her late husband Prince Philip, were also promoted to this rank.
Meanwhile, Queen Victoria had appointed her husband, Prince Albert, as Field Marshal, and her granddaughter, Elizabeth, followed suit by elevating her life partner. General Charles Guthrie of the British Army was decorated in 2012, and General John Walker was elevated to this titular post in 2014. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and the country’s first president, was also a Field Marshal.
The United States has never used the rank of Field Marshal. However, General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Field Marshal of the Philippine Army in 1936. In 1944, the US Congress had created the rank of “General of the Army”, a five-star rank equivalent to that of Field Marshal.
Two days later, General George Marshall was promoted to this rank, becoming the first five-star general in American history.
In Saudi Arabia, Prince Khaled bin Sultan was promoted to this rank by King Fahd, following the 1990-91 Gulf War.
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