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General of the Armies of the United States, or more commonly referred to as General of the Armies, is the highest possible military rank in the United States Armed Forces.〔Public Law 94-479 of 1976 to provide for the appointment of George Washington to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States〕 The rank is informally equated to that of a six star general and is the highest possible rank of the United States Army. The rank has only been held twice in history - once by an active duty officer (John J. Pershing) with a further posthumous promotion to George Washington in 1976. The rank of General of the Armies is senior to General of the Army, General of the Air Force and Fleet Admiral. ==Initial concept and history== Appointment to the rank or grade of General of the Armies of the United States has a history spanning over two centuries. In the course of its existence the authority and seniority of the rank, and perceptions by both the American public and the military establishment, have varied. The first mention of the rank "General of the Armies" was in an Act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1799. Congress provided: :''That a Commander of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of General of the Armies of the United States and the present office and title of Lieutenant General shall thereafter be abolished.'' The rank of General of the Armies was intended for bestowal upon George Washington, who held the rank of "General and Commander-in-Chief" which was a grade senior to all American major generals and brigadier generals from the American Revolutionary War. However, only a few months after the Congressional proposal, Washington died on December 14, 1799. The United States Army at that time had also drastically reduced in size and there was no practical need for a superior General rank, thus the proposal for General of the Armies was soon forgotten. In 1865, after the close of the American Civil War, Congress again revisited the idea of a superior General rank. The result was the creation of a special rank called "General of the Army of the United States", which was held by Ulysses S. Grant. This early version of General of the Army was in fact a four star general officer rank although, unlike in modern times, Congress intended for only one Army officer to hold the position thus granting the rank the same authority as the initial concept of General of the Armies. William T. Sherman,〔 and Philip Sheridan〔 would also hold the position. By Sheridan's tenure, the insignia had been changed to that of a major general superimposed upon a golden national eagle. This change was made since the United States Army of the 1880s had no rank of lieutenant general, thus creating an insignia gap between two and four stars. The rank of General of the Army of the United States ceased to exist upon the death of Sheridan in 1888. The next proposal to create a superior general rank would occur thirty one years later during the First World War. In the interim, the highest possible general officer rank of the United States Army was that of two-star major general. Within the United States Navy, three and four star ranks continued into the 20th century, leading to the creation of the Admiral of the Navy rank in 1903. George Dewey was appointed this rank which, at the time of its creation, was considered a four-star admiral with an added honorary title. A comparison between Admiral of the Navy and General of the Armies was first made in 1944, although the rank of Admiral of the Navy was never declared equal in seniority. During World War I, the United States Congress authorized the appointment of three and four star lieutenant generals to be granted temporarily for service in the National Army. Tasker H. Bliss and John J. Pershing were promoted to general in October 1917, and Peyton C. March was promoted in May 1918. Hunter Liggett and Robert Lee Bullard were both promoted to Army lieutenant general on October 16, 1918. In 1919, by Congressional directive, the rank of General of the Armies was formally established and John J. Pershing became the first person to hold the rank. After the close of the First World War, the highest active grade in the U.S. Army again became major general with all lieutenant generals and generals (except for Pershing) reverted to this permanent rank of major general.〔(Only Major Generals Now; March, Liggett and Bullard Lose War Rank ) The New York Times, June 30, 1920〕 Pershing then retired from the United States Army on September 13, 1924, and retained his rank on the U.S. Army retirement rolls until his death in 1948.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=How many U.S. Army five-star generals have there been and who were they? )〕 Four-star generals were reauthorized in 1929, starting with Charles Pelot Summerall. Pershing at this time was no longer on active duty, but his rank was regarded as senior to a full general outside the regular promotion tier. On December 14, 1944, the United States Army established a five-star general position and named this new rank "General of the Army", which was a title that had not been used since the 1880s after the Civil War. Unlike the Civil War version, this new rank was clearly a five-star position, whereas the old version was considered a four-star rank; the five star rank was also intended to be held by more than one person rather than a single supreme rank for the head of the U.S. Army. General of the Armies Pershing was still living during World War II, although he was very elderly. Nevertheless, the question was immediately raised by both the media and the public as to whether Pershing's rank "fit in" with the new five-star position. The situation was touchy from a diplomatic viewpoint, since the five-star General of the Army rank had been created largely to give American officers equal rank with British Army field marshals. The United States government was very hesitant to declare that Pershing held a senior rank to General of the Army, since this would elevate him to six-star status, the same as a grand marshal or generalissimo in Europe and possibly offend not only the British but also the French. To solve the situation, it was decided that Pershing would outrank all five-star generals by order of seniority, meaning that even if he did not have a higher rank, he was considered senior by virtue of an earlier date of promotion into that rank. There was still rampant speculation, however, that Pershing was a six-star general, and the media put the matter directly to the War Department for a clear and concise answer. In response to a direct question as to whether Pershing held six-star rank, the then Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson stated: :''It appears the intent of the Army was to make the General of the Armies senior in grade to the General of the Army. I have advised Congress that the War Department concurs in such proposed action.''〔http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/armyorank/blgoa.htm retrieved 17 August 2014〕〔https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=7151 retrieved 17 August 2014〕 Stimson's answer was very carefully worded and nowhere did he ever actually state that Pershing held six-star rank. The situation with Pershing was seemingly solved, but the matter of a six-star general in the United States military would reappear in only a few months during the summer of 1945 at which time Douglas MacArthur was considered for promotion to General of the Armies. Efforts to promote MacArthur, although never successful, would continue for the next twenty years and lapse only with his death in 1964. The rank of General of the Armies would then be revisited with a posthumous promotion of George Washington in 1978. In 1981, upon the death of Omar Bradley, brief consideration was given for another posthumous promotion; however, no action was taken beyond designing a potential "modern day" insignia for General of the Armies. The most recent reference to the rank of General of the Armies occurred in 2008 when the Army authorized the Army Service Uniform as the new standard uniform for United States soldiers. As part of the first presentations of the uniform to Army leadership, the Institute of Heraldry created an insignia chart with officer ranks ranging from Second lieutenant to General of the Armies of the United States. This 21st century insignia chart, showing both a five and six star general officer, was considered unofficial by the Army and was later refined to show insignia only to four star general.〔"IOH chart shows five and six star generals", Army Times (2008)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「General of the Armies」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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