Privy Councillor was the civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. Initially, it was a civil rank of 4th class, but from 1724 it was upgraded to the 3rd class. The rank was equal to those of Lieutenant-General in the Army and Vice-Admiral in the Navy. The rank holder should be addressed as Your Excellency.
Grigori Chkhartishvili, better known by his pen name Boris Akunin, is a Georgian-Russian writer residing in the United Kingdom. He is best known as a writer of historical fiction, specifically his Erast Fandorin detective novels. He is also an essayist and literary translator. Grigory Chkhartishvili has also written under pen names Anatoly Brusnikin, Anna Borisova, and Akunin-Chkhartishvili. His characters include Erast Fandorin, Nicholas Fandorin and Sister Pelagia.
The Table of Ranks was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the existing hereditary nobility, or boyars. The Table of Ranks was formally abolished on 11 November 1917 by the newly established Bolshevik government. During the Vladimir Putin presidency, a similar formalized structure has been reintroduced into many governmental departments, combined with formal uniforms and insignia: Local Government, Diplomatic Service, Prosecution Service, Investigative Committee.
Field marshal was, with the exception of Generalissimo, the highest military rank of the Russian Empire. It was a military rank of the 1st class in the Imperial Russian Army and equal to those of Chancellor and Active Privy Councillor, 1st class in civil service, and General Admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the rank was abolished, alongside the Table of Ranks. In 1935 however, the Red Army introduced the equivalent rank of "Marshal of the Soviet Union" as the highest military rank of the Soviet Union, when ranks were restored under Stalin's rule.
Modern Russian military ranks trace their roots to the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. Most of the rank names were borrowed from existing German/Prussian, French, English, Dutch, and Polish ranks upon the formation of the Russian regular army in the late 17th century.
The Russian nobility or dvoryanstvo arose in the Middle Ages. In 1914, it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members, out of a total population of 138,200,000. Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian noble estates staffed most of the Russian government and possessed a self-governing body, the Assembly of the Nobility.
Podpolkovnik is a military rank in Slavic and nearby countries which corresponds to the lieutenant colonel in the English-speaking states and military.
The government reforms of Peter I aimed to modernize the Tsardom of Russia based on Western European models.
The Supreme Privy Council of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726 and operative until 1730, originated as a body of advisors to Empress Catherine I.
Collegiate Councillor was a civil rank of 6th class in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. It was equal to those of Colonel in the Army and Captain 1st rank in the Navy. The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Well Born.
State Councillor was the civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 5th class and equal to those of Brigadier in the Army, Captain-Commander in the Navy, and Marshal of the Court (Russia) or Grand Cupbearer in the Court. In 1796, the rank of Brigadier was canceled in the Army, so the rank of State councillor was placed between ranks of Major General and Colonel. Until 1856, the rank gave the right of hereditary nobility; later, that threshold was raised to the 4th class. The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Born.
Vasily Ivanovich Berkov was a Russian shipbuilder and from 1829 to 1870 Director of the Admiralty Shipyard of Saint Petersburg, possibly in the rank of Counter-Admiral. Berkov deserves special credit for his translations of West-European literature on shipbuilding into Russian. He was one of the so-called Rusluie, a Dutch community in 18th and 19th century Saint Petersburg, most of whose members originated from Vriezenveen, Berkov's native town.
General of the Infantry was a general of the branch rank in the Imperial Russian Army. It served as the rank below General-feldmarschal, and was the highest rank one could achieve in the infantry from 1796 to 1917.
Active Privy Councillor was the civil rank in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 2nd class and equal to those of General-in-Chief in the Army and Admiral in the Navy. The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Excellency. If the Foreign Minister had the rank of the 2nd class, he could be called Vice-Chancellor.
Active Privy Councillor, 1st class was the civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 1st class and equal to those of Chancellor, General Field Marshal in the Army, and General Admiral in the Navy. The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Excellency.
Chancellor of the Russian Empire was a civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. Chancellor was a civil rank of the 1st class and equal to those of Active Privy Councillor, 1st class, General Field Marshal in the Army, and General Admiral in the Navy. The rank holder should be addressed as Your High Excellency.
The Russian court councillor was a civilian rank of the 7th class in the Table of Ranks.
The Decree on the Abolition of Estates and Civil Ranks was a decree approved by the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies at its meeting on November 23, 1917 and agreed to by the Council of People's Commissars on November 24, 1917. Published on November 25, 1917 in the Newspaper of the Provisional Workers and Peasants Government and Izvestia, on December 21, 1917 published in the Assembly of the Laws and Regulations of the Workers and Peasants Government. The decree contained a provision on the entry into force "from the date of its publication".
Merchant guild was a form of organization of merchants in the Russian Empire. Since the late 18th century, membership in a guild was virtually compulsory for a trader to have the formal status of merchant. The guild system ended formally in 1917.
The Ober-Stallmeister was a post (rank) in the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, from 4 February 1722 – a court rank of the 3rd class in the Table of Ranks.
