Rising from the ranks,through the ranks or commissioned from the ranks refers to enlisted soldiers being commissioned as officers. In class-conscious societies of the past, such as Britain during the Victorian era, for example, this was a relatively rare occurrence.
Despite the nickname "the little corporal", Napoleon did not rise from the ranks. (He was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from military school.) However, he did famously state, "Tout soldat français porte dans sa giberne le bâton de maréchal de France." ("Every French soldier carries the baton of a marshal of France in his knapsack.") That is, any soldier could attain such a lofty rank. And indeed, many seized the opportunities opened to them by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars to serve as such under his command, including:
François Achille Bazaine (1811–1888), over the course of four decades of service, rose from private to Marshal of France in 1863.
An 1857 report stated the following numbers of non-commissioned officers received commissions in the British Army: [1]
British soldiers promoted from the ranks during the two World Wars were sometimes known as temporary gentlemen.
| Generals | Enlisted | Rank attained | Date attained | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Horsford (1751–1817) | 1772, East India Company | Major general | June 1811 | Major-general in the East India Company's Bengal Army. |
| Sir John Elley (1764–1839) | 1789, Royal Regiment of Horse Guards | Major general | August 1819 | Fought in the Napoleonic Wars. |
| Lieutenant general | 10 January 1837 | |||
| Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet (1860–1933) | 1877, trooper, 16th (The Queen's) Lancers | Brigadier | 29 November 1907 | Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) (1916-1918). Only soldier in the history of the British Army to rise from an enlisted rank to its highest rank. [2] |
| Major general | 26 December 1910 | |||
| Lieutenant general | 13 September 1914 | |||
| General | 23 December 1915 | |||
| Field marshal | 29 March 1920 | |||
| Hector MacDonald (1853–1903) | 1870, Inverness-shire Highland Rifle Volunteers | Brigadier | October 1899 | |
| Major general | 26 March 1902 | |||
| Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet (1911–1996) | 1939, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders | Brigadier | 11 April 1944 | Rose to the rank of brigadier during the Second World War. |
| Major general | 16 June 1947 | |||
| Enoch Powell (1912–1998) | 1939, Royal Warwickshire Regiment | Brigadier | 3 May 1945 | Rose to the rank of brigadier during the Second World War. |
"Mustang" is American military slang for soldiers who rise from the ranks. Notable mustangs include:
In military fiction, this is a not uncommon trope, Richard Sharpe being a prime example.
In Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers , the main character Juan "Johnny" Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry as a private, and later receives a direct appointment to lieutenant.
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