65-531: Generalfeldmarschall ( German: [ɡenəʁaːlˈfɛltmaʁʃal] ; from Old High German marahscalc , "marshal, stable master, groom"; English: general field marshal , field marshal general , or field marshal ; often abbreviated to Feldmarschall ) was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire , ( Reichsgeneralfeldmarschall ); in the Habsburg monarchy ,
130-633: A ceremonial marshal's baton. Ferdinand Schörner , another loyal officer, was promoted on 5 April 1945. Three weeks later, he was made Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in Hitler's last will and testament . On 25 April, just five days before his own suicide , Adolf Hitler made Luftwaffe General Robert Ritter von Greim a field marshal and commander in chief of the German Air Force after Göring had fallen out of Hitler's favour, making Greim
195-839: A colonel general were in the: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS : SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Police: In the Land Forces and Air Forces of the National People's Army , as well as the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic Generaloberst was in line to Soviet military doctrine third general officer rank in that particular general's rank group. Pertaining to
260-533: A fortification or major town. The equivalent of Generaloberst in the German Navy was Generaladmiral ( general admiral or admiral-general). In 1870, Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia and Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm —who had commanded armies during the Franco-Prussian War —became the first Prussian princes appointed to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall . The exalted nature of the rank
325-745: A marshal's crossed batons on their shoulder boards, compared to the three pips of a Colonel General; however, this was changed to four pips in 1911. Generaloberst was the second-highest general officer rank, below field marshal , in the Prussian Army as well as in the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1921–1933), the Wehrmacht (which included the Luftwaffe , established in 1935) of Nazi Germany (1933–45) and
390-590: Is also a hundred-year "dearth of continuous texts" after the death of Notker Labeo in 1022. The mid-11th century is widely accepted as marking the transition to Middle High German . Old High German encompasses the dialects that had undergone the Second Sound Shift during the 6th century—namely all of the Upper and Central German dialects. The Franks in the western part of Francia ( Neustria and western Austrasia ) gradually adopted Gallo-Romance by
455-564: Is given in four Old High German dialects below. Because these are translations of a liturgical text, they are best not regarded as examples of idiomatic language, but they do show dialect variation very clearly. Generaloberst A Generaloberst (" colonel general ") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht , the Austro-Hungarian Common Army ,
520-471: Is in Modern German). The following is a sample conjugation of a strong verb, nëman "to take". Any description of OHG syntax faces a fundamental problem: texts translated from or based on a Latin original will be syntactically influenced by their source, while the verse works may show patterns that are determined by the needs of rhyme and metre, or that represent literary archaisms. Nonetheless,
585-506: Is the earliest stage of the German language , conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous West Germanic dialects that had undergone the set of consonantal changes called the Second Sound Shift . At the start of this period, dialect areas reflected the territories of largely independent tribal kingdoms, but by 788
650-578: Is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Other important works are the Evangelienbuch ( Gospel harmony ) of Otfrid von Weissenburg , the Ludwigslied and the 9th century Georgslied . The boundary to Early Middle High German (from c. 1050 ) is not clear-cut. An example of Early Middle High German literature is the Annolied . The Lord's Prayer
715-453: The 6th Army at the Battle of Stalingrad , to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall via field radio on 30 January 1943, a day before his army's inevitable surrender, in order to encourage him to continue to fight until death or commit suicide. In the promotion, Hitler noted that no German or, before that, Prussian field marshal had ever been captured alive. Generalfeldmarschall Paulus surrendered
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#1732771885983780-660: The Abrogans , a Latin–Old High German glossary variously dated between 750 and 780, probably from Reichenau . The 8th century Merseburg Incantations are the only remnant of pre-Christian German literature. The earliest texts not dependent on Latin originals would seem to be the Hildebrandslied and the Wessobrunn Prayer , both recorded in manuscripts of the early 9th century, though the texts are assumed to derive from earlier copies. The Bavarian Muspilli
845-760: The Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary , the rank Feldmarschall was used. The rank was the equivalent to Großadmiral (English: Grand Admiral ) in the Kaiserliche Marine and Kriegsmarine , a five-star rank , comparable to OF-10 in today's NATO naval forces . The rank existed in the Austrian Empire as Kaiserlicher Feldmarschall ("imperial field marshal") and in Austria-Hungary as Kaiserlicher und königlicher Feldmarschall - Császári és királyi tábornagy ("imperial and royal field marshal"). Both were based on prior usage during
910-706: The Carolingian Renaissance in the 9th. The dedication to the preservation of Old High German epic poetry among the scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance was significantly greater than could be suspected from the meagre survivals we have today (less than 200 lines in total between the Hildebrandslied and the Muspilli ). Einhard tells how Charlemagne himself ordered that the epic lays should be collected for posterity. It
975-771: The Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) (German Democratic Republic, i.e. East Germany ) created the rank of Marshal of the German Democratic Republic on 25 March 1982. A general could be appointed to this rank by the State Council ( Staatsrat ; the head-of-state council of the GDR) during wartime or for exceptional military achievement; no one ever held the rank, however. The ranks of Generalfeldmarschall , Generaloberst , Großadmiral and Generaladmiral no longer exist in
1040-608: The East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was equal to a four-star full general but below a general field marshal . The rank was equivalent to a Generaladmiral in the Kriegsmarine until 1945 or to a Flottenadmiral in the Volksmarine until 1990. It was the highest ordinary military rank and the highest military rank awarded in peacetime ;
1105-709: The Generaloberst – Vezérezredes rank was introduced to the Austro-Hungarian Common Army . It was the second highest behind the Feldmarschall – Tábornagy rank. Rank insignia of the German Empire 1871 until 1918, here shoulder strap of the German Imperial Army : twisted of silver- and golden-braids with three stars to "Colonel general" (equivalent to four-star rank , today: OF-9 ) . The equivalent ranks of
1170-511: The Heer ). Later that same month, Hitler promoted Luftwaffe General Wolfram von Richthofen to the rank for his service in the Crimean campaign , and the later part of the Battle of Stalingrad . From 1944 to 1945, three more men would reach this rank. In early 1944, Walter Model , one of Hitler's most loyal generals, was promoted to the rank; he was also the last German field marshal to receive
1235-761: The Heer ); and Albert Kesselring , Erhard Milch and Hugo Sperrle (of the Luftwaffe ). The holders of this rank had the right to a “direct presentation to the Führer ”. In 1942, three other men were promoted— Wüstenfuchs ('Desert Fox') Erwin Rommel (22 June) for the siege of Tobruk , Erich von Manstein (30 June) for the Siege of Sevastopol , and Georg von Küchler (30 June) for his success as Oberbefehlshaber der Heeresgruppe Nord (commander-in-chief of Army Group North). Hitler promoted Friedrich Paulus , commander of
1300-618: The Holy Roman Empire . The Emperor - King held the rank ex officio , other officers were promoted as required. Between 1914 and 1918, ten men attained this rank, of whom four were members of the reigning Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. In the Royal Prussian Army , the subsequent Imperial German Army and later in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany , the rank of Generalfeldmarschall had several privileges, such as elevation to nobility, equal protocol rank with Cabinet ministers,
1365-548: The Middle High German forms of words, particularly with respect to the consonants. Old High German had six phonemic short vowels and five phonemic long vowels. Both occurred in stressed and unstressed syllables. In addition, there were six diphthongs. Notes: By the mid 11th century the many different vowels found in unstressed syllables had almost all been reduced to ⟨e⟩ / ə / . Examples: (The New High German forms of these words are broadly
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#17327718859831430-722: The Second World War , Adolf Hitler reintroduced the rank into the Wehrmacht with the promotion of the Reich Minister of War, Generaloberst Werner von Blomberg (20 April 1936), and the Aviation Minister, Hermann Göring (4 February 1938), to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall . In the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the rank of Generalfeldmarschall remained
1495-784: The State of Defence , that supreme command authority is transferred to the Federal Chancellor . The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr is the military chief of defence and heads the Armed Forces Command Staff ( German : Führungsstab der Streitkräfte ). The rank of Field Marshal was first used in the northern German State of Saxony within the Holy Roman Empire in 1631. It was then used nine further times in that century and seven times in
1560-503: The superlative form of Germanic ober ( upper ), cognate to English over and so "superior general" might be a more idiomatic rendering. The rank was created in 1854, originally for Emperor William I , the Prince of Prussia , because members of the royal family were traditionally not promoted to the rank of field marshal and it was limited to wartime. In the 19th century, the rank was largely honorary and usually held only by members of
1625-533: The (Latin) text or other aid to the reader. Old High German is generally dated from around 750 to around 1050. The start of this period sees the beginning of the OHG written tradition, at first with only glosses, but with substantial translations and original compositions by the 9th century. However, the fact that the defining feature of Old High German, the Second Sound Shift, may have started as early as
1690-700: The 18th century. It was used twice in the 19th century by the Kingdom of Saxony after it became part of the German Empire in 1871. The rank of Field Marshal General was first used in Ethiopia in 2022. On 8 January 2022, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presided over the Ethiopian National Defense Force promotion ceremony, that saw the rank be introduced to Birhanu Jula , Chief of General Staff . Old High German Old High German ( OHG ; German : Althochdeutsch (Ahdt., Ahd.) )
1755-431: The 6th century and is complete by 750, means that some take the 6th century to be the start of the period. Alternatively, terms such as Voralthochdeutsch ("pre-OHG") or vorliterarisches Althochdeutsch ("pre-literary OHG") are sometimes used for the period before 750. Regardless of terminology, all recognize a distinction between a pre-literary period and the start of a continuous tradition of written texts around
1820-720: The Biblical texts were translated from Greek, not Latin) raise the possibility that it was an independent development. Germanic also had no future tense, but again OHG created periphrastic forms, using an auxiliary verb skulan (Modern German sollen ) and the infinitive, or werden and the present participle: Thu scalt beran einan alawaltenden (Otfrid's Evangelienbuch I, 5,23) "You shall bear an almighty one" Inti nu uuirdist thu suigenti' (Tatian 2,9) "And now you will start to fall silent" Latin: Et ecce eris tacens (Luke 1:20) The present tense continued to be used alongside these new forms to indicate future time (as it still
1885-701: The East German Nationale Volksarmee (1949–1991). As military ranks were often used for other uniformed services, the rank was also used by the Waffen-SS and the Ordnungspolizei of Nazi Germany and the Volkspolizei and Stasi of East Germany. In East Germany, the rank was junior to the general of the army ( Armeegeneral ), as well as to the briefly-extant and never-awarded rank of Marschall der DDR . In 1915
1950-468: The Late OHG changes that affected Middle High German : Germanic had a simple two-tense system, with forms for a present and preterite . These were inherited by Old High German, but in addition OHG developed three periphrastic tenses : the perfect , pluperfect and future . The periphrastic past tenses were formed by combining the present or preterite of an auxiliary verb ( wësan , habēn ) with
2015-692: The OHG Isidor or Notker show a similar awareness. The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of the East Franconian dialect in the 9th century. This is the dialect of the monastery of Fulda , and specifically of the Old High German Tatian . Dictionaries and grammars of OHG often use the spellings of the Tatian as a substitute for genuine standardised spellings, and these have the advantage of being recognizably close to
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2080-459: The administration and the Church was Latin, and this unification did not therefore lead to any development of a supra-regional variety of Frankish nor a standardized Old High German; the individual dialects retained their identity. There was no standard or supra-regional variety of Old High German—every text is written in a particular dialect, or in some cases a mixture of dialects. Broadly speaking,
2145-424: The almighty father"). By the end of the OHG period, however, use of a subject pronoun has become obligatory, while the definite article has developed from the original demonstrative pronoun ( der, diu, daz ) and the numeral ein ("one") has come into use as an indefinite article. These developments are generally seen as mechanisms to compensate for the loss of morphological distinctions which resulted from
2210-494: The basic word order rules are broadly those of Modern Standard German . Two differences from the modern language are the possibility of omitting a subject pronoun and lack of definite and indefinite articles . Both features are exemplified in the start of the 8th century Alemannic creed from St Gall : kilaubu in got vater almahticun (Modern German, Ich glaube an Gott den allmächtigen Vater ; English "I believe in God
2275-610: The beginning of the OHG period, with the linguistic boundary later stabilised approximately along the course of the Meuse and Moselle in the east, and the northern boundary probably a little further south than the current boundary between French and Dutch . North of this line, the Franks retained their language, but it was not affected by the Second Sound Shift, which thus separated the Low Franconian or Old Dutch varieties from
2340-443: The conquests of Charlemagne had brought all OHG dialect areas into a single polity . The period also saw the development of a stable linguistic border between German and Gallo-Romance , later French . Old High German largely preserved the synthetic inflectional system inherited from its ancestral Germanic forms. The eventual disruption of these patterns, which led to the more analytic grammar, are generally considered to mark
2405-520: The end of the OHG period. At the beginning of the period, no Germanic language was spoken east of a line from Kieler Förde to the rivers Elbe and Saale , earlier Germanic speakers in the Northern part of the area having been displaced by the Slavs . This area did not become German-speaking until the German eastward expansion ("Ostkolonisation", "Ostsiedlung") of the early 12th century, though there
2470-555: The end of the Old High German period, Notker Labeo was among the greatest stylists in the language, and developed a systematic orthography. Old High German marked the culmination of a shift away from runic writing of the pre-OHG period to Latin alphabet . This shift led to considerable variations in spelling conventions, as individual scribes and scriptoria had to develop their own transliteration of sounds not native to Latin script . Otfrid von Weissenburg , in one of
2535-454: The following day anyway, claiming, Ich habe nicht die Absicht, mich für diesen bayerischen Gefreiten zu erschießen. ("I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bavarian corporal.") A disappointed Hitler commented, "That's the last field marshal I make in this war!" Nevertheless, he appointed seven more, three on the very day following Paulus' surrender: Ernst Busch , Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist and Maximilian von Weichs (all members of
2600-470: The higher rank of general field marshal was awarded only in wartime by the head of state. In general, a Generaloberst had the same privileges as a general field marshal. A literal translation of Generaloberst would be "uppermost general", but it is often translated as "colonel-general" by analogy to Oberst , "colonel", such as in countries in which the rank was adopted like Russia ( Russian : генерал-полковник , general-polkovnik ). "Oberst" derives from
2665-470: The highest military rank until July 1940 , when Hermann Göring was promoted to the newly created higher rank of Reichsmarschall . The equivalent of a Generalfeldmarschall in the navy was Großadmiral (grand admiral). Unlike Kaiser Wilhelm II , Hitler distributed the rank more widely, promoting 25 Heer and Luftwaffe officers in total and two Kriegsmarine Grand Admirals. (Another promotion, that of Austrian General Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli ,
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2730-437: The language by the 8th century, others exclude Langobardic from discussion of OHG. As Heidermanns observes, this exclusion is based solely on the external circumstances of preservation and not on the internal features of the language. The end of the period is less controversial. The sound changes reflected in spelling during the 11th century led to the remodelling of the entire system of noun and adjective declensions . There
2795-594: The language of the Carolingian court or that it is attested in the Ludwigslied , whose presence in a French manuscript suggests bilingualism , are controversial. Old High German literacy is a product of the monasteries, notably at St. Gallen , Reichenau Island and Fulda . Its origins lie in the establishment of the German church by Saint Boniface in the mid-8th century, and it was further encouraged during
2860-561: The last German field marshal in history. Financially, the rank of Generalfeldmarschall in Nazi Germany was very rewarding as, apart from a yearly salary, Hitler introduced tax free fringe benefits for generals in the range of 2,000 to 4,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (€8897–17793 in 2021) per month in 1940. He also bestowed generous presents on his highest officers, with Leeb receiving 250,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (€1,112,067 in 2021) for his 65th birthday from Hitler. Promotion to
2925-418: The main dialect divisions of Old High German seem to have been similar to those of later periods—they are based on established territorial groupings and the effects of the Second Sound Shift, which have remained influential until the present day. But because the direct evidence for Old High German consists solely of manuscripts produced in a few major ecclesiastical centres, there is no isogloss information of
2990-472: The majority of Old High German texts are religious in nature and show strong influence of ecclesiastical Latin on the vocabulary. In fact, most surviving prose texts are translations of Latin originals. Even secular works such as the Hildebrandslied are often preserved only because they were written on spare sheets in religious codices . The earliest Old High German text is generally taken to be
3055-474: The middle of the 8th century. Differing approaches are taken, too, to the position of Langobardic . Langobardic is an Elbe Germanic and thus Upper German dialect, and it shows early evidence for the Second Sound Shift. For this reason, some scholars treat Langobardic as part of Old High German, but with no surviving texts — just individual words and names in Latin texts — and the speakers starting to abandon
3120-653: The more easterly Franconian dialects which formed part of Old High German. In the south, the Lombards , who had settled in Northern Italy , maintained their dialect until their conquest by Charlemagne in 774. After this the Germanic-speaking population, who were by then almost certainly bilingual, gradually switched to the Romance language of the native population , so that Langobardic had died out by
3185-474: The new German (until 1990 West German ) Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr , which were created in 1956. Currently, the highest military grades in the Bundeswehr are general and admiral . The Commander-in-Chief of the Bundeswehr is, in peacetime, according to Article 65a of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (constitution), the civilian Federal Minister of Defence , who holds supreme command authority over all soldiers. In wartime, during
3250-498: The past participle. Initially the past participle retained its original function as an adjective and showed case and gender endings - for intransitive verbs the nominative, for transitive verbs the accusative. For example: After thie thö argangana warun ahtu taga ( Tatian , 7,1) "When eight days had passed", literally "After that then gone-by were eight days" Latin: Et postquam consummati sunt dies octo (Luke 2:21) phīgboum habeta sum giflanzotan (Tatian 102,2) "There
3315-420: The prefaces to his Evangelienbuch , offers comments on and examples of some of the issues which arise in adapting the Latin alphabet for German: " ...sic etiam in multis dictis scriptio est propter litterarum aut congeriem aut incognitam sonoritatem difficilis. " ("...so also, in many expressions, spelling is difficult because of the piling up of letters or their unfamiliar sound.") The careful orthographies of
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#17327718859833380-421: The princely families or the Governor of Berlin . The regular promotion of professional officers to the grade did not begin until 1911. Since the rank of Generalfeldmarschall was reserved for wartime promotions, the additional distinction of a "Colonel general with the rank of field marshal" ( Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls ) was created. Such generals were entitled to wear three pips and
3445-530: The rank did not guarantee Hitler's ongoing favour, however. As the tide of the war turned, Hitler took out his frustrations on his top commanders, relieving most of the Generalfeldmarschalls of duty before the war's conclusion. Bock, Brauchitsch, Leeb, and List were all relieved of their posts in 1942 for perceived failures during Operation Barbarossa and took no further active part in the war. Kleist, Manstein and Sperrle were similarly retired in 1944 and Rundstedt and Weichs in March 1945. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder
3510-407: The right of reporting directly to the monarch , and a constant escort. In 1854, the rank of Generaloberst ( colonel general ) was created in order to promote Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia (the later Wilhelm I, German Emperor ) to senior rank without breaking the rule that only wartime field commanders could receive the rank of field marshal for a victory in a decisive battle or the capture of
3575-469: The same as in Middle High German.) The main difference between Old High German and the West Germanic dialects from which it developed is that the former underwent the Second Sound Shift . The result of the sound change has been that the consonantal system of German is different from all other West Germanic languages, including English and Low German . This list has the sound changes that transformed Common West Germanic into Old High German but not
3640-405: The sort on which modern dialect maps are based. For this reason the dialects may be termed "monastery dialects" (German Klosterdialekte ). The main dialects, with their bishoprics and monasteries : In addition, there are two poorly attested dialects: The continued existence of a West Frankish dialect in the Western, Romanized part of Francia is uncertain. Claims that this might have been
3705-413: The transition to Middle High German . Surviving Old High German texts were all composed in monastic scriptoria , so the overwhelming majority of them are religious in nature or, when secular, belong to the Latinate literary culture of Christianity . The earliest instances, which date to the latter half of the 8th century, are glosses —notes added to margins or between lines that provide translation of
3770-421: The weakening of unstressed vowels in the endings of nouns and verbs (see above). The early part of the period saw considerable missionary activity, and by 800 the whole of the Frankish Empire had, in principle, been Christianized. All the manuscripts which contain Old High German texts were written in ecclesiastical scriptoria by scribes whose main task was writing in Latin rather than German. Consequently,
3835-432: Was retired in January 1943 following a fierce argument with Hitler over the future of the German surface fleet. Model, one of Hitler's most successful commanders, had nevertheless lost the Fuhrer's confidence by war's end and committed suicide to avoid capture and likely trial as a war criminal . Milch was relieved after conspiring unsuccessfully to have Göring removed from command of the Luftwaffe , and even Göring himself
3900-477: Was a fig tree that some man had planted", literally "Fig-tree had certain ( or someone) planted" Latin: arborem fici habebat quidam plantatam (Luke 13:6) In time, however, these endings fell out of use and the participle came to be seen no longer as an adjective but as part of the verb, as in Modern German. This development is taken to be arising from a need to render Medieval Latin forms, but parallels in other Germanic languages (particularly Gothic, where
3965-400: Was honorary.) Four weeks after the Heer and Luftwaffe had won the Battle of France , Hitler promoted nine Army generals and three of the air force to the rank of field marshal on 19 July 1940 : Walther von Brauchitsch , Wilhelm Keitel , Gerd von Rundstedt , Fedor von Bock , Wilhelm von Leeb , Wilhelm List , Günther von Kluge , Erwin von Witzleben and Walter von Reichenau (of
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#17327718859834030-419: Was some attempt at conquest and missionary work under the Ottonians . The Alemannic polity was conquered by Clovis I in 496, and in the last twenty years of the 8th century Charlemagne subdued the Saxons, the Frisians, the Bavarians, and the Lombards, bringing all continental Germanic-speaking peoples under Frankish rule. While this led to some degree of Frankish linguistic influence , the language of both
4095-479: Was stripped of his offices and expelled from the Nazi Party in Hitler's last days. Schörner ignominiously abandoned his command to save himself in the war's last days. Kluge, Witzleben and Rommel were either executed or forced to commit suicide for their real or imagined roles in the 20 July plot against Hitler. By war's end, only Keitel, Kesselring, Greim and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz were still in positions of military responsibility. The National People's Army of
4160-459: Was the neglect or religious zeal of later generations that led to the loss of these records. Thus, it was Charlemagne's weak successor, Louis the Pious , who destroyed his father's collection of epic poetry on account of its pagan content. Rabanus Maurus , a student of Alcuin and later an abbot at Fulda, was an important advocate of the cultivation of German literacy. Among his students were Walafrid Strabo and Otfrid of Weissenburg . Towards
4225-560: Was underscored during World War I , when only five German officers (excluding honorary promotions to members of royal families and foreign officers) were designated Generalfeldmarschall : Paul von Hindenburg , August von Mackensen , Karl von Bülow , Hermann von Eichhorn , and Remus von Woyrsch . Only a single naval officer, Henning von Holtzendorff , was designated Grand Admiral. Not even such well-known German commanders as Erich Ludendorff , Erich von Falkenhayn , or Reinhard Scheer received marshal's batons or Grand Admiral rank. Before
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