From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Starshina

Military rank and historical civil service rank

Summary

Military rank and historical civil service rank

Field	Value
name	Starshina
native_name	Старшина
image
caption	Army and air force insignia
country	Russia
service branch

rank group	Non-commissioned officer
formation	1935
higher rank	Praporshchik
lower rank	Stárshy serzhánt
equivalents	Glavny starshina of the ship

Starshina (Старшина or ) is a senior military rank or designation in the military forces of some Slavic states, and a historical military designation. Depending on a country, it had different meanings. In the 19th century with the expansion of the Imperial Russia into Turkestan and the Central Asia, the word was even used to identify some Turkic leaders as a basic Russian word for aqsaqal (white-beard).

In Cossack armies the term initially identified a commissioned officer. During the times of Cossack Hetmanate, starshyna was a collective noun, and people described with this word were divided into starshyna (officers) and general starshyna (general officers) the latter being part of the Hetman's General Cossack Rada. In Russia the term was later adopted to describe a non-commissioned officer rank. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, most of post-Soviet countries have adopted the Russian interpretation of the word.

Since the 1930s in the Soviet and later Russian army terminology, a starshina has been equivalent to "Sergeant Major" (Most senior member at the company level) or a rank equal to a NATO OR-8. In naval terminology, starshina is a general term for junior and middle-ranking non-commissioned officers, similar in usage to "Chief Petty Officer".

The word originates from Old East Slavic language «*старъ»(old)

Russia

Imperial Russia

Later, in the Tsardom of Russia and Imperial Russia, a volostnoy starshina was the chief of a volost (a rural administrative unit), in charge of the distribution of taxes, resolving conflicts within obshchina (communes), distributing community lands and military conscription. The rank of Voiskovoi starshina (Войсковой старшина – Starshina of the Army (Host)) was introduced into the ranks of the Imperial military in 1826, as the equivalent of a "Lieutenant Colonel" in the Cossack cavalry.

Аксакал деревни Ходжагент.jpg|Uzbek, stashina (aqsaqal) village Chodshagent (ru: Ходжагент), 1868, drawing by V.V. Vereshchagin Bashkir elder.jpg|Bashkirs-starshina with starshina insignia (medal), Orenburg, 1892

Soviet Union and Russian Federation

| Non-NATO rank = The word starshina gained its modern meaning in the Red Army, and is a hangover from the functional titles (like "Brigade Commander" or "Assistant Platoon Leader") that were initially used by that force – the word literally means "senior". Most functional titles in the Red Army were abolished in 1942, but starshina remained. Starshina was the highest non-commissioned rank in the Soviet Army until the reintroduction of the imperial rank of Praporshchik in 1972.

In the Soviet Navy, the term starshina was introduced between 1940 and 1943 as term equivalent to "Petty Officer" for every enlisted seaman above "Matros, 1st class." There was also created a rank equal to starshina in the Army, but termed Glavnyy korabel'nyy starshina () – this is the naval rank depicted in the tables below.

Insignia in the Red Army (1919–1946) and Soviet Armed Forces (1946–1991)

(1919–1924)	collar
insignia
(1924–1935)	collar insignia
(1935–1940)	collar insignia
(1941–1943)	Technical
troops
(1943–1946)	Ground combat troops
(1943–1955)	Ground forces
(1955–1963)	Air force,
airborne forces,
air defence forces
(1955–1963)	Navy
(1924–1940)	Navy
(1955–1963)	Air force, airborne forces
(1963–1994)

Insignia in the Russian Federation

Russian Federation

[[File:RFAF - Starshina - Every day green.png	50px]]
Strategic Missile Troops,

Insignia

Russia-Army-OR-8-1994-field.svg|Старшына Staršyna (Belarusian Ground Forces) Bulgaria-Army-OR-8.svg|Старшина Starshyna (Bulgarian Land Forces) 06.Kyrgyzstan Army-MSG.svg|Старшина Starşina (Kyrgyz Army) Russia-Army-OR-8-2010.svg|Старшина́ Starshyná (Russian Ground Forces) Tajikistan-Army-OR-8.png|Старшина Starshyna (Tajik Ground Forces) Turkmenistan army OR-8.svg|Starşina (Turkmen Ground Forces)

Language variants

In some former communist state, the rank of "older" is used with the local language variants. Armenia-Army-OR-8.svg|ԱՎԱԳ Avag (Armenian Ground Forces) Mongolian Army-SGT-service.svg|Aхлагч Akhlagch (Mongolian Ground Force)

Naval variants

Glavny starshina of the ship
Glavny starshina
Starshina 1st stage
Starshina 2nd stage

References

[https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=/pages/c/o/cossackstarshynait.htm Cossack starshyna]. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (www.encyclopediaofukraine.com)
"Military Rank / Russian Federation".
"Указ Президента Республики Беларусь от 21.07.2009 N 388 "О военной форме одежды, знаках различия по воинским званиям и внесении дополнений в Указ Президента Республики Беларусь от 9 июня 2006 г. N 383"". Government of Belarus.
(12 May 2009). "ЗАКОН ЗА ОТБРАНАТА И ВЪОРЪЖЕНИТЕ СИЛИ НА РЕПУБЛИКА БЪЛГАРИЯ".
(9 February 2009). "Кыргыз Республикасынын жарандарынын жалпыга бирдей аскердик милдети жөнүндө, аскердик жана альтернативдик кызматтар жөнүндө". Ministry of Justice (Kyrgyzstan).
(12 March 2010). "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 11 марта 2010 года № 293 "О военной форме одежды, знаках различия военнослужащих и ведомственных знаках отличия"". Российской газеты.
(13 April 2017). "ҚОНУНИ ҶУМҲУРИИ ТОҶИКИСТОН ДАР БОРАИ ЎҲДАДОРИИ УМУМИИ ҲАРБӢ ВА ХИЗМАТИ ҲАРБӢ". The National Assembly of the Republic of Tajikistan.
"TÜRKMENISTANYŇ KANUNY Harby borçlulyk we harby gulluk hakynda (Türkmenistanyň Mejlisiniň Maglumatlary 2010 ý., № 3, 58-nji madda) (Türkmenistanyň 01.10.2011 ý. № 234-IV Kanuny esasynda girizilen üýtgetmeler we goşmaçalar bilen)". Ministry of Defense (Turkmenistan).
(15 November 2017). "ԶԻՆՎՈՐԱԿԱՆ ԾԱՌԱՅՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԵՎ ԶԻՆԾԱՌԱՅՈՂԻ ԿԱՐԳԱՎԻՃԱԿԻ ՄԱՍԻՆ". Legal information system of Armenia.
(25 November 2019). "Order of the Chief of the General Staff: Number A / 595".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

military-organization-of-cossacks military-ranks-of-russia military-ranks-of-the-soviet-union military-ranks-of-ukraine titles-of-national-or-ethnic-leadership

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Starshina — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report