Brigadier The rank of Brigadier or Brigadier General was a senior rank in some military organizations , typically a junior or quasi General rank , senior to a Colonel but below a Major General . It should be stressed that officers with the rank of Brigadier did not necessarily command Brigades , but brigade commanders could be referred to as " brigadier " , even if they held a different rank . History . The earliest direct evidence for the rank of Brigadier dates from around the time of the Clone Wars , when it was borne by officers like Locus Geen , who led ground forces during the Coruscant Insurrection , and Gideon Tarkin , a member of a military family from Eriadu whose brother Wilhuff later became the feared Imperial Grand Moff of the Outland Regions . Little is known of the exact significance of the rank of Brigadier at this time , but it seems that it was confined to the non - clone units which came to augment the original Grand Army of the Republic over the course of the war , and Brigadier Tarkin is recorded as already holding his rank on his homeworld shortly before the Military Creation Act , making it probable ( though not quite certain ) that a rank of Brigadier was already in use with locally - based military forces within Republic space before the outbreak of the war . Under the Empire , there are very few references to a rank of Brigadier , with the position of High Colonel being somewhat analogous . However , at least one officer bearing this title is known , Brigadier Nevar , who was aboard the AT - AT walker " Blizzard 2 " at the Battle of Hoth , and apparently assassinated shortly before it was destroyed by the snowspeeders of the Rebel Alliance . In the New Republic , the rank of Brigadier was used within the military - style rank hierarchy of New Republic Intelligence , even though NRI is not known to have contained units designated as Brigades , or indeed to have had any higher hierarchy of general ranks . Brigadiers in Intelligence included Collomus , Colin Darkmere and former front - line soldier Bren Derlin . The Dornean naval commander Etahn A ' baht is said to have held a rank of " Brigadier General " in New Republic service in 26 ABY , being addressed as " General A ' baht " or " General " . A ' baht had long been known for using army - style general ranks in the manner of his own Dornean Navy rather than the standard flag ranks of the Fleet , but his status as " General " during the Black Fleet Crisis of 16 - 17 ABY was explicitly equivalent to that of an Admiral at the time , and as such , he outranked Admiral Tolokus , one of his task force commanders during the campaign . Behind the scenes . In the real world , " Brigadier " and " Brigadier General " are equivalent ranks in the British and American armed forces . In the UK and other countries where the shorter " Brigadier " rank is used , officers of this rank are not regarded as true , although their substantive rank is equivalent . Other variations on these ranks have existed historically and internationally ; in the eighteenth and earlier nineteenth centuries , a " brigadier " in the British Army was simply a brigade commander , ranking either as a or a , and in some South American air forces , a unique system is used whereby all general / flag ranks are variations on " Brigadier " . In particular , the rank of " Brigadier - General " , equivalent to a Lieutenant General or full General in the US Air Force , may provide a possible explanation for two confusing references in James Luceno ' s " Agents of Chaos " duology , alluded to above , where General Etahn A ' baht ' s full rank is given as " Brigadier General " . All other explicit references to Brigadier ranks in Star Wars appear to use " Brigadier " rather than " Brigadier General " , which according to real world usage , would suggest a senior field rank rather than a junior grade of general . However , Brigadier Locus Geen is called a " General " in The Dark Forces Saga online game scenario , and the Imperial officer identified as " Brig . Nevar " in the book " Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy " — apparently the only reference to a " Brigadier " in the Imperial military — had originally been named as " General Nevar " in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game .