Field marshal Field marshal is a very senior military rank , ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks . Usually it is the highest rank in an army , and when it is , few ( if any ) persons are appointed to it . The origin of the rank dates to the early Middle Ages , originally meaning the keeper of the king ' s horses ( from Old German " Marh - scalc " = " horse - servant " ) , from the time of the early Frankish kings . Promotion to the rank of field marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general ( a wartime victory ) . However , the rank has also been used as a divisional command rank and also as a brigade command rank . Examples of the different uses of the rank include Austria - Hungary , Prussia and Germany for an extraordinary achievement ; Spain and Mexico for a divisional command ( Spanish , " mariscal de campo " ) ; and France , Portugal and Brazil for a brigade command ( French : " maréchal de camp " , Portuguese " marechal de campo " ) . The traditional attribute distinguishing a field marshal is a baton . The baton nowadays is purely ornamental , and as such may be richly decorated . That said , it is not necessary for the insignia to be a baton . ( Such is the case in Russia post - 1991 and the former Soviet Union , which use a jewelled star referred to as a marshal ' s star . ) The exact wording of the titles used by field marshals varies : examples include " marshal " and " field marshal general " . The air force equivalent in the Commonwealth and many Middle Eastern air forces is marshal of the air force ( not to be confused with air marshal ) . ( Navies , which usually do not use the nomenclature employed by armies or air forces , use titles such as " fleet admiral , " " grand admiral " or " admiral of the fleet " for the equivalent rank . ) Regional examples . China . During Imperial rule in China , different dynasty gave different titles to generals . A very similar title is “ 司馬 ” ( sima ) in Eastern Han dynasty , which literally means " master of horse " , and later became a two - character surname too . “ 司馬 ” is one of the Three Excellencies in Eastern Han , who is in charge of the country ' s military affairs . Later , a more common title for a field marshal or a commandant was ( 元帅 " Yuan Shuai " ) or grand field marshal ( 大元帅 " da yuan shuai " ) . One of the most famous of these generals was Yue Fei from the Song Dynasty After the People ' s Republic of China was established in 1949 , it has promoted 10 military commanders to the rank of marshal . Egypt . Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was President Hosni Mubarak ' s Defence Minister and , after Mubarak was forced from power in the 2011 Egyptian revolution , Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ( thus de facto head of state ) . The current Minister of Defence is General Abdul Fattah Al Sisi France . In the French army of the " Ancien Régime " , the normal brigade command rank was field marshal ( " maréchal de camp " ) . In 1793 , during the French Revolution , the rank of field marshal was replaced by the rank of brigade general . The rank insignia of field marshal was two stars ( one - star being used for a senior colonel rank ) . The French field marshal rank was below lieutenant - general , which in 1793 became divisional - general . In the title " maréchal de camp " and the English " field marshal " , there is an etymological confusion in the French " camp " between the English words " camp " and " field " . The French rank of field marshal should not be confused with the rank of Marshal of France , which has been the highest rank of the French Army since the higher dignity of Marshal General of France was abolished in 1848 ( although in theory it is not an actual rank but a " state dignity " ) India . There have been two Indian field marshals . Sam Manekshaw , the 8th chief of staff of the Indian Army in 1969 , was the first Indian military officer to hold the rank . The other was Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa . Japan . Until the end of World War II , Japan also bestowed the honorary title of field marshal ( 元帥 " gensui " ) on successful generals and admirals ; they would however retain their ranks of general and admiral . Pakistan army . Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan has remained the only field marshal in the Pakistan army to date . He appointed himself as a field marshal when he was the second president of Pakistan , as well as the commander in chief of the army . Turkish army . In the Turkish Armed Forces , the corresponding rank is " mareşal " . The rank of " mareşal " can trace its origins to the Ottoman Empire and to the military of Persia , where it was called " مشير " " ( müşir ) " and bestowed upon senior commanders upon order of the ruling Sultan . The rank of " mareşal " can only be bestowed by the National Assembly , and only given to a General who leads an army , navy and / or air force successfully in three battles or at various front lines at the same time , gaining a victory over the enemy . Only two persons have been bestowed the rank " mareşal " to date : Kemal Atatürk , the founder of modern Turkey , and his Chief of Staff Fevzi Çakmak , both for their successes in the Turkish War of Independence . United Kingdom . Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington , held the rank of a field marshal , or equivalent rank , in eight armies . Nine of his field marshal batons are on display in Apsley House ( see Batons of Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington ) . United States . The United States has never used the rank of field marshal ; however , General Douglas MacArthur was field marshal of the Philippine Army from August 24 , 1936 , until December 31 , 1937 . On December 14 , 1944 , Congress created the rank of " General of the Army , " a five - star rank equivalent to that of field marshal in other countries . Two days later , George Marshall was promoted to this rank , becoming the first five - star general in American history . A Washington columnist suggested ( with tongue in cheek ) that Marshall disliked the plan because five stars was the rank of field marshal and the Chief of Staff could then be addressed as “ Marshal Marshall . ” Uganda . Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada was the military dictator and third President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979 . Amin joined the British colonial regiment , the King ' s African Rifles in 1946 , serving in Somalia and Kenya . Eventually , Amin held the rank of major general in the post - colonial Ugandan Army and became its commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971 , deposing Milton Obote . He later promoted himself to field marshal while he was the head of state .