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Generalissimo or Generalissimus is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to a Field Marshal or Grand Admiral and comparable to commander-in-chief (though with power not delegated from outside the military power structure, as commander-in-chief often is; e.g. an elected official).
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The word "generalissimo" is an Italian term, from generale, plus the suffix -issimo, itself from Latin -issimus[1], meaning "utmost, to the highest grade".
Historically this rank was given to a military officer leading an entire army or the entire armed forces of a nation, usually only subordinate to the Sovereign. Other usage of the title is for a commander of united armies of several allied powers. Many generalissimos have been dictators. "Generalissimo" is sometimes used in modern English language to refer to a military officer who has obtained political power by a military coup, or in some cases to one who has suspended pre-existing constitutional mechanisms in order to retain power by means of a military hierarchy.[citation needed]
In Imperial China a rank of Da Jiang Jun (大將軍) existed which resembles Generalissimo.
From 1834 to 1910, the Kings of Portugal were considered "Generalissimo", in their constitutional role of Supreme Commanders of the Portuguese Army.
There were five holders of the Russian rank or title "generalissimus" prior to the 20th century. Romodanovsky and Menshikov both commanded military forces and ruled absolutely; Aleksei Shein and Aleksandr Suvorov, were principally field commanders rather than political figures. Anthony Ulrich II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1714–1776), was appointed generalissimus by his wife Anna Leopoldovna but neither commanded nor ruled. From 1918 to 1945, there were no generalissimos in the country, until Joseph Stalin applied this rank to himself following victory in the Great Patriotic War, in order to differentiate himself from other USSR marshals (such as Zhukov). The rank was abolished with Stalin's death in 1953.
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