The title "Marshal of the Russian Federation" occupies a special place both in the military and civil hierarchy. A person who has reached such heights evokes involuntary respect even among those who have a very skeptical view of the army. The experience of our country makes us treat these people with special reverence.
Marshals of the Russian Federation, which is quite natural, are people who have the highest military rank in our country. This term itself came to us from France, where it first denoted one of the court ranks, and later revealed to us a whole galaxy of great military leaders from the time of the Napoleonic conquests.
In our country, the military rank of "Marshal" was introduced in 1935. In accordance with the decision of the Council of People's Commissars, it was awarded for special merits and gave its bearer enormous powers and well-deserved respect. Today's Marshals of the Russian Federation are fully consistent both in spirit and in all their inherent qualities with thosepredecessors who held similar titles some eighty years ago.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, for some time, positions and military ranks became uncertain and anarchy. On the one hand, all the previous statutes and resolutions continued to operate, and on the other hand, the new situation required appropriate approaches. There was another important nuance: all the marshals of the Soviet period (with the exception of the very first ones) are people whose significant part of their military career fell on the Great Patriotic War or major local military conflicts of the second half of the 20th century. Most of them made a very impressive contribution to military theory, were major strategists and commanders of armies and military districts.
The fact that the Law "On military service", adopted in early 1993, contained the concept of Marshals of the Russian Federation was, most likely, a tribute to the traditions of the country's former era. Initially, it was believed that competent managers should come to the fore, that is, those people who would be able to carry out the reform of the RF Armed Forces as painlessly as possible, while strategists and theorists should have receded into the background. The difficult situation in which the domestic Armed Forces soon found themselves did not at all imply such a high honor as conferring the highest military rank in the country. However, in 1997, I. Sergeev, who was then Minister of Defense, was awarded a presidential decree, according to which he began to proudly be called the Marshal of the Russian Federation.
A huge star with the coat of arms of the state on shoulder straps, oak wreaths on the buttonholes - all these are external attributes of the title "Marshal of the Russian Federation". The year 2013, as well as the previous ones, did not give reasons for one of the military leaders to be awarded this honor. I. Sergeev, who died in 2006, is still the only one who was awarded this military rank. Marshals of the Russian Federation - a height that is not yet achievable for any current domestic military leader. On the other hand, this is evidence that our country has abandoned its active military policy.
