La Grande Armée (Episode 2) - The Infantry & Officer Corps [78:30-81:35]

counted for far more than years served. Napoleon was aware of the opposite pull between seniority and meritocracy and endeavour to balance the two. He led out a series of regulations on promotions, essentially formalizing the de facto system already in place. Officer promotions could be made from within the ranks of the senior NCOs, namely the sergeants. Company sergeants would select candidates from among themselves for a vacancy. The candidate had to have served a minimum of four years as an NCO and at least two prior years as an enlisted soldier. If all was in order, the company Sulu Tanor would then have their pick, accepting or denying the candidate. Further promotions up the offers of ranks followed as similar set of rules, where possible all promotions were within the same regiment and within the same branch of service. This was obviously to avoid the issue of putting say a cavalryman in charge of the cannons, but also to maintain continuity. Officer vacancies could be filled by any officer of the rank below who had served in that position for at least two years. Here straight seniority reigned as the Colonel made the call. In some cases, however, especially when on campaign, Napoleon endorsed promotion by acclimation. The officers would gather, choose a suitable candidate, and then have the Colonel justify his refusal or acceptance on the recommendation out in the open. In all cases, a successful promotion passed one final check, a vetting from the Ministry of War. In this way, Napoleon had final say on all officer promotions. That city was careful about when and where he placed a thumb on the scale, knowing well that any undue promotions would rank all the army. In the main, he promoted officers or enlisted men, whom he had personally led. Such elevations were extremely popular, the Emperor descending on the troops to give a field commission and well-earned promotion. The next type of promotion was that recommended to him by his senior officers. It wasn't possible to see all of the acts of bravery deserving of promotion, as an Napoleon generally greenlit most that had crossed his desk. The third type with those venal promotions motivated by diagnostic and political concerns. In these cases, Napoleon would ignore seniority and competence altogether and simply elevated candidate by decree. Odie's though they were, it was understood that such promotions were extraordinary. The officers in question were kept from doing any real damage, either with coddling staff or postings to ceremonial and non-combat roles. The primary source from which most of this information comes, John Eltingh's swords around a throne, includes a helpful table of comparative ranks between La Grande Arme and Contemporary Armees. Officer ranks began at Su Luteno, as we've covered, being equivalent to a second Luteno. Luteno equals a first Luteno. Capitaine is a captain, chef de battillon, a major. The Grande Armees Major equates to a lieutenant colonel, and then colonel is the same in both rankings.