Subaltern (military)
A subaltern is a military term for a junior officer. Literally meaning "subordinate", subaltern is used to describe commissioned officers below the rank of captain and generally comprises the various grades of lieutenant. In the British Army the senior subaltern rank was captain-lieutenant, obsolete since the 18th century.
The term is used in postcolonial theory to refer to the lower classes; this sense of the word was coined by Antonio Gramsci.
Prior to reform of the British Army in 1871, the ranks of cornet and ensign were the junior subaltern ranks in the cavalry and infantry respectively.
External links
- Subaltern.org: An organization for underrepresented artists.
- Information on purchase of commissions in Georgian times.
 | This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |