What is the logic behind this?

Question

The General ranks of the Army, Air Force and Marines are as follows: Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General and General. This seems to not make sense. Major is greater than Lieutenant and what's a brigadier?

Answer 1

The term Major General is a shortened version of the previous term Sergeant Major General, which was in turn subordinate to Lieutenant General, which is why a Lieutenant General outranks a Major General whereas a Major is senior to a Lieutenant. The rank of Captain is located between Lieutenant and Major. As such, it follows that the rank of Captain General was considered senior to Lieutenant General - the word "captain" was simply dropped over time, as with (Sergeant-) Major General, hence the apparent disparity between the structure of the general ranks and field grade ranks.

The rank of Brigadier General has existed in the United States armed forces since the American Revolutionary War. A Brigadier General was at first strictly an infantry officer who commanded a brigade, but the responsibilities of the rank drastically expanded throughout the 19th and 20th century.

Sergeant Major General is a now extinct military rank that can trace its origins to the Middle Ages. In the 17th Century the Sergeant portion of the title was more and more commonly dropped; by the early 18th century, the rank's name had been permanently shortened to Major General.

The Lieutenant General rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General.

General used to be refered to as Captain General, formerly relatively common within various European forces, usually ranking above a Lieutenant General, at the current level of a full General. Nowadays Captain General usage has largely died out.

An even higher rank, Colonel General also existed but has not survived into modern times.

Answer 2

The meaning of the ranks becomes more clear when you understand the etymology:

Brigadier General: they used to be in charge of Brigades. Typically a newly promoted BG would be given a brigade, it's not so anymore, but there are a few seperate brigades commanded by a BG.

Major General: Typically used as the lowest rank of General until the BG was implemented.

Lieutenant General: The meaning of Lieutenant means "to have in place of". In the military context it would me to have command in place of the general which is why it is the second highest rank.

General: The top rank before the others were created.

Answer 3

https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/PopTopics/colonel.htm
This is a great site to answer all those questions of why rank is why it is. Gotta run, I'm still reading. Have fun...........