'Report on the Persian Army' [‎50r] (99/170)

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under their command; there were chiefs of 10,50, 100, 1,000,
and 10,000 men, and the modern ranks with their present signi
fication were unknown, k or instance, a serhang then merely
meant the leader, “ the head,” or sar of the ahang, or line,
“ battle array,” etc., and a sartip was the sar, or “head,” of a
iip, a “small body of men.” TV hen the regular infantry Avas
formed and other grades of officers in accordance with the neAv
system became necessary, various old titles Avere given to the
different grades, and the lieutenant of the European armies
became Nail, the captain Sultan, the major Ydvar, the colonel
Serhang, and the general Sertip. For many years after this the
battalion had a strength of ten companies of 100 men each, or
Avith officers of 1,097 men, and its commander was the Serhang,
avIio had two yavars, the sultans, and twenty naibs under him.
Ihe Sertip commanded two to four battalions, or a brigade of
cavalry, the latter, however, frequently not numbering more
than four or five hundred men. A commander of five battalions
was a “Mir Panjeh,” one of ten battalions an “Amir Tuman.”
A Sertip or other officer Avhen in command of an expedition,
largo or small, was called Serdar, that is “commander.” There
Avas also the title Amir Nuyan for a commander of an army
corps. 1 here does not seem to have been much difference in
rank between a Sertip and a Mir Panjeh ; in 1850 one of the
latter is mentioned as commanding tAvo battalions, one battery,
and two troops of cavalry, while a Sertip commanded tAvo
battalions and 800 horse. At the present time there seems to
be no rule Avhatever. There are Amir Tumans and Sertips of
the first class avIio command only one battalion, and there are
officers of the same rank A\ r ho command several. There are
Sertips ot the second and third class avIio command tAvo bat
talions, Avhile some Sertips of the first class command only one.
It is now very difficult to say Avhat Amir Tuman, Sertip, and
Serhang really mean; for instance, according to the official
army list for 1899-1900, the small “Cossack brigade ” has on
its strength, besides the Russian officers, one Amir Tuman,
8 Mir Panjeh, 12 Sertips of the second class, and 29 Serhangs,
and to consider the Amir Tuman here as the equivalent of the
French “ marechal,” or, better still, “ field-marshal,” as some
holders of this title do, and to translate Mir Panjeh and Sertip
of the second class as general and Serhang as colonel Avould
be absurd. In addition to the 50 generals and colonels, the
brigade has 26 majors and 68 lieutenants, or 144 officers in all
for about 1,200 men.
In 1858 the rank of Mir Panjeh Avas abolished, and the
Sertips were divided into three classes, the third class to corre
spond with the French general de brigade, the second Avith the
old Mir Panjeh, and the first class with the French general de
division. Some years later the Serhangs and Yavars were each
divided into two classes. For every grade of officer there is a
special decoration—stars of Amrious sizes with different number
of rays, five to eight, and the “ Lion and Sun” in the centre;
and the division of the grades into several classes was done
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