Translate a military rank (?) from German to English

Question

I know this is a loaded term, but is "Fuehrer" a common military rank? How would I translate it to English?

Comments

Gus, can you provide a profile number?  In this particular case, i.e. the word "Fuehrer," I would think that a substitute term, such as the English equivalent, would be better.

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I wanted to know the answer before I actually create the profile. The guy I am looking at was a "Fuehrer" in the Wurttemberg army in the early 1700s. I have no idea whether that means a corporal or a general, or anything in between. I think it would help if I knew whether the term was used to designate a specific rank or not.

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Why don't you just go ahead and create the profile without a title?  You can mention the title in the biography.  I imagine all the German WikiTreers have long gone to bed, but maybe some will respond tomorrow.

Answer 1

In Germany "Führer" is not and was never a military rank.

"Führer" is a general term for leader or commander. It is a term for a position not for a rank. So in the military it could be a person who leads everything between a fire team or an army group.

As above mentioned it could be every rank between corporal and general (field marshal).

Answer 2

Google translate has Fuehrer as Leader.

Answer 3

I think the Wikipedia article addresses your question directly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Führer

If you are using the title in a profile, it's not really necessary to translate it.  WikiTree would support the German spelling, and everyone would most likely recognize it.

Edit:  But it looks like G2G doesn't support my link, so I stand corrected about that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer

Answer 4

On reflection, I have decided to go with "commander". This is equally generic in army terms, avoids the complications of "Fuehrer", and is a bit more descriptive than "leader".