# What countries have never had leaders who held high military rank (e.g. general/flag officers)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876 "2015-02-28T19:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876/61 "2015-03-02T11:36:49Z")
Doing a tour of Oceania and being prepared to be corrected by any with superior google fu: I believe New Zealand, like Canada and Australia has had Prime Ministers with military service but of rank below captain. Fiji has been lead by many generals and the current PM is Rear Admiral Bainimarama. Solomon Islands and Western Samoa I believe have only had civilian PMs. Since independence Papua New Guinea has not had a flag ranked military PM. Indonesia has mostly been ruled by generals including Sukarno, Suharto and Yudhoyono Malaysia has had only civilian PMs since independence. Singapore’s 3rd Prime Minister was Lee Hsien Loong who was Brigadier-General. An interesting case is East Timor. Xanana Gusmão was a corporal in the Portuguese army then lead the independence militia but he’s never been a general. OP’s call but I’d vote to exclude Timor-Leste. ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876/62 "2015-03-02T15:38:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > In addition to Stalin, Khruschev was a general in the Soviet Army, seeing duty at the battle for Kiev and the siege of Stalingrad. Khruschev was not regular Army, he was a Communist Party political Commissar (both Russian Civil War and WWII). He had been a professional politician for almost all the interwar period. His wartime rank was determined solely by political status rather than military experience. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876/63 "2015-03-02T17:52:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Austria Well, see there’s many variables in Austria. Certainly the King/Emperor held high military rank. Then which office is leader? Chancellor? President? President is largely ceremonial. But Seyss-Inquart was the last pre-war Chancellor and he achieved the rank of SS _Gruppenführer_, which is indeed a “General” level rank, but that rank was more or less honorary. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876/64 "2015-03-02T18:45:23Z")
How about Ghana? Jerry Rawlings was a Flight Lieutenant. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876/65 "2015-03-02T18:48:27Z")
> [@Nelson\_Pike](#): > > Khruschev was not regular Army, he was a Communist Party political Commissar (both Russian Civil War and WWII). He had been a professional politician for almost all the interwar period. His wartime rank was determined solely by political status rather than military experience. A Commissar is a part of the Military. They wear uniforms, carry weapons, etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-never-had-leaders-who-held-high-military-rank-e-g-general-flag-officers/713876.md?page=3)