Table of Ranks

Table of Ranks, (Jan. 24, 1722), classification of grades in the Russian military, naval, and civil services into a hierarchy of 14 categories and the foundation of a system of promotion based on personal ability and performance rather than on birth and genealogy. This system, introduced by Peter I the Great, granted anyone who attained the eighth rank the status of a hereditary noble. It thus caused dissatisfaction among the old aristocracy, which lost its exclusiveness as well as its hereditary right to high office. The Table of Ranks, with minor changes, was used until 1917.