Rising from the ranks


Rising from the ranks refers to enlisted soldiers being commissioned as officers. In class-conscious societies of the past, such as Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, for example, this was a relatively rare occurrence.
Despite the nickname "the little corporal", Napoleon did not rise from the ranks. However, he did famously state, "Tout soldat français porte dans sa giberne le bâton de maréchal de France." That is, any soldier could attain such a lofty rank. And indeed, many seized the opportunities opened to them by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars to serve as such under his command, including:
An 1857 report stated the following numbers of non-commissioned officers received commissions in the British Army:
In military fiction, this is a not uncommon trope, Richard Sharpe being a prime example.