What's the difference between a general and a generalissimo?

It's the same as the difference between a General and a Marshall in Central/Eastern europe.

or the difference between a 4 and 5 star general in the US.

Generals command single armies, a Generalissimo is the commander of the combined armies. a commander-in-chief who isn't a civilian.

to make it simpler, it's comparable to Zhukov's rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union, or Erich von Manstein's rank of Generalfeldmarschall.

General is with cream, Generalissimo is with milk

It should be added that, in the memory of today's Spain, the only generalísimo is Franco. I was fairly surprized to see the similar english term generalissimo being used in english historical books.

>>1122148
General = pure military
Gerneralissimo= military and political power

Generalísimo in Spanish dictatorship was just a made up charge to mean he held the greatest power at the time

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>>1122148
Generalissimo in English is a politically loaded term, and is used to Generals who govern a military dictatorship. Though in Latin Languages it means tippity top general.

I think this is the same case in China as well. The Highest Imperial Military Rank, "Dayuanshuai" (Great Field Marshall) is asociated so much to this guy that modern Chinese armies dont use the rank anymore.

>>1122233
You're forgetting the countless mongrels that you guys created in America, who are quite prone to getting coup'd

>>1122148
general=general
generalissimo=very general

A "generalísimo" is like a common general, but smaller.