Army Council (1904) practice, however, a huge amount of influence was retained by the exceedingly conservative C-in-C Field Marshal Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, who held the post between 1856–1895. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind Britain's rivals, a problem which became painfully obvious during the Second Boer War. The situation was only remedied in 1904 when the post of Commander-in-Chief was abolished and replaced with that of the Chief of the General Staff. An Army Council was created along similar lines to the Board of Admiralty, chaired by the Secretary of State for War, and an
Ranks in the French Army a company ("compagnie") of infantry, a squadron ("escadron") of cavalry or a battery ("batterie") of artillery. A "lieutenant" (lieutenant or first lieutenant) commands a platoon ("section") of infantry, a troop ("peloton") of cavalry, or a "brigade" of the "Gendarmerie". A "Sous-lieutenant" (sub-lieutenant or second lieutenant) commands at the same level as a "lieutenant", but is a more junior officer rank. Note the difference with many army rank systems of other countries where the term "major" is used for a rank above that of "captain". For example, the rank of "major" in the US Army or British army is equivalent to