military elite
Top-tier combat units
Military elite refers to the most highly trained, skilled, or prestigious forces within a military organization—units like special operations forces, commandos, or guards regiments selected for exceptional ability or critical missions.
The term can also describe the officer class or military leadership as a social group wielding political influence: The military elite opposed civilian control of defense policy.
- janissariesOttoman professional foot soldiers
- knightsTitled warriors on horseback
- generalWidespread, not specialized
- admiralSenior naval commander
- centurionsRoman military officers
green berets · colonel · officer corps · airborne division · samurai · warrior class · brigadier · royal guards · honor guard · warlords · rangers · Immortals · commander · paratroopers · captain · lieutenant · major · warrant officer
- social classesupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, nobles
- Mamluk SultanateMamluks, sultans, Cairo, emirs, amirs
- elitearistocrats, nobility, best, finest, cream of the crop
- medieval cavalryhorsemen, mounted warriors, war horses, cavalry charge, heavy cavalry
military eliteconscripts
Compulsory military personnel
rank and file · raw recruits · draftees · cannon fodder · foot soldiers
military elitecivilians
Non-military population
civilian population · non-combatants · pacifists · noncombatants · ordinary citizens
military, militarily, militarism, militarist, militaristic, militia, militant, militancy, militarize