Could a military officer be considered a form of nobility?
Although some military officers have been raised to the peerage because of or in spite of their military record (Earl “The Butcher” Haig sent hundreds of thousands of British soldiers to their death in WW I and received an Earldom for it*), military officers aren’t necessarily noblemen (or noblewomen) or noble, at that. At one time, the officer class was made up of members of the peerage or near-members (often younger sons, who could not inherit, made their career in the military). For several hundred years European armies, including the British, staffed their officer corps through a system of purchase. Different ranks had different prices, and as officers moved through the ranks they would sell one commission in order to purchase the next. By the time an officer reached the highest ranks, he may well would have also gained a peerage for his exploits in the field or by blackmail or by being kept by a member of the Royal family–or by purchase (As late as the 1920’s, David Lloyd George
