Army General was a rank of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 which was first established in June 1940 as a high rank for Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 generals, inferior only to the Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union

Marshal of the Soviet Union was the de facto highest military rank of the Soviet Union. ....

. In the following 51 years the USSR created 133 Generals of the Army, 32 of whom were later promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

The rank was usually given to senior officers of the Ministry of Defence and General Staff, and also to meritorious military district commanders. From the 1970s, it was also frequently given to the heads of the KGB

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 and the Ministry of the Interior.
Soviet Army Generals include Ivan Chernyakhovsky

Ivan Chernyakhovsky

Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, also Cherniakhovsky, ; Oksanina, Uman, Russian Empire , - Mehlsack, today Pieniężno, Poland, 18 February 1945) was a Soviet General of the Army , twice Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, who died from wounds received outside...

 (the youngest Soviet World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 front commander, killed in East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

), Aleksei Antonov

Aleksei Antonov

Aleksei Innokentievich Antonov was a General of the Soviet Army, awarded the Order of Victory for his efforts in World War II.-Career:...

 (head of the General Staff in the closing stages of World War II, awarded the Order of Victory

Order of Victory

The Order of Victory was the highest military decoration in the Soviet Union, and one of the rarest orders in the world. The order was awarded only to Generals and Marshals for successfully conducting combat operations involving one or more army groups and resulting in a "successful operation...

), Issa Pliyev

Issa Pliyev

Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev was a Soviet military commander, Army General , twice Hero of the Soviet Union , Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic . Member of the CPSU since 1926. He was an ethnic Ossetian....

 (an Ossetia

Ossetia

Ossetia Ossetic: Ир, Ирыстон Ir, Iryston; Russian: Осетия, Osetiya; Georgian: ოსეთი, Oset'i) is an ethnolinguistic region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The Ossetian language is part of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European...

n-born World War II commander who played a major role in the Cuban missile crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...

) and Yuri Andropov

Yuri Andropov

Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...

 (who held the rank as head of the KGB).

The Soviet rank of Army General is equivalent to the UK and US ranks of General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

; Soviet and current Russian rank systems also have a Marshal rank, but name their one-star officers Major Generals instead of Brigadiers, with three-stars being Colonel General

Colonel General

Colonel General is a senior rank of General. North Korea and Russia are two countries which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...

s.

The corresponding naval rank is Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet (USSR)

The rank of Admiral of the Fleet was the highest naval rank of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1955 and second-highest from 1962.The rank has a rather confusing history...

, which has been used in both the Soviet

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

 and Russian Navies, although conferred much more rarely.

General of the Army was used for the Infantry and Marines, but in the Air Force, Artillery, Armoured Troops, Engineer Troops and Signal Troops the ranks of Marshal/Chief Marshal of the Air Forces, Artillery, etc.

Chief Marshal

The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch". Both ranks are immediately above the rank "Colonel General" and equal to Soviet General...

 were used instead.

The contemporary Russian Army

Russian Ground Forces

The Russian Ground Forces are the land forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed from parts of the collapsing Soviet Army in 1992. The formation of these forces posed economic challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and required reforms to professionalize the force...

 retains the rank of Army General and it is still frequently used. After the dissolution of the USSR the ranks of Marshal/Chief Marshal of the Air Forces etc

Chief Marshal

The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch". Both ranks are immediately above the rank "Colonel General" and equal to Soviet General...

. were abolished, and the most senior officers of these branches now hold the rank of General of the Army.

Although Chief Marshals and Marshals of the Air Force, Artillery, Armoured, Engineer and Signal Troops as well as Admirals of the Fleet were in service equivalent to the General of the Army, in rank they superseded them until 1974 when the rank General of the Army was formally equated with the Chief Marshals or a Troop Arm and Marshals of a Troop Arm. It was at this time that their shoulder straps were changed from a four star to a single, larger star and the army logo (making them visually similar to the Marshal shoulder strap). Likewise after 1974 they were permitted to wear the Marshal's Star

Marshal's Star

The marshal's star is an additional badge of rank worn by marshals of the armed forces of the USSR, and subsequently the Russian Federation. The armed forces of the former USSR and the Russian Federation have two such insignia for higher military ranks, both in the form of a five-pointed star of...

necklace.

Before 1943, Army Generals wore five stars on their collar patches (petlitsy). Since 1943, they have worn four stars on their shoulder straps. From 1974 they wore a single large star with a Ground Forces emblem. In 1997 their Russian successors returned to the four-star insignia.