Army General (Russian:
генерал армии,
general armii) was a rank of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
which was first established in June 1940 as a high rank for
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
generals, inferior only to the
Marshal of the Soviet UnionMarshal 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
KGBThe KGB was the national security agency of the USSR. From 1954 until 1991, the Committee for State Security was the Communist state's premier secret police, internal security, and espionage organization, whose coat of arms—the Shield and the Sword—illustrate a national military hierarchy...
and the Ministry of the Interior.
Soviet Army Generals include
Ivan ChernyakhovskyIvan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky, also Cherniakhovsky, ; Uman, current Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine, - Mehlsack, current 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 IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
front commander, killed in
East PrussiaEast 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...
),
Aleksei AntonovAleksei 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 WWII, awarded the
Order of VictoryThe 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 PliyevIssa 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.-Pre-War:I.A. Pliyev started his military career in the Red Army in 1922...
(an
OssetiaOssetia is an ethnolinguistic region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians, an Iranian people who speak the Ossetian language...
n-born WWII commander who played a major role in the
Cuban missile crisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War. In Russia, former Eastern Bloc, and communist countries , it is termed the "Caribbean Crisis" , while in Cuba it is called the "October Crisis"...
) and
Yuri AndropovYuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and 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
GeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
; 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 GeneralColonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. North Korea and Russia are two nations which have used the rank extensively throughout their histories...
s.
The corresponding naval rank is
Admiral of the FleetThe 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
SovietThe Soviet Navy was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to...
and
Russian NaviesThe Russian Navy or VMF is the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. The international designation of Russian naval vessels is RFS—"Russian Federation Ship"....
, 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.The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Army. The rank "Marshal of a branch" is immediately above the rank "Colonel General". Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch"...
were used instead.
The contemporary Russian Army 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 etcThe ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Army. The rank "Marshal of a branch" is immediately above the rank "Colonel General". Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch"...
. 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 StarThe Marshal's Star is an additional badge of rank worn by marshals of the armed forces of the USSR, and subsequently the Russian Federation...
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.