Army general () is the highest military rank of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and the highest rank in the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

. According to Article 88 of the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam, the rank of General of the Vietnam People's Army is decided by the President, who is also the Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council. The rank of Army General is conferred only on senior officers holding the following positions:

Minister of National Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan) * Chief of the General Staff (Albania) * C ...

and Director of the General Political Department. Exceptions include: *

Hoàng Văn Thái Hoàng Văn Thái (; 1 May 1915 – 2 July 1986), born Hoàng Văn Xiêm (), was a Vietnamese Army General and a communist political figure. His hometown was Tây An, Tiền Hải District, Thái Bình Province. During the 1968 Tết Offensi ...

was promoted in 1980 while serving as Deputy Minister of National Defense and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, although he was the first Chief of the General Staff from 1945–1954 and acted briefly as Chief of the General Staff in 1954 and 1974). *

Lê Đức Anh Lê Đức Anh (; 1 December 1920 – 22 April 2019) was a Vietnamese politician and general who served as the fifth President of Vietnam from 1992 to 1997. He previously led the Vietnamese forces in Cambodia throughout the 1980s. He was regar ...

in 1984 when he was Deputy Minister of Defense and commander of Vietnamese volunteer troops in Cambodia. As of October 20, 2024, the Vietnam People's Army has had 17 servicemen conferred the rank of Army General. There were two soldiers who were directly promoted to the rank of General without intermediaries:

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...

(1948) and Nguyễn Chí Thanh (1959). Currently, there are 2 Army Generals in service, namely

Phan Văn Giang Phan Văn Giang (; born October 1960) is a Vietnamese General, politician and Vietnam's Minister of National Defence. He joined the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 2016. Early life and career Phan Văn Giang was born in ...

, Minister of National Defense, and

Nguyễn Tân Cương Nguyễn Tân Cương (; born 12 February 1966) is a Vietnamese general, currently serving as Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Minister of Defence. Nguyễn Tân Cương was born in 1966 in Hà Nam Province, joined the Central Committee of th ...

, Chief of the General Staff. Furthermore, there is one more Army General who remains active in politics, but is no longer serving in the army: President

Lương Cường Lương Cường (; born 15 August 1957) is a Vietnamese politician and former army General officer, general who is currently serving as the 14th president of Vietnam since October 2024. He also served as the permanent Member of the Secretariat s ...

, who was formerly Director of the General Political Department.

Rank insignia

According to Decree No. 33 of March 22, 1946 signed by the President of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the rank of General of the National Army of Vietnam was first regulated with the rank of 3 gold stars on the shoulder on red background. However, at that time, no soldier had been awarded this rank. It was not until January 20, 1948, that Commander-in-Chief of the National Army and militia and self-defense militia

was the first to be conferred this rank. The rank of General was again redefined with the Law on Service Regulations of Officers of the Vietnam People's Army dated May 31, 1958 and Decree 307-TTg dated June 20, 1958 also stipulates that the rank of General carries 4 gold stars above the rank. And on August 31, 1959, Chairman of the General Department of Politics Nguyễn Chí Thanh was the second person to be conferred the rank of General.

List of Vietnam army generals

References

{{Reflist Four-star officers Lists of Russian and Soviet military personnel People's Army of Vietnam

Rank insignia

List of Vietnam army generals

See also

References