A Generaloberst ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services.

"Oberst" derives from the superlative form of Germanic ober (upper), cognate to English over and so "superior general" might be a more idiomatic rendering.

In the 19th century, the rank was largely honorary and usually held only by members of the princely families or the Governor of Berlin.

[1] Generaloberst was the second-highest general officer rank, below field marshal, in the Prussian Army as well as in the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1921–1933), the Wehrmacht (which included the Luftwaffe, established in 1935) of Nazi Germany (1933–45) and the East German Nationale Volksarmee (1949–1991).

The equivalent ranks of a colonel general were in the: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS: SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Police: In the Land Forces and Air Forces of the National People's Army, as well as the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic Generaloberst was in line to Soviet military doctrine third general officer rank in that particular general's rank group.