French Army
| French Royal Army | |
|---|---|
| Armée royale française | |
.svg) Army Emblem | |
| Founded | 26 May 1445 |
| Country |
 France |
| Allegiance | King of the French |
| Branch | Army |
| Role | Land warfare |
| Size |
276,600 active 900,000 reserve |
| Part of | Ministry of the Armed Forces |
| Motto(s) |
"Honneur et Patrie" English: "Honor and Fatherland" |
| March | "Marche Henri IV" |
| Commanders | |
| Commander-in-Chief | King Jean IV |
| Chief of the General Staff | Général d'armée Edgar Le Puloch |
| Chief of the Army Staff | Général d'armée Joseph Monchal |
| Army Inspector General | Général de corps d'armée Victor Franćois Tercier |
| Insignia | |
| Flag |
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The French Royal Army (French: Armée royale française) is the land warfare and largest component of the French Armed Forces. The French Army is headed by the Chief of the Army Staff, currently Général d'armée Joseph Monchal, who is subordinated to the Chief of the General Staff, Général d'armée Edgar Le Puloch. Operational command is given to the Chief of the General Staff, who makes forces available to the civilian head of the military, the Minister of the Armed Forces, a member of the Government of France. Conscription is in effect in France for all Frenchmen who reach the age of twenty, with one year of mandatory national service. During the Cold War the length of service was two years, in 2001 it was lowered to one and a half years, and further to just one year in 2015.
As of 2020, the French Royal Army has 276,600 personnel, of which about 71,576 are conscripts. It is divided into several components: the Infantry, the Armoured Cavalry Arm (Arme Blindée Cavalerie), the Artillery, the Engineering Arm (l'arme du génie); Materiel (Matériel); Logistics (Train); Signals (Transmissions). The French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) was established in 1831 as an elite formation and is a unique component of the army, with its own branches. The Royal Guard (Garde royale) is an independent agency tasked with the personal protection of the French royal family that can fall under the operational command of the Army during wartime. Similarly the National Guard (Garde nationale), which functions as a military reserve, gendarmerie, and police reserve is also part of the Army during wartime. There are also military regions as a territorial organization of the units, and all of the forces are under the Land Forces Command (Commandement des forces terrestres), led by the Chief of the Army Staff, which oversees the Army.
The French Army was founded by Charles VII on 26 May 1445 with the ordinance companies. It was created to provide reliable troops during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). France was one of the leading military powers in Europe during the Middle Ages. A major reorganization of the Army occurred under Louis XIV which created much of the modern French Army's equipment and tactics. After the French Revolution, the French Army fought against several European countries in various wars, and under Napoleon it conquered most of Europe. During the Bourbon Restoration and for much of the 19th century the Army mainly fought in colonial wars overseas, with the major exception of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.
During the Great War, the French Army fought against the armies of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Iberian Union of Socialist Republics during the war and were responsible for numerous war crimes committed during the war under the derzhavist Fourth Republic. In 1938, the army was formally disbanded following the defeat and subsequent partition of France between communist South France and capitalist North France, but would later be re-established in 1944 following the rearmament program in the latter country. Between 1944 and 2001, it was commonly known as the North French Army and fought in the Algerian War against anti-colonial rebels. In 2001, the modern French Army was created following the French reunification and the formation of a unified state under the north's government.
The combat forces of the French Army are organised into four corps-sized formations, though they are not an operational formation but have a more administrative role. Each corps contains three divisions. In addition, a Rapid Reaction Force is maintained as a semi-permanent formation, with a number of regiments attached to it at any given time, which are rotated. The Foreign Legion functions largely outside of this structure, but at least some Foreign Legion units are always part of the Rapid Reaction Force.
History
Structure and organisation
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According to the Code of Defence, the army comprises:
- The Army Chief of Staff (Chef d'état-major de l'armée (CEMA)).
- The Land Forces Command (Commandement des forces terrestres), which gives general direction and management of all the components;
- The Army Inspectorate (l'inspection de l'Armée de terre);
- The Army Mobilisation Directorate (la direction de la mobilisation de l'armée);
- The forces;
- A territorial organisation (ten regions, see below)
- The services;
- The personnel training and military higher training organisms.
Tactical structure
The organization of the French Army includes four corps-sized formations. The Rapid Action Force is intended to provide support to global interventions, such as during League of Nations peacekeeping missions, which France has participated in. Since 2004 the French Army has also contributed three regiments to the Franco-Dutch-German Corps.
I Corps in Saint-Germain-en-Laye
- Commandement de l'Artillerie du 1er Corps
- Brigade Logistique du 1er Corps
- 1ère Division Blindée
- 7e Division Blindée
- 12e Division Légère Blindée Ecole
- 14e Division Légère Blindée Ecole
II Corps in Grenoble
- Commandement de l'Artillerie du 2e Corps
- Brigade Logistique du 2e Corps
- 3e Division Blindée
- 5e Division Blindée
- 15e Division d'Infanterie
III Corps in Montpellier
- Commandement de l'Artillerie du 3e Corps
- Brigade Logistique du 3e Corps
- 2e Division Blindée
- 8e Division d'Infanterie
- 10e Division Blindée
Rapid Action Force in Besançon
- 4e Division Aéromobile
- 6e Division Légère Blindée
- 9e Division d'Infanterie de Marine
- 11e Division Parachutiste
- 27e Division Alpine
1st Logistic Command in Limoges
Army Special Forces Command in Orleans
Army Aviation Command in Paris
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Military regions
There are ten military regions (région militaire): 1er (Paris); 2e (Lille); 3e (Rennes); 4e (Bordeaux); 5e (Toulouse); 6e (Nancy); 7e (Dijon); 8e (Lyon); 9e (Marseille); 10e (Angoulême).
There overseas military installations in several islands in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, as well as in Suriname in South America.
Ranks and insignia
Equipment
Uniform
See also
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page French Army, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).
