The Hotchkiss M1922 was a light machine gun manufactured by Hotchkiss .
91-513: It was never adopted in large numbers by the French Army ; nevertheless, it was exported to many European and Latin American countries under the names Hotchkiss M1926 or Hotchkiss M1934. The Fusil-Mitrailleur (FM) Model 1922 is a classic weapon with a fixed stock , pistol grip , and wooden handguard . It has a non-telescopic folding bipod . Both the cocking handle and ejection port is located on
182-568: A 14,000 man expeditionary force of troops to the Papal State under General Nicolas Charles Victor Oudinot to restore him. In late April 1849, it was defeated and pushed back from Rome by Giuseppi Garibaldi 's volunteer corps, but then recovered and recaptured Rome. The French army was among the first in the world to be issued with Minié rifles , just in time for the Crimean War against Russia, allied with Britain. This invention gave line infantry
273-461: A corps of five small rapid-intervention divisions formed in 1983, was also disbanded, though several of its divisions were re-subordinated. Opération Sentinelle is a French military operation with 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 police and gendarmes deployed since the aftermath of the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks , with the objective of protecting sensitive "points" of the territory from terrorism . It
364-520: A decisive reserve which could enter into a confused battle and crush disordered enemy infantry. The prime example of this would be at Ravenna , where the gendarmes, having just driven the Spanish cavalry off the field, then reversed the results of the infantry clash in which the Spanish had prevailed, riding down the disordered Spanish foot. However, when unsupported and facing enemy infantry in good order, particularly those in pike and shot formations or in
455-465: A handgunner and a pikeman, who in practice fought in their own formations on the battlefield. There was a twenty-fifth lance in the escadre , that of the squadron commander ( chef d'escadre ). The newly established Burgundian Ordonnance companies were almost immediately hurled into the cauldron of the Burgundian Wars , where they suffered appalling casualties in a series of disastrous battles with
546-474: A method that was heavily supplemented by hiring large numbers of out-and-out mercenaries . These methods, though improvements on the old annual 40-day service owed by knights (the traditional warrior elites of Medieval Europe), were also subject to strain over long campaigns. During periods of peace they also resulted in social destabilization, as the mercenary companies—referred to in this period as routiers —refused to disband until granted their back-pay (which
637-424: A more lightly armed fellow combatant ( coutillier ), a page (a non-combatant) and three mounted archers meant as infantry support. The archers were intended to ride to battle and dismount to shoot with their bows, and did so until late in the fifteenth century, when they took to fighting on horseback as a sort of lighter variety of gendarme, though still called "Archers." These later archers had armour less heavy than
728-561: A noble man-at-arms to a military police officer. Under Napoleon I , The Gendarmes d'élite de la Garde impériale (English: "élite gendarmes of the Imperial Guard") was a gendarmerie unit formed in 1801 by Napoleon as part of the Consular Guard which became the Imperial Guard in 1804. In time of peace, their role was to protect official residences and palaces and to provide security to important political figures. In time of war, their role
819-536: A peace. In 1812, Napoleon invaded the Russian Empire with a new Grande Armee , seeking to remove their influence from eastern Europe and secure the frontiers of his empire and client states. The campaign initially went well, but the vast distances of the Russian Steppe and its cold winter forced his army into a shambling retreat preyed on by Russian raids and pursuit. This force could not be replaced and with
910-578: A potent shock attack and remained fairly maneuverable despite the extremely heavy armour they now wore to defend themselves from increasingly powerful firearms. At some battles, such as at Seminara , Fornovo and Ravenna , they clashed with their heavily armoured opposite numbers, and prevailed, dominating the battle. In others, such as at Marignano , they were part of a de facto combined arms team, operating in conjunction with infantry and artillery to achieve battlefield victory against an all-infantry foe. They could also function, by plan or by chance, as
1001-521: A strong defensive position, they suffered heavy casualties despite their now immensely thick armour. Examples include the Battle of Pavia , when the French cavalry were shot down by Spanish infantry who sought cover in broken terrain, and at Ceresole , when the French gendarmes sacrificed themselves in fruitless charges against the self-supporting Imperial infantry regiments. The pike and shot formation developed by
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#17328546452091092-480: A total of 1,200 gendarmes. Like French companies, the Burgundian gendarmes d'ordonnance companies were also composed of 100 lances, and were similarly raised and garrisoned, but were organized differently, being split into four squadrons ( escadres ), each of four chambres of six lances each. Each Burgundian lance still contained the six mounted men, but also included three purely infantry soldiers—a crossbowman,
1183-587: A wave of revolutions swept Europe and brought an end to the French monarchy. The army was largely uninvolved in the street fighting in Paris which overthrew the King but later in the year troops were used in the suppression of the more radical elements of the new Republic which led to the election of Napoleon's nephew as president. The Pope had been forced out of Rome as part of the Revolutions of 1848, and Louis Napoleon sent
1274-545: A weapon with a much longer range and greater accuracy and lead to new flexible tactics. The French army was more experienced at mass manoeuvre and war fighting than the British and the reputation of the French army was greatly enhanced. A series of colonial expeditions followed and in 1856 France joined the Second Opium War on the British side against China; obtaining concessions. French troops were deployed into Italy against
1365-426: Is a miracle if any be slain with the spear. Only it may wound some horse, and as for the shock, it is many times of the small force, where the perfect reiter do never discharge their pistols but in jointing, and striking at hand, they wound, aiming always either at the face or the thigh. The second rank also shoot off so the forefront of the men-or-arms squadron is at the first meeting half overthrown and maimed. Although
1456-584: The Maréchaussée de France , a police force under the authority of the marshals of France , was put under the administrative authority of the Gendarmerie de France . The Gendarmerie was dissolved in 1788 and the Maréchaussée in 1791, only to be recreated as a new police force of military status, the gendarmerie Nationale , which still exists. This explains the evolution of the meaning of the word gendarme from
1547-652: The 2nd Armoured Division left Versailles and was installed at Châlons-en-Champagne in place of the disbanded 10th Armoured Division . On 5 March 1998, in view of the ongoing structural adoptions of the French Army, the Minister of Defence decided to disband III Corps , and the dissolution became effective 1 July 1998. The headquarters transitioned to become Headquarters Commandement de la force d'action terrestre (CFAT) (the Land Forces Action Command). During
1638-930: The Foreign Legion , National Territory , Training. The Army is divided into arms ( armes ). They include the Infantry (which includes the Chasseurs Alpins , specialist mountain infantry, the Troupes de Marine , heirs of colonial troops and specialist amphibious troops), the Armoured Cavalry Arm ( Arme Blindée Cavalerie ), the Artillery, the Engineering Arm ( l'arme du génie ), Matériel , Logistics ( Train ) and Signals ( Transmissions ). Each brigade will have several armes within its units. The French Foreign Legion
1729-982: The French Empire : more than 220,000 in Africa (including 140,000 in French North Africa ), and forces in Mandate Syria and French Indochina . Free French Forces , under the command of Charles de Gaulle , continued the fight with the Allies until the final defeat of the Axis in 1945. After 1945, despite enormous efforts in the First Indochina War of 1945–54 and the Algerian War of 1954–62, both lands eventually left French control. French units stayed in Germany after 1945, forming
1820-595: The French Forces in Germany . 5th Armored Division stayed on in Germany after 1945, while 1st and 3rd Armoured Divisions were established in Germany in 1951. However NATO -assigned formations were withdrawn to fight in Algeria; 5th Armoured Division arrived in Algeria in April 1956. From 1948 to 1966, many French Army units fell under the integrated NATO Military Command Structure . Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe
1911-768: The French National Guard joined the revolt, the loyal Swiss Guards were massacred and the King was deposed. From 1792, the Revolutionary Army fought against a combination of European powers in the French Revolutionary Wars , with the state directing most of its industry and population to war efforts, marking the start of modern conscription in the world, it also allowed more flexible military strategies, setting way for Napoleonic warfare . Moreover, many noble officers were retired, decreasing stratification and increasing military specialism . These, and
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#17328546452092002-549: The French Revolution , has generally been composed of a mixed force of conscripts and professional volunteers. It is now considered a professional force, since the French Parliament suspended the conscription of soldiers. According to British historian Niall Ferguson , out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10; this makes France
2093-454: The French Wars of Religion including Francois de la Noue and Gaspard de Saulx , became heavy critics of the lance and firm advocate of the use of pistols on horseback. De la Noue in particular wrote in his memoir: "Whereupon I will say that although the squadrons of the spears [i.e. lances] do give a gallant charge, yet it can work no great effect, for at the outset it killed none, yea it
2184-698: The King of France was mostly occupied trying to defend the Kingdom from invasions , most notable of which were the English invasions of the Hundred Years' War which devastated medieval France . The king then sought to improve and possess a permanent army, ready at his beck and call. By that period, the old form of feudal levy had long proven inadequate and had been replaced by various ad hoc methods of paying vassal troops serving for money rather than simply out of feudal obligation,
2275-507: The Kings of France following the conflict. Upon the outbreak of a conflict, an ordonnance would be issued to govern the length of service, composition and payment of units. The Compagnies d'ordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme well into the 16th century, and were stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also provisions made for francs-archers , which
2366-697: The Malagasy Uprising in Madagascar in 1947. French officials estimated the number of Malagasy killed from a low of 11,000 to a French Army estimate of 89,000. In February 1996, President Jacques Chirac began the transition of the Army to a professional force, and as part of the resulting changes, ten regiments were dissolved in 1997. On 1 July 1997, the specialized support brigades were transferred to various communes ; Lunéville for signals, Haguenau for artillery and Strasbourg for engineers. On 1 September 1997,
2457-733: The National Gendarmerie . The Army is commanded by the Chief of Staff of the French Army (CEMAT), who is subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), who commands active service Army units and in turn is responsible to the President of France . CEMAT is also directly responsible to the Ministry of the Armed Forces for administration, preparation, and equipment. The French Army, following
2548-613: The Swiss , including the loss of the Duke himself, leaving no male heir. Ultimately, however, elements of his gendarmes d'ordonnance were re-established by Philip the Handsome on a smaller scale, and these companies survived to fight in Habsburg forces into the sixteenth century. France entered the sixteenth century with its gendarme companies being the largest and most respected force of heavy cavalry in
2639-756: The Swiss Guards , French Guards and the Regiments of Musketeers being the most famous. The white/grey coated French Infantry of the line Les Blancs with their Charleville muskets were a feared foe on the battlefields of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fighting in the Nine Years' War , the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Succession , the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution . The French Revolution caused
2730-527: The "Réserves 2000" plan, the brigades de zone were finally disbanded by mid-1993. 1st Army Corps was disbanded on 1 July 1990; 2nd Army Corps in August 1993. At the end of the Second World War , France was immediately confronted with the beginnings of the decolonisation movement. The French army, which had employed indigenous North African spahis and tirailleurs in almost all of its campaigns since 1830,
2821-411: The "ulcer" of the ongoing war in the Spanish peninsular against Britain and Portugal, the French Army was badly short of trained troops and French manpower was almost exhausted. After Napoleon's abdication and return, halted by an Anglo-Dutch and Prussian alliance at Waterloo, the French army was placed back under the restored Bourbon Monarchy. The structure remained largely unchanged and many officers of
Hotchkiss M1922 machine gun - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-453: The 'Bandes' (Militia) were combined to form temporary 'Legions' of up to 9000 men. The men would be paid, contracted to fight and receive military training. Henry II further regularised the French Army by forming standing infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure. The first of them (Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne) were called Les Vieux Corps (The Old Corps). It
3003-509: The Army and training. The two Services are the service of ground equipment, and the integrated structure of operational maintenance of terrestrial materials (SIMMT, former DCMAT). This joint oriented service is responsible for project management support for all land equipment of the French army. The holding-operational equipment the Army is headed by the Service de maintenance industrielle terrestre (SMITer). Historically there were other services of
3094-646: The Army comprises: The French Army was reorganized in 2016. The new organisation consists of two combined divisions (carrying the heritage of 1st Armored and 3rd Armored divisions) and given three combat brigades to supervise each. There is also the Franco-German Brigade . The 4th Airmobile Brigade was reformed to direct the three combat helicopter regiments. There are also several division-level ( niveau divisionnaire ) specialized commands including Intelligence, Information and communication systems, Maintenance, Logistics, Special Forces, Army Light Aviation ,
3185-740: The Army engineered a military coup that toppled the civilian government and put General de Gaulle back in power in the May 1958 crisis . De Gaulle, however, recognized that Algeria was a dead weight and had to be cut free. Four retired generals then launched the Algiers putsch of 1961 against de Gaulle himself, but it failed. After 400,000 deaths, Algeria finally became independent. Hundreds of thousands of Harkis , Muslims loyal to Paris, went into exile in France, where they and their children and grandchildren remain in poorly assimilated " banlieue " suburbs. The Army repressed
3276-519: The Army to lose most of its officers to aristocratic flight or the guillotine , and thus it became demoralised and ineffective. The revolutionary militias of Sans-culottes , and the bourgeoise National Guard formed the nucleus of the French Revolutionary Army alongside the remnants of the dissolved Royal French Army ; it was created following the storming of the Tuileries palace , where
3367-483: The Army who were all grouped together with their counterparts in other components to form joint agencies serving the entire French Armed Forces. After the health service and the fuel service were both replaced respectively by the French Defence Health service and Military Fuel Service , other services have disappeared in recent years: The Army Commissariat was dissolved on 31 December 2009 and intégrated into
3458-512: The Austrians, the first use of railways for mass movement. The French army was now considered to be an example to others and military missions to Japan and the emulation of French Zouaves in other militaries added to this prestige. However, an expedition to Mexico failed to create a stable puppet régime. France was humiliated following its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War , and while
3549-490: The Empire retained their positions. The Bourbon restoration was a time of political instability with the country constantly on the verge of political violence. The army was committed to the restoration of Spanish monarchial absolutism in 1824. It achieved its aims in six months, but did not fully withdraw until 1828. By comparison with the earlier Napoleonic invasion, this expedition was rapid and successful. Taking advantage of
3640-609: The First World War. The news of the fall of Algiers had barely reached Paris in 1830 when the Bourbon Monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the constitutional Orleans Monarchy . During the July 1830 revolution , the Paris mobs proved too much for the troops of the Maison du Roi and the main body of the French Army, sympathetic to the crowds, did not become heavily involved. In 1848
3731-561: The French Army and standardised their equipment and tactics. The army of the Sun King tended to wear grey-white coats with coloured linings . There were exceptions and the foreign troops, recruited from outside France, wore red (Swiss, Irish etc.) or blue (Germans, Scots etc.) while the French Guards wore blue. In addition to the regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units,
Hotchkiss M1922 machine gun - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-699: The French Army deployed 2,240,000 combatants grouped into 94 divisions (of which 20 were active and 74 were reservists ) from the Swiss border to the North Sea .These numbers did not include the Army of the Alps facing Italy or the 600,000 men dispersed through the French colonial empire . After defeat in 1940 , the Vichy French regime was allowed to retain 100–120,000 Armistice Army personnel in unoccupied France, and larger forces in
3913-404: The French Army reserve consisted of 22 military divisions, administering all reserve units in a certain area, seven brigades de zone de défense , 22 régiments interarmées divisionnaires , and the 152nd Infantry Division, defending the ICBM launch sites. The plan was put into action from 1985, and brigades de zone , such as the 107th Brigade de Zone, were created. But with the putting-in-place of
4004-400: The Spanish was particularly deadly to the gendarmes, who suffered heavy casualties from arquebus and musket fire, but were unable to overrun the vulnerable shooters due to the protection offered by the pikemen of the formation, though successfully delaying them from intervening in the main center engagement. Also proving effective in the same battle routing the pike and shot formations engaged in
4095-408: The allied armies repeatedly until 1812. Napoleon introduced the concept of all arms Corps , each one a traditional army 'in miniature', permitting the field force to be split across several lines of march and rejoin or to operate independently. The Grande Armée operated by seeking a decisive battle with each enemy army and then destroying them in detail before rapidly occupying territory and forcing
4186-403: The army had far superior infantry weapons in the form of the Chassepot and Mitrailleuse , its tactics and artillery were inferior, and by allowing the Prussian Army to take the initiative, the French Army was rapidly bottled up into its fortress towns and defeated. The loss of prestige within the army lead to a great emphasis on aggression and close quarter tactics. In August 1914, following
4277-416: The case, individuals often found lodging in nearby areas. This lack of lodging could apply even in times of peace, when many of the men retired to their homes instead of remaining in the garrison (particularly in winter), and despite the contemporary system of giving leave, which allowed up to one quarter of the company to be away at any given time. Men who were away for these reasons were to be brought back to
4368-432: The center via a charge into the flank by a group of 80 Gendarmes under the command of Boutières. Starting in the 1540s another challenge to the gendarmes appeared in the form of the German reiter cavalry armed with wheellock pistols, who offered a cheaper form of heavy cavalry compared to the extremely expensive gendarme. While the effectiveness of these firearms cavalry varied, a number of notable French captains during
4459-415: The command of General Jacques Massu and the 25th Parachute Division under the command of General Sauvagnac. After the Algiers putsch , the two divisions, with the 11th Infantry Division, were merged into a new light intervention division, the 11th Light Intervention Division, on 1 May 1961. During the Cold War , the French Army, though leaving the NATO Military Command Structure in 1966, planned for
4550-465: The company by the captains when ordered to do so by the provincial governor. Long-term absence was a chronic problem in the companies. The French ordinances established regular infantry forces as well, but these were substantially less successful. It was with his increasingly professional army, including its gendarme heavy cavalry, that the French king ultimately defeated the English in the Hundred Years War and then sought to assert his authority over
4641-424: The decline of chivalric ideals largely due to the ever-evolving developments in gunpowder technology. They provided the King of France with a potent regular force of armored lancers which, when properly employed, dominated late medieval and early modern battlefields. Their symbolic demise is generally considered to be the Battle of Pavia , which saw the gendarmes suffer a disastrous defeat and inversely confirmed
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#17328546452094732-502: The defence of Western Europe. In 1977 the French Army switched from multi-brigade divisions to smaller divisions of about four to five battalions/regiments each. From the early 1970s, 2nd Army Corps was stationed in South Germany, and effectively formed a reserve for NATO's Central Army Group . In the 1980s, 3rd Army Corps headquarters was moved to Lille and planning started for its use in support of NATO's Northern Army Group . The Rapid Action Force of five light divisions, including
4823-436: The enemy target at once. As such, the early to mid sixteenth century may appear to modern viewers to be a period of military anachronism—heavily armoured cavalry, appearing to all the world as the knights of old, careened across the battlefield alongside rapidly modernizing heavy artillery and infantry bearing firearms. However, the gendarme cavalry, when properly employed, could still be a decisive arm, as they could deliver
4914-426: The extreme investments into war efforts allowed France to begin a steady advance into Europe . Under Napoleon I , the French Imperial Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars . Professionalising again from the Revolutionary forces and using columns of attack with heavy artillery support and swarms of pursuit cavalry the French army under Napoleon and his marshals was able to outmanoeuvre and destroy
5005-425: The fight against the Royal Italian Army . It was also used by the Chinese Nationalist Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War to fight against the Japanese Imperial Army and was frequently used in the Spanish Civil War by the Nationalist and in small numbers, the Republicans . There were several versions with different feed systems, calibers and improvements, among which were the Hotchkiss M1924 and M1926,
5096-407: The fights shorter" The French, starting with the Huguenot rebels, rapidly replaced the heavy gendarme lance with two pistols, and the armour of the gendarme rapidly lightened to give the horseman more mobility (and to cut the extreme cost of fielding such troops). The tremendous victories won by Henry IV in such battles as Ivry , Arques and Coutras , largely won by his pistolier cavalry against
5187-425: The first rank may with their spears do some hurt, especially to the horses, yet the other ranks following cannot do so, at leas the second or third, but are driven to cast away their spears and help themselves with their swords. Herein we are to consider two things which experience hath confirmed. The one, that the reiter are never so dangerous as when they be mingled with the enemy, for then be they all fire. The other,
5278-460: The gendarmes, and a light lance, but could deliver a capable charge when necessary. This organization was provisional, however, and one of the mounted archers was commonly replaced by another non-combatant, a servant ( valet ). In 1434, the pay for the members of the company was set as 120 livres for gendarmes, 60 for coutilliers , 48 for archers, and 36 for the non-combatants. Gendarme unit organization evolved over time. The retention of
5369-429: The heavy lance . A gendarme company was formed by the crown, the king appointing a magnate to raise the company and be its captain, and paying him for its maintenance. In this way, the bonds between the crown and the magnates were maintained, as the king's patronage essentially bought the loyalty of the nobility. Likewise, appointment of individual gentlemen to a gendarme company (a matter of provincial administration)
5460-506: The infantry and the engineering arm. The Troupes de marine are the former Colonial Troops. They are the first choice units for overseas deployment and recruit on this basis. They are composed of Marine Infantry ( Infanterie de Marine ) (which includes parachute regiments such as 1er RPIMa and a tank unit, the Régiment d'infanterie-chars de marine ) and the Marine Artillery ( Artillerie de Marine ). The Aviation légère de l'armée de Terre (ALAT, which translates as Army Light Aviation ),
5551-404: The influence of the respective captains at court. The gendarme companies were permanently stationed in towns in the provinces throughout France, subject to be summoned during wartime and concentrated in the Royal armies. Some became closely associated with the towns where they were stationed. If these garrison towns did not have sufficient resources to support the gendarmes present, as was often
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#17328546452095642-435: The joint-service Service du commissariat des armées. Gendarme (historical) A gendarme was a heavy cavalryman of noble birth , primarily serving in the French army from the Late Middle Ages to the early modern period . Heirs to the knights of French medieval feudal armies, French gendarmes enjoyed like their forefathers a great reputation and were regarded as the finest European heavy cavalry force until
5733-401: The lance as a relevant small unit formation, a relic of medieval times, gradually fell away in the sixteenth century, and, by an edict of 1534, Francis I declared that a company of gendarmes would be made up of 40 gendarme heavy, and sixty archer medium, cavalry (each gendarme having two unarmed attendants, pages and/or valets), thus practically ending the old proportions of troop types based on
5824-424: The last of which spawned the Greek EYP Hotchkiss . French Army The French Army , officially known as the Land Army ( French : Armée de terre , lit. ' Army of Land ' ), is the principal land warfare force of France , and the largest component of the French Armed Forces ; it is responsible to the Government of France , alongside the French Navy , French Air and Space Force , and
5915-426: The most successful military power in European history in terms of number of fought and won. The first permanent army of France , which was paid with regular wages instead of being supplied by feudal levies , was established in the early 15th century under Charles VII . It was formed due to the need for reliable troops during the Hundred Years' War , though the Army was not disbanded because it saw continued use by
6006-408: The new 4th Airmobile and 6th Light Armoured Divisions , was also intended as a NATO reinforcement force. In addition, the 152nd Infantry Division was maintained to guard the S3 intercontinental ballistic missile base on the Plateau d'Albion. In the 1970s–1980s, two light armoured divisions were planned to be formed from school staffs (the 12th and 14th). The 12th Light Armoured Division (12 DLB)
6097-451: The number of lances. By the 1550s, advances in firearm technology dictated that a body of 50 light cavalry armed with an arquebus be attached to each gendarme company. The heavy cavalrymen in these companies were almost invariably men of gentle birth, who would have served as knights in earlier feudal forces. In many ways they still closely resembled knights—wearing a complete suit of plate armour , they fought on horseback, charging with
6188-453: The outbreak of the Great War , the French Armed Forces numbered some 1,300,000 soldiers, and by the end of the war the French Army had called up 8,817,000 men, including 900,000 colonial troops; of these around 1,397,000 French soldiers were killed in action, mostly on the Western Front . French soldiers, at the beginning of the war, still wore the colourful uniforms of the Franco-Prussian War , with this conspicuous dress proving unsuited to
6279-459: The professionalisation process, numbers decreased from the 236,000 (132,000 conscripts) in 1996 to around 140,000. By June 1999, the Army's strength was 186,000, including around 70,000 conscripts. 38 of 129 regiments were planned to be stood down from 1997 to 1999. The previous structure's nine 'small' divisions and sundry separate combat and combat support brigades were replaced by nine combat and four combat support brigades. The Rapid Action Force,
6370-401: The regiments in existence, leaving only the Vieux and a handful of others, which became known as the Petite Vieux and also gained the privilege of not being disbanded after a war. In 1684, there was a major reorganisation of the French infantry and another in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIV 's plans and the War of the Spanish Succession . The reshuffle created many of the modern regiments of
6461-421: The right side. The FM's caliber varied with the user, being chambered in a wide range of calibres and fed from either 20-round overhead magazines (Spanish model) or an extended feed strip . Its maximum range is 2,000 meters, and it had a regulator mechanism that would allow the user to adjust the rate of fire. The Hotchkiss M1922 was used with great success by the Greek Army during Greco-Italian War during
6552-509: The rise of the Spanish Tercios as the new dominant military force, leading to the preeminence of the House of Habsburg in 16th century Europe. The word gendarme derives originally from the French homme d'armes ( man-at-arms ), plural of which is gens d'armes . The plural sense was later shortened to gendarmes and a singular made of this, gendarme . During the 15th century,
6643-597: The semi-independent great duchies of France. When the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold wished to establish an army to stand up to this royal French threat, he emulated the French ordonnance army, raising his own force of gendarmes in ordonnance companies starting informally in 1470, officially establishing these by means of an ordonnance issued in 1471, and refining the companies in further ordonnances issued in 1472, 1473 and 1476. These created twelve ordonnance companies, for
6734-461: The traditionally-equipped royalist gendarmes, led to the complete conversion of the gendarme into the use of firearms by the end of the 16th century. Such changes were also happening in other Western European nations, with the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau discarding the lance in 1597. Cavalry called gendarmes continued to serve in French armies for centuries to follow, often with prominence (such as in
6825-450: The trenches and, accordingly, by 1915 the mostly blue and red peacetime uniforms had been replaced by bleu-horizon (light blue-grey), with the Adrian helmet in place of the kepi . The traditional capote of the French infantry continued to be worn in the trenches but in bleu-horizon . Colonial and North African soldiers adopted khaki uniforms. At the beginning of the Battle of France
6916-590: The two squadrons meeting, they have scarce discharged the second pistol but either the one or the other turned away. For they contested no longer as the Romans did against other nations, who oftentimes keep the field fighting two hours face to face before either party turned back. By all the afore-said reasons, I am driven to avow that a squadron of pistols, doing their duties, shall break a squadron of spears." De Saulx noted in his own memoir: "The large pistols make close action so dangerous that everyone wants to leave, making
7007-457: The wars of Louis XIV ), but with less distinctive features than during the sixteenth century. The Royal Guard, known as the Maison militaire du roi de France , had two units of gendarmes: the Gendarmes de la garde (Guard Gendarmes), created in 1609 and the Gendarmes de France or Gendarmes d'Ordonnance , units of regular cavalry continuing the traditions of sixteenth-century Gendarmes. In 1720,
7098-523: The weakness of the local bey , the French invasion of Algiers in 1830 again rapidly overcame initial resistance. The French government formally annexed Algeria but it took nearly 45 years to fully pacify the country. This period of French history saw the creation of the Armée d’Afrique , which included the Légion étrangère . The Army was now uniformed in dark blue coats and red trousers, which it would retain until
7189-463: The world, feared for their powerful armament, reckless courage and esprit de corps . As the fifteenth century waned, so did the tactical practices of the Hundred Years War , and the gendarmes of the sixteenth century returned to fighting exclusively on horseback, generally in a very thin line ( en haye ), usually two or even just one rank deep, so as to maximize the number of lances being set upon
7280-566: Was a French Army officer, and many key NATO staff positions were filled by Frenchmen. While an upper limit of 14 French divisions committed to NATO had been set by the Treaty of Paris, the total did not exceed six divisions during the Indochina War, and during the Algerian War the total fell as low as two divisions. The Army created two parachute divisions in 1956, the 10th Parachute Division under
7371-434: Was a militia of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but the units were disbanded once war ended. Meanwhile, the bulk of infantry was still provided by urban or provincial militias, which were raised from an area or city to fight locally and that were named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually, the units became more permanent, and in the late 15th century, Swiss instructors were recruited, and some of
7462-623: Was established in 1831 for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. The Legion is commanded by French officers. It is an elite military unit numbering around 9,000 troops. The Legion has gained worldwide recognition for its service, most recently in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2001. It is not strictly an Arme but a commandement particulier , whose regiments belong to several arms, notably
7553-540: Was established on 22 November 1954 for observation, reconnaissance, assault and supply duties. It operates numerous helicopters in support of the French Army, its primary attack helicopter is the Eurocopter Tiger , of which 80 were ordered. It is an Arme with a commandement particulier . On the administrative side, there are now no more than one Direction and two services. The Army Human Resources Directorate (DRHAT) manages human resources (military and civilian) of
7644-467: Was invariably hopelessly in arrears), and generally looted and terrorized the areas they occupied. The French kings sought a solution to these problems by issuing ordinances ( ordonnances ) which established standing armies by which units were permanently embodied, based, and organized into formations of set size. Men in these units signed a contract which kept them in the service of the unit for periods of one year or longer. The first such French ordinance
7735-548: Was issued by King Charles VII at the general parliament of Orléans in 1439, and was meant to raise a body of troops to crush the devastating incursions of the Armagnacs . Eventually more ordinances would set the general guidelines for the organization of companies of gendarmes, the troops in which were accordingly called the gendarmes d'ordonnance . Each of the 15 gendarme companies was to be of 100 lances fournies , each composed of six mounted men—a noble heavy armoured horseman,
7826-516: Was mostly accomplished by patronage and recommendation, favouring those with the right family connections. Recruits preferred positions in companies stationed in their home province, but did not always obtain them. The total number of gendarmes in the companies varied over the decades. The high point was roughly 4,000 lances during the latter part of the reign of Louis XI , but the Estates General of 1484 reduced this to 2,200 lances, which number
7917-517: Was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost-saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the French Royal Guard being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so be called after the region in which they were raised or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. When Louis XIII came to the throne, he disbanded most of
8008-551: Was reinforced during the November 2015 Paris attacks , and was part of a state of emergency in France due to continued terror threats and attacks. The organisation of the army is fixed by Chapter 2 of Title II of Book II of the Third Part of the Code of Defense, notably resulting in the codification of Decree 2000-559 of 21 June 2000. In terms of Article R.3222-3 of the Code of Defence,
8099-652: Was the leading force in opposition to decolonization, which was perceived as a humiliation. In Algeria the Army repressed an extensive rising in and around Sétif in May 1945 with heavy fire: figures for Algerian deaths vary between 45,000 as claimed by Radio Cairo at the time and the official French figure of 1,020. The Army saw maintaining control of Algeria as a high priority. By this time, one million French settlers had established themselves, alongside an indigenous population of nine million. When it decided that politicians were about to sell them out and give independence to Algeria,
8190-454: Was thereafter, more or less, the peacetime average. This was generally increased by another 1,000 lances in wartime. When conflict ended, the reduction came either in the number of companies, or in the number of lances in the companies (or by a combination of these two methods). Captains dreaded a reduction of their company as a diminution of their prestige and income, and worked hard to prevent this—which companies were reduced usually reflected
8281-511: Was to have its headquarters to be formed on the basis of the staff of the Armoured and Cavalry Branch Training School at Saumur . In the late 1970s an attempt was made to form 14 reserve light infantry divisions, but this plan, which included the recreation of the 109th Infantry Division , was too ambitious. The planned divisions included the 102nd, 104e, 107e, 108e, 109e, 110e, 111e, 112e, 114e, 115th, and 127th Infantry Divisions. From June 1984,
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