French Army
land warfare branch of France's military
The French Army (French: Armée de terre, lit. 'Land Army') is the land service branch of the French Armed Forces. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Staff of the French Army (CEMAT), who is subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Staff (CEMA), who in turn is responsible to the President of France. CEMAT is also directly responsible to the Ministry of Armed Forces for administration, preparation and equipment.
The French Army, following the French Revolution, has generally been composed of a mixed force of conscripts and professional volunteers. It is now considered an All-Volunteer Force (or professional) force, since the French Parliament suspended the conscription of soldiers.
History
Early history
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 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 was a militia of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but the units were disbanded once war ended.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “French Army” as land warfare branch of France's military. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1076619. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “French Army” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.