TheFrench Armed Forces (French:Forces armées françaises,pronounced[fɔʁsaʁmefʁɑ̃sɛːz]) are themilitary forces ofFrance. They consist of fourmilitary branches – theArmy, theNavy, theAir and Space Force, and theNational Gendarmerie. TheNational Guard serves as the French Armed Forces'military reserve force. As stipulated byFrance's constitution, thepresident of France serves ascommander-in-chief of the French military. TheChief of the Defence Staff, currentlyGénéral d'armée aérienneFabien Mandon,[5] serves as the Armed Forces' military head.
France has theninth largest defense budget in the world and the second largest in theEuropean Union (EU). It also has thelargest military by size in the EU.[6] As of 2025, the total active personnel of the French Armed Forces is 264,000. While the reserve personnel is 43,000, for a total of 307,000 personnel (excluding the National Gendarmerie). Including the National Gendarmerie (155,000 in 2024[7]), the total manpower of the French Armed Forces combined is 462,000 strong.[8] A 2015Credit Suisse report ranked the French Armed Forces as the world's sixth most powerful military.[9]
The Armed Forces continuously rank as one the institutions in which the French people have the highest confidence. A 2023IFOP poll showed that 89% of the French trusted their Armed Forces.[10]
The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, andFrench territorial possessions overseas. According to British historianNiall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, 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.
The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in theconquest of Gaul byJulius Caesar. After the decline of theRoman Empire, aGermanic tribe known as theFranks took control ofGaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kingsClovis I andCharlemagne. In theMiddle Ages, rivalries with England and theHoly Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as theNorman Conquest and theHundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in theItalian Wars. TheWars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory in theThirty Years' War made France one of the most powerful nations on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed itsfirst colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. UnderLouis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitionschecked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century.
Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against theSpanish,Polish, andAustrian crowns. At the same time, France wasfending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to theSeven Years' War, where France lost itsNorth American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and theAmerican Revolutionary War, whereextensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and thedirect participation of its army and navy led to America's independence.[11] Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in theFrench Revolutionary Wars and theNapoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion underNapoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of theSecond French colonial empire as well as French interventions inBelgium,Spain, andMexico. Other major wars were fought againstRussia in theCrimea,Austria inItaly, andPrussia within France itself.
Following defeat in theFranco-Prussian War,Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in theBattle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with anauthoritarian regime. TheAllies, including the government in exile'sFree French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over theAxis powers. As a result, France secured anoccupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on theUnited Nations Security Council.
The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way forEuropean integration starting in the 1950s. France became anuclear power with itsfirst test of an atomic bomb inAlgeria in 1960.[12] Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation withNATO and its European partners.
Today, French military doctrine is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence (seeForce de dissuasion), and military self-sufficiency.France is a charter member ofNATO, and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post-Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in the Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-RussiaSummit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts inAfrica, theMiddle East, and theBalkans, frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and thearmaments industry.
Since the end of theCold War, France has placed a high priority on arms control and non-proliferation. French Nuclear testing in thePacific, and thesinking of theRainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namelyNew Zealand), and world opinion. France agreed to theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting a controversial final series of six nuclear tests onMururoa in theSouth Pacific, the French signed theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti-personnellandmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, theAustralia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and theMissile Technology Control Regime. France has also signed and ratified theChemical Weapons Convention.
On 31 July 2007, PresidentNicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean-Claude Mallet, a member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty-five member commission charged with a wide-ranging review of French defence. The commission issued itsWhite Paper in early 2008.[13]
Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post-Cold War changes in European politics and power structures, the French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction ofterrorist networks both in metropolitan France and infrancophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance the restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully inNATO," four decades after former French president GeneralCharles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil.[14]
In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if the defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad.[15]
There are currently 36,000French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" forOpérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for the United Nations force stationed inHaiti following the2004 Haiti rebellion. France has sent troops, especiallyspecial forces, intoAfghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of theTaliban andAl Qaeda. InOpération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed inIvory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under the terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along theLebanon-Israel border as part of the cease-fire agreement that brought the2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along the border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore.
The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État-Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 nearCreil maintains the ability to command a medium or large-scale international operation, and runs exercises .[16] In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in the enforcement of ano-fly zone over northernLibya, during theLibyan Civil war, in order to prevent forces loyal toMuammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks onAnti-Gaddafi forces. This operation was known asOpération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO-led coalition, enforcingUN Security Council Resolution 1973. On 11 January 2013 France begunOperation Serval to fight Islamists inMali and theSahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launchedOperation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022.
France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including:
In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in theChampagne-Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with the French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States.[20]
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The head of the French armed forces is thePresident of the Republic, in his role aschef des armées. However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of thegouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by thePrime Minister, who are not necessarily of the same political side as the president). TheMinister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations.
Historically, France relied a great deal onconscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following theAlgerian War, the use of non-volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered the choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission.
In 1996, PresidentJacques Chirac's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with theGendarmerie Nationale).[21]
It breaks down as follows (2022):[22]
Thereserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel.[21]
Apart from the three main service branches, the French Armed Forces also includes a fourth military branch called theNational Gendarmerie. It had a reported strength of 103,000 active personnel and 25,000 reserve personnel in 2018.[23] They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles.
Historically theNational Guard functioned as the Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016.[24]
Since 2019, young French citizens can fulfill themandatory serviceService national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in the service branch of their choice.[25][26]
Placed under the command of the staffs, the Frencharmed forces include the fiveservice branches, theArmy, theNational Navy, theAir and Space Force, theNational Gendarmerie, and theNational Guard, as well as the support services and joint organizations:[27]
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In addition, theNational Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called theGendarmerie Maritime which is commanded by the French Navy.
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TheNational Gendarmerie is primarily a military and airborne capable police force which serves as a rural and general purpose police force.
Reactivated in 2016, the National Guard serves as the official primary military and police reserve service of the Armed Forces. It is placed under the jurisdiction ofMinistry of the Armed Forces and serves as areserve force. It also doubles as a force multiplier for law enforcement personnel during contingencies and to reinforce military personnel whenever being deployed within France and abroad.
L'armée arrive en deuxième position : près de neuf Français sur dix ont confiance dans l'armée (89%, dont 41% « tout à fait »).
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