The Chief of the Defence Staff (French: Chef d'État-Major des Armées, CEMA; lit.'Chief of Staff of the Armies') is the military head of the Armed Forces of the French Republic, overseeing all military operations (under reserve of the particular dispositions relative to nuclear deterrence). They are responsible to the Minister of the Armed Forces and their deputy is the Major General of the Defence Staff. Since the 1950s, the office has been held only by four-star generals (OF–9), either from the Army, the Navy, or the Air and Space Force. The current Chief is General Fabien Mandon, who took the position on 1 September 2025.[3]
While non-official, the term Generalissimo or «(French: Généralissime)» was employed since 1914 to designate the individual who in reality was Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the North and North-East «(French: Commandant en Chef des Armées du Nord et du Nord-Est)». The term would be made official in 1915 when Joffre was also given command over the Salonika front (a degree of authority not enjoyed by his successors). The rank and post was successively occupied by three generals during World War I: Joseph Joffre, who occupied the rank and functions from August 1914 without bearing the official title, then Robert Nivelle and Philippe Pétain.
GénéralFerdinand Foch was the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Zone under Joseph Joffre in autumn 1914; this role later crystallised into command of French Army Group North, a position which Foch held until December 1916. Subsequently, Foch became Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front with the title Généralissime in 1918 then was designated as «Commandant en Chef des Armées Alliées» (English:Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces) starting 14 May 1918.[4]Foch was promoted to Marshal of France prior the planning of the offensive that led to the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Following the armistice, MarshalFerdinand Foch was elevated to the dignity of the Marshal of Great Britain and Poland.
Chief of Staff of National Defence
Toward the end of the Second World War, Charles de Gaulle who was Commander-in-Chief of the Free French Forces was assisted by a Staff of National Defence. It was headed by a Chief of Staff who had authority over all armed forces. This was the first time that a joint staff of the French armed forces was created.[5]
However the Chiefs of the Army, of the Navy and of the Air Force were opposed to this office after the war as they fear they would lose their independence of action.[5] This opposition was eventually hushed up and the position of Chief of Staff of the Armies (under various other names until 1962) was created on 28 April 1948.[2]
Functions
Responsibilities
The CEMA assists the Minister of the Armed Forces in its capacity attributions to make use of the various required forces and their general organisation. They are consulted on direction to be given to planning and programming work and may be charged by the Minister with any study concerning the armies. The Chief of Staff is responsible for coordinating the requirements of the forces in support of joint services. The CEMA, in virtue of decree dispositions of 15 July 2009, under the authority of the President of the French Republic, the French government, and under the reserve of the particular dispositions relative to nucleardeterrence, is responsible for the use of forces and commandment of all military operations. The CEMA is the military counselor of the government.
They bring together the proposals of the Delegate General of Armaments (DGA), the Chiefs of Staff of each army, and the directors of joint services in the areas of planning and programming. After consulting the DGA on technical and industrial possibilities, they shall report to the Minister on all the work and shall propose to them the measures necessary to ensure their consistency with regard to employment and their accounting with the foreseeable financial resources, as assessed by the Secretary General for Administration (SGA), and present a draft decision.
Their responsibilities consist of:
The conduct of operations: plans of use, general articulation of forces, distribution of operational means between theatre commanders (over whom he has full authority)
The joint service organizations and the general organization of the armed forces: oversees the coherence of the armed forces organisation
The expression of the need in material of human resources of the armed forces, the joint institutions, and the definition of the ensemble format of the armed forces. Planning and programming of military capacities. Oversees in effect of coherence in means of the armed forces and participates to the preparation and various executions of associated military and defence budgets.
The preparation and condition assignments of recruiting in the armed forces: is in check of forces aptitude in missions completion and has a permanent right of inspection over these forces.
Support of the armed forces: determines the general organizations and objectives, assures the operational maintenance in condition of all equipments and determines the joint needs of various material infrastructures and that of the armed forces while verifying status of operability
The intelligence assessment of military interest: ensures the general research direction and exploitation of the military intelligence
International military relations: directs French foreign military missions in foreign theatres, organizes the participation of the armed forces in regards to military cooperations, following international mandated negotiations and represents France at the various military committees of international organizations.
The headquarters of the Staff of the Armies between 1890 and 2015.
Authority
The Chief of Staff of the Armies has authority over the:
Additionally, directly under the CEMA authority are:
the General Staff of the Armies (État-Major des Armées, EMA)
the Inspectorate of the Armies (Inspection des Armées, IDA)
the superior commanders in the overseas departments, the commanders in foreign areas (COMSUP and COMFOR), the general officers of the defence and security areas (OGZDS) and the departmental military delegates (DMD)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
