National Gendarmerie

The National Gendarmerie ( - ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police.

The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, with additional duties from the Ministry of Armed Forces. Its responsibilities include policing smaller towns, suburbs and rural areas (around 51% of the French population and 96% of its territory), crowd and riot control, and criminal investigation, including cybercrime. By contrast, the National Police is a civilian law enforcement agency that is in charge of policing cities and larger towns. Because of its military status, the Gendarmerie also fulfills a range of military and defence missions.

The Gendarmerie has a strength of around 102,162 people (as of 2023).

The Gendarmerie is the heir of the , the oldest police force in France, dating back to the Middle Ages. Historically, the term "gens d'armes" (Man-at-arms) referred to armed soldiers or units associated with the royal or noble forces in France. The Gendarmerie has influenced the culture and traditions of gendarmerie forces around the world, especially in independent countries from the former French colonial empire.

History Early history of the institution

The Gendarmerie is the direct descendant of the Maréchaussée ("Marshalcy") of the ancien regime.

During the Middle Ages, there were two Grand Officers of the Kingdom of France with police responsibilities: The Marshal of France and the Constable of France. The military policing responsibilities of the Marshal of France were delegated to the Marshal's provost, whose force was known as the Marshalcy because its authority ultimately derived from the Marshal. The Marshalcy dates back to the Hundred Years' War, with some historians tracing it back to the early 12th century.

The second organisation, the Constabulary (), was under the command of the Constable of France. The constabulary was regularised as a military body in 1337.

In 1415 the fought in the Battle of Agincourt and their commander, the Prévôt des Maréchaux (Provost of the Marshals), Gallois de Fougières, was killed in battle. This history was rediscovered in 1934, and Gallois de Fougières was then officially recorded as the first known gendarme to have died in the line of duty. His remains are now buried under the monument to the gendarmerie in Versailles.

Under King Francis I (), the was merged with the Constabulary. The resulting force was also known as the , or, formally, the Constabulary and Marshalcy of France (). Unlike the former constabulary, the new was not a fully militarized force.

In 1720, the was officially attached to the Household of the King (), together with the gendarmerie of the time, which was not a police force at all, but a royal guard. During the eighteenth century, the marshalcy developed in two distinct areas: increasing numbers of Marshalcy Companies (), dispersed into small detachments, were stationed around the French countryside to maintain law and order, while specialist units provided security for royal and strategic sites such as palaces and the mint (e.g., the and the .)

While its existence ensured the relative safety of French rural districts and roads, visitors from England, which had nothing but the not very effective parish constables, saw the , with its armed and uniformed patrols, as royal soldiers with an oppressive role and so a symbol of foreign tyranny.Alexis de Tocqueville, page 108 "The Old Regime and the Revolution" On the eve of the 1789 French Revolution, the Maréchaussée numbered 3,660 men divided into small brigades (a "brigade" in this context being a squad of ten to twenty men). Their limited numbers and scattered deployment rendered the ineffective in controlling the "Great Fear" of July through August, 1789.

The Revolutionary Period

During the revolutionary period, the commanders generally placed themselves under the local constitutional authorities. Despite their connection with the king, they were therefore perceived as a force favoring the reforms of the French National Assembly.

As a result, the was not disbanded but simply renamed as the . Its personnel remained unchanged, and the functions of the force remained much as before. However, from this point, the gendarmerie, unlike the , became a fully militarized force. During the revolutionary period, the main force responsible for policing was the National Guard. Although the had been the main police force of the ancien regime, the gendarmerie was initially a full-time auxiliary to the National Guard militia.

In 1791 the newly named was grouped into 28 divisions, each commanded by a colonel responsible for three départements. In turn, two companies of gendarmes under the command of captains were based in each department. This territorial basis of organisation continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Nineteenth century

Under Napoléon, the numbers and responsibilities of the gendarmerie—renamed —were expanded significantly. In contrast to the mounted , the gendarmerie were both horse and foot personnel; in 1800, these numbered approximately 10,500 of the former and 4,500 of the later, respectively.

In 1804 the first Inspector General of Gendarmerie was appointed and a general staff established—based out of the in Paris. Subsequently, special gendarmerie units were created within the Imperial Guard for combat duties in French occupied Spain.

Following the Second Restoration of 1815, the gendarmerie was reduced in numbers to about 18,000 and reorganised into departmental legions. Under King Louis Phillippe a "gendarmerie of Africa" was created for service in Algeria and during the Second Empire the Imperial Guard Gendarmerie Regiment was re-established. The majority of gendarmes continued in what was now the established role of the corps—serving in small, sedentary detachments as armed rural police. Under the Third Republic the ratio of foot to mounted gendarmes increased and the numbers directly incorporated in the French Army with a military police role reduced.Edouard Detaille, pages 281–293, "L'Armee Francaise",

In 1901, the was established to train its officers.

Battle honours

Five battles are remembered on the flag of the Gendarmerie: Battle of Hondschoote (1793): Four hundred gendarmes of the 32nd Division (equivalent of a regiment under the Revolution) engaged in battle on the left wing of the army. They seized enemy artillery positions and lost 117 men. Villodrigo (1812): The 1st legion of Gendarmerie on horseback, belonging to the Brigade of Cavalry of the Army of the North, clashed with the British cavalry on 23 October 1812. Charging with sabres, they penetrated enemy lines killing 250 and taking 85 prisoners. Colonel Béteille, commanding the brigade, received twelve sabre cuts, but he survived. Taguin (1843): Thirty gendarmes on horseback were mobilised to take part in tracking the tribe of the emir Abd-El-Kader and participated in his capture. In a painting by Horace Vernet, which immortalises the scene and hangs in the Musée de Versailles, the gendarmes appear alongside the Algerian Governor-General, Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale. Sevastopol (1855): Two infantry battalions of the Regiment of Gendarmerie of the Imperial Guard participated in taking the city. The 1st battalion seized a strategic position that contributed towards the final victory. A total of 153 Gendarmes fell during this siege. Indo-China (1945/1954): Three legions of infantrymen from the Republican Guard (3000 men) were formed at the end of 1946. Charged with the formation of the Cochin China Civil Guard, they assumed security roles and patrolled the borders, suffering heavy losses: 680 were killed or went missing and 1,500 were wounded.

The National Gendarmerie is still sometimes referred to as the (being the old name for the service). The gendarmes are also occasionally called , which is a slang term derived from an 18th-century Hungarian word for "frontier guards." The symbol of the gendarmerie is a stylized grenade, which is also worn by the Italian Carabinieri and the Grenadier Guards in Britain. The budget in 2008 was approximately 7.7 billion euros.

The equivalent Dutch force, Royal Marechaussee, uses officially the old French term—which King William I, when assuming power after the fall of Napoleon, considered preferable to "gendarmerie".

Missions

In French, the term "police" not only refers to the forces, but also to the general concept of "maintenance of law and order" (policing). The Gendarmerie's missions spans three categories: Administrative police (), upholding public order, safety checks and traffic controls, assistance to people in imminent danger, protection duties, etc. Judicial police (), handling penal law enforcement and investigation of crimes and felonies Military and defense missions, including military police for the armed forces

These missions include:

The policing of the countryside, rivers, coastal areas, and small towns with populations under 20,000, that are outside of the jurisdiction of the French National Police. The Gendarmerie's area of responsibility represents approx. 95% of the French territory and 50% of the population of France Criminal investigations under the supervision of the judiciary Maintaining law and order in public gatherings and demonstrations, including crowd control and other security activities Maritime policing Security of airports, civil nuclear sites and military installations Provision of military police services to the French military—on French territory as well as during foreign operations (OPEX, for () For the Republican Guard (Garde républicaine—which is part of the Gendarmerie), participation in the state's protocol and ceremonies

Organization

The Gendarmerie, while remaining part of the French armed forces, has been attached to the Ministry of the Interior since 2009. Criminal investigations are run under the supervision of prosecutors or investigating magistrates. Gendarmerie members generally operate in uniform, and, only occasionally, in plainclothes.

Director-General The Director-general of the Gendarmerie (DGGN) is appointed by the Council of Ministers, with the rank of Général d'Armée. The current Director-General is Général Hubert Bonneau who took office on October 31, 2024.

The Director-General organizes the operation of the Gendarmerie at two levels: At the operational level. The DGGN is in charge of plans, operations, procurement, training and support of the forces in the field. In an advisory position for government in all matters pertaining to the Gendarmerie.

Directorate-General The Gendarmerie headquarters, called the Directorate-General of the National Gendarmerie ( (DGGN))), long located in downtown Paris, relocated in 2012 to the southern suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux.

The Directorate-General of the national gendarmerie includes: The general staff, divided into offices and services, The inspectorate-general of the Gendarmerie (I.G.G.N.) Three main directorates Human Resource directorate (D.P.M.G.N.) Finance and Support directorate (D.S.F.) Operations directorate (D.O.E.)—The general, chief of the Operations directorate, has authority on: Organisation and evaluation subdirectorate, International co-operation subdirectorate, Defence and public order subdirectorate, Public safety and road traffic safety subdirectorate, Criminal Investigation subdirectorate. Two joint Gendarmerie/Police offices Joint Information systems office (ST(SI)2) Joint purchasing office (SAELSI)

Organization The main components of the organization are Departmental Gendarmerie, Mobile Gendarmerie, Republican Guard, Overseas Gendarmerie, five specialized Gendarmerie branches, Provost Gendarmerie and Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie.