The military reserve forces of France are the

military reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...

within the

French Armed Forces The French Armed Forces (french: Forces armées françaises) encompass the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force and the Gendarmerie of the French Republic. The President of France heads the armed forces as Chief of the Armed Forces. Franc ...

History

From the very moment

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

took power as

First Consul The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

in the coup of

18 Brumaire The Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. This bloodless ''coup d'état'' overt ...

, he was feared by his rivals, and keenly supported by the army. They participated in the creation of a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

that forbade a Consul from leading an active army outside

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The violence of the coup d'état had already caused disquiet, and the consuls had access to an impressive garde des consuls. Following the new constitution to the letter, Napoléon raised a reserve army (and thus not counting as an active army) at

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

to support his war effort in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. This was the turning point of his Second Italian campaign.Le Capitaine de Cugnac, Campagne de l’armée de Reserve en 1800; Paris 1900. See also

Armée d'Italie The Army of Italy (french: Armée d'Italie) was a field army of the French Army stationed on the France–Italy border, Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the pr ...

. From 1872 to 1999 the French Army reserves were divided into: * Army Reserve proper * Territorial Army * Primary Reserve of the TA

Present organisation

On the suspension of obligatory

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

and the professionalisation of its armies, France also modified the organisation of its military reserve in the same professionalising way. Law n°99-894 of 22 October 1999 (modified by law 2006-449 of 18 April 2006) set out the organisation of the military reserve and of the defence forces. The military reserve was organised into two bodies : * the ''réserve citoyenne'' (citizen reserve), group of volunteers actively getting to know the military world, undergoing training and maintaining the links between the armed forces and civil society. Citizen reservists have military status. * the ''réserve opérationnelle'' (operational reserve), grouping together reservists with an ESR (''engagement à servir la réserve'', or "obligation to serve in the reserve") and former military officers with an availability obligation (who thus remain available for the armed forces). The reservists serving under an ESR serve as military officers for periods of 1 to 210 days per year; they are coming from all fields (former officers, old ''appelés du contingent'' (conscripts), civilians without a military past) and all the professional social categories. These reservists serve in many branches of the forces - the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, gendarmerie,

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

health service Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...

, supply corps, and DGA.

The Reserve of the French Army

The Army operational reserve is about 60% headquarters/staff specialists and 40% sub-unit reservists (company, battery, squadron, drill). Two types of reserve units are in service: *The ''Unités d'Intervention de Réserve'' (UIR) (Intervention Reserve), specializing in national defense *The ''Unités Spécialisées de Réserve'' (USR) (Specialist Reserve) for the Engineers, Logistics and NBC units of the Army. These units share the same missions as the active units within the regiment. Training consists of: *Reserve Initial Training ("La formation initiale du réserviste", FMIR) : 15 days *Technical Aptitude Certificate ("Le certificat d'aptitude technique élémentaire", CATE) : 15 days *Cadre training (FIE) : 1 month *Reserve Officer Initial Training ("La formation initiale d'officier de réserve", FIOR) : 21 days *Platoon Leader Training ("La formation de chef de section") : 21 days Among the units expected to form reserve sub-units, circa 2014, were the 1st Infantry Regiment at Sarrebourg; the 35th Infantry Regiment at

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...

; the 92nd Infantry Regiment at Clermont-Ferrand; the

126th Infantry Regiment The 126th Infantry Regiment ("Second Michigan") is a United States military unit of the Michigan Army National Guard. The 126th was originally an infantry regiment, then was converted into an armoured role, and then was converted to a light ca ...

(

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

); 152nd Infantry Regiment (

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

); :fr:7e bataillon de chasseurs alpins (7e BCA) at Varces ; 13e BCA at Barby; 16e BC at

Bitche Bitche ( , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department, administrative regions of France, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It ...

; 27e BCA ; Annecy; 1er RTir ; Epinal; 1er RCP at Pamiers; 501e RCC at

Mourmelon Le Grand Mourmelon may refer to : * Mourmelon-le-Grand, a municipality in the Marne department in north-eastern France * Mourmelon-le-Petit, a municipality in the Marne department in north-eastern France * Camp de Châlons, also known as ''camp de Mourmelon ...

; 1er RCh at Thierville Sur Meuse; 4e RCh ; Gap; 12e RC ; Olivet; 4e RD ; Carnoux En Provence; 1er RHP ; Tarbes; 3e RH at Metz; and the

1st Spahi Regiment The 1st Spahi Regiment (french: 1er Régiment de Spahis) is an armored regiment of the modern French Army, previously called the 1st Moroccan Spahi Regiment (french: 1er Régiment de Spahis Marocains). It was established in 1914 as a mounted cava ...

(1er RS) at Valence.

References

*''This page is a translation of :fr:Réserve militaire#La réserve en France.'' *Anne-Beatrice MICARD, "Paroles de réservistes," ''Terre information magazine,'' No. 185, June 2007, pp25-39. {{DEFAULTSORT:Military Reserve Forces Of France

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

Reserve forces