Chef de brigade was a military rank in the French Royal Artillery and in the revolutionary French armies.

Before the revolution

Chef de brigade français de la révolution française

''Chef de brigade'' was equivalent to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in the French Royal Corps of Artillery. Each regiment of artillery was divided into two battalions, each of two brigades under the command of a ''chef de brigade''. This rank was given to the best of the ''Capitaines en premier'' (first captains) in a regiment, commanding an artillery brigade that would be able to support an army division.Alder, Ken (2010). ''Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763-1815.'' The University of Chicago Press, p. 80.

During and after the revolution

''Chef de brigade'' was equivalent to colonel, in the French Revolutionary army, in command of a

demi-brigade A ''demi-brigade'' ( en, Half-brigade) is a military formation used by the French Army since the French Revolutionary Wars. The ''Demi-brigade'' amalgamated the various infantry organizations of the French Revolutionary infantry into a single ...

. Both that unit (replacing a regiment) and that rank (replacing the rank of mestre de camp) were created at the same time, in 1793. The two designations disappeared just before the institution of the

French Empire French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to: * First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 * Second French Empire, led by Nap ...

, in 1803, with the old designations restored.

References

Military ranks of France 1793 establishments in France French Revolutionary Wars {{mil-rank-stub