The Dépôt de la Guerre was France's military archive and cartography department, set up in 1688 under

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and expanded during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

and the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

History

Established by

François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

, it was put in charge of gathering, conserving, engraving and publishing historical archives, military memoirs, maps and plans and all topographic activity. In the 18th century lieutenant-general Vault played a notable part in the Dépôt's work. Camp de La Valbonne 1873

Effectively dissolved during the early years of the French Revolution thanks to a decision by the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

to suppress the military geographical-engineers corps, it was reestablished by Étienne Nicolas de Calon between April 1793 and May 1797, under the new name ''Dépôt général de la Guerre et de la Géographie'' (in full, ''Dépôt général de la Guerre de terre et de mer et de la Géographie'') - this underlined the military importance of creating maps and keeping them up to date. However, the staff provided for it were insufficient for its initial ambitions - a large part of its personnel shifted to the

Bureau des longitudes __NOTOC__ The ''Bureau des Longitudes'' () is a French scientific institution, founded by decree of 25 June 1795 and charged with the improvement of nautical navigation, standardisation of time-keeping, geodesy and astronomical observation. Durin ...

and the Service hydrologique de la Marine.

Pierre Dupont de l'Étang Divisional-General Pierre-Antoine, comte Dupont de l'Étang (4 July 1765 – 9 March 1840) was a French army officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Life Revolutionary Wars Born in Chabanais, Charent ...

was briefly put in charge of the Dépôt from May to September 1797, followed by

Jean Ernouf Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

from September 1797 to October 1798 and

Hugues Alexandre Joseph Meunier Hugues Alexandre Joseph Meunier (; 23 November 1758 or 1751''Dictionnaire biographique des généraux et amiraux français de la Révolution et de l'Empire'', Librairie historique et nobiliaire Georges Saffroy, Paris, 1934, 2 vol., 1202 pages, b ...

until December 1799. Under the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

it was headed by

Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke Henri-Jacques-Guillaume Clarke, 1st comte d'Hunebourg, 1st duc de Feltre (; 17 October 1765 – 28 October 1818), was a French military officer, diplomat, and politician of Irish origin who served as Minister of War (France)#First Empire, Minister ...

from December 1799 to September 1800, Antoine François Andréossy from August 1802 to May 1803,

Nicolas Antoine Sanson Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

from June 1803 to June 1805. It flourished during this period, employing 90 geographical engineers and a huge archive of documents, mapping the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic (; ) was a sister republic or a client state of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized two ...

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

and the newly-annexed

Cisrhenian Republic The Cisrhenian Republic () was a proposed client state of France during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1797. It was intended to be established on the Left Bank of the Rhine which was under French occupation at the time. However, the Coup of 18 ...

among others. The corps of engineer geographers was definitively recreated in January 1909. The Dépôt was restructured in 1814, and again in 1823. In 1887, it was split into two separate organisations: * The (SGA, "Army Geographic Service"), which in 1940 became the

Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière The (; "National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information"), previously (; "National Geographic Institute") and still abbreviated as IGN, is a French public state administrative establishment founded in 1940 to produce and maintain geog ...

(IGN, "National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information") * The (SHA, "Army Historical Service"), later the (SHAT, "Land Army Historical Service"), now the

Service historique de la défense In France, the Defence Historical Service (''Service historique de la défense''; SHD) is the archives centre of Ministry of Defence and its armed forces. It was set up by decree in 2005. The SHD consists of the "Centre historique des archive ...

(SHD, "Defence Historical Service"). The Dépôt's archives can be consulted at the SHD site at the

Château de Vincennes The Château de Vincennes () is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after ...

References

Bibliography

* Patrice Ract, ''Les ingénieurs géographes des camps et armées du roi, de la guerre de Sept Ans à la Révolution (1756-1791) : étude institutionnelle, prosopographique et sociale'' (thèse de l'

École des chartes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

soutenue en 2002)Les ingénieurs géographes des camps et armées du roi, de la guerre de Sept Ans à la Révolution (1756-1791) : étude institutionnelle, prosopographique et sociale
/ref> *

External links

*
Service historique de la Défense
- official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Depot de la Guerre Geography organizations National mapping agencies Military history of France