Chief of Staff of the French Army

The Chief of the Staff of the French Army (Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée de Terre, CEMAT) is the professional head of the French Army. The current Chief of Staff of the French Army has been General Bertrand Ract-Madoux since September, 1st 2011. The CEMAT title has been in use since 1962; prior to that the position for the general in charge of France's land forces was referred to as Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée. The modern form of a general staff for the French Army emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with Louis Alexandre Berthier being Chief-of-Staff for the Grand État-Major Général (Army General Headquarters) of Napoleon's Grand Armée.

Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée

 * 1870-1914
 * Marie-Joseph François de Miribel (1891-1893)
 * Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre (1894-1898)
 * Paul Marie Brault (1899)
 * Jean Marie Pendezec (1901-1905)
 * Jean Jules Brun (1905-1909)
 * Édouard Laffon de Ladebat (1909-1911)
 * Auguste Dubail (1911)
 * Joseph Joffre (28 July 1911 – 2 August 1914)

First World War

In times of war, the army chief of staff took charge of general headquarters (GQG: Grand Quartier Général). During the First World War, the leader of the French armies was variously referred to as supreme general (generalissimo) or commander-in-chief. In the closing years of the war, the establishment of the Supreme War Council in 1917 led to overall command being held by French general Ferdinand Foch, and by mid-1918 French army chief Pétain was subordinate to Foch.
 * Joseph Joffre (August 1914 to December 1916)
 * Robert Nivelle (December 1916 to May 1917)
 * Philippe Pétain (May 1917 to 1918)

1918-1939


 * Edmond Buat (1921)
 * Maxime Weygand (1931–1935)
 * Louis Colson (1938)

Second World War


 * Emile Bethouarl (1944)
 * Georges Revers (1946–1949)

1945-1962


 * Paul Henri Romuald Ely (1954)

Chef d'État-Major de l'Armée de Terre

 * Louis Le Puloch (18 July 1962 to 2 April 1965)
 * Emile Cantarel (3 April 1965 to 31 March 1971)
 * Alain de Boissieu (May 1971 – February 1975)
 * Jean Lagarde (1975– 4 September 1980)
 * Jean Delaunay (4 September 1980 – 10 March 1983)
 * René Imbot (10 March 1983 – 1985)
 * Maurice Schmitt (1985–1987)
 * Gilbert Forray (1987–1991)
 * Amédée-Marc Monchal (1991–1996)
 * Philippe Mercier (1996–1999)
 * Yves Crene (1999–2002)
 * Bernard Thorette (2 September 2002 – 15 July 2006)
 * Bruno Cuche (16 July 2006 – 1 July 2008)
 * Elrick Irastorza (2 July 2008 – 31 August 2011)
 * Bertrand Ract-Madoux (1 September 2011 – )