Minister Of Defence (France)
The Minister of Defence (French: Ministère de la Défense) is the French government cabinet member charged with running the military of France.
A "Secretary of State for War" was one of the four specialised secretaries of state established in France in 1589. This Secretary of State was responsible for the Army. In 1791, the Secretary of State became the "Minister of War". Along with the other ministerial positions, it was abolished in 1794 and restored the next year. In the 1930s, the position was frequently named "Minister of War and of National Defence". After the Second World War, the War Ministry merged with the Ministry of the Navy, absorbing the role of the Minister of the Navy and Colonies, with a Minister of National Defence (from 1974 to 2010 styled as Minister of Defence and from 2010 as Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs) directing the entire military.
The current Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs is Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Read more about Minister Of Defence (France): Secretaries of State For War, 1643–1791, Ministers of War, 1791–1940, Commissioners For War, 1941–1944, Ministers of National Defence, 1944–1974, Ministers of Defence, 1974–2010, Ministers of Defence and Veterans Affairs, 2010–present
Famous quotes containing the words minister and/or defence:
“Just let him be minister if that’s what he desires, but without his brother and his brother-in-law.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“What cannot stand must fall; and the measure of our sincerity and therefore of the respect of men, is the amount of health and wealth we will hazard in the defence of our right. An old farmer, my neighbor across the fence, when I ask him if he is not going to town-meeting, says: “No, ‘t is no use balloting, for it will not stay; but what you do with the gun will stay so.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)