'' as they were dressed during the
Seven Years' War in 2008 The were formerly known as the , with origins dating back to the French Navy's . The French colonies were under the control of the (the equivalent of the
British Admiralty), accordingly, Marines defended the colonies.
Ancien Régime Origin Renamed then during the dismantling of the
French Union (1958), their origin can actually be found in the () (
Ordinary Sea Companies), created in 1622 by
Cardinal Richelieu. These companies were used to embark on royal naval ships to serve the
naval artillery and participate in the boarding of enemy ships. These companies were also in charge of guarding the various sea ports. Despite the fact that the artillery of the marines was limited in numbers compared to those of the infantry marines (fusiliers and grenadiers), the ship's marine artillerymen were the determining factor for the , being in charge of displacing and mounting the naval guns under the orders of the respective marine artillery officer in charge. In the 18th century, they constituted the who essentially spread to (in particular: these marines were recruited in Europe, with marine officers recruiting them on the spot due to an excellent knowledge of the local environment). Since then the anchor has been with the Troupes as their official symbol because of the former links to the French Royal Navy. Following France's defeat in the
Seven Years' War, these troops, along with the rest of the Marines, were transferred to the
French Army under the Choiseul ministries, and after their emancipation at the end of 1760, they retained a large number of officers issued from the
Ministère de la Guerre, which would reproduce and compensate for the losses endured assisting the colonies during the
American Revolutionary War. An evolution in the mentality of the troops and an increasingly pronounced separation between the marines and their officers followed. A tentative close-up merger was attempted by two naval ship corps and their troops in 1786 with the companies of naval gunners assigned to ships of the Navy; however, the experiment came to little conclusion.
Ordinary Sea Companies and Troupes de la marine (1622–1673) The separate companies of the and the founded by
Colbert were based in
Dunkerque,
Le Havre,
Brest,
Rochefort and
Toulon. They wore an off-white/grey uniform with blue
facings . The 1670s saw significant changes in the organisation of the new corps, administered by Ministers
Colbert and
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, respectively
Naval State Secretary and the
Secretary of State of War. The four regiments of the
la marine were transferred from the
secretariat of La Marine to that of the
secretariat of La Guerre. The regiments were no longer directly part of the
French Navy although the designation was retained. During the
Revolution, the La Marine,
Royal-Marine, Royal-Vaisseux, and the ( re-baptized ) regiments were integrated definitively into the
French Army, becoming respectively, the 11e, 60e, 43e and 61e regiments of
de Ligne in 1791. The
Marine Royale was a substantial force in 1671, consisting of 196 naval vessels. Colbert decided to create 100 companies of "guardian-soldiers" intended to form part of the crews of the larger naval vessels (). However, these men were redirected towards the
French Army by Louvois in 1673. Starting from this date, senior naval and marine officers were obliged to separately recruit crews and marines for each ship. Using a system of «levées» (selective conscription) in the various sea ports, similar to the «
marine press », the naval and marine officers were able to man their ships. However, the system reached its limitations quickly. The recruits often lacked discipline and experience, and were discharged or deserted following their first voyage, wasting months of training. Until 1682 there was a serious shortage of experienced sailors and soldiers in the French Navy.
Free Marine Companies and Marine Artillery Corps (1690–1761) The Marine units were recreated at the end of the 17th century by re-organization of the infantry units dedicated to guarding military harbors (the Warden-Soldiers Companies or , created in 1671) and the artillery units dedicated to coastal battery service (Bomb Companies or , created in 1689), naval artillery training (Apprentice Gunner Companies or , created in 1689) and naval artillery administration (Artillery Commissaries or , created in 1631). • (Free Marine Companies) created in 1690. Each company was tasked to guard a military harbor and its immediate coastline. Beginning in 1695, the Companies were organized in battalions around the major harbors (
Brest,
Rochefort,
Toulon). The Marine Companies and Battalions were dissolved in 1761. • (Marine Artillery Corps), created in 1692 to oversee the training and use of coastal artillery. The Corps was disbanded in 1761.
Royal Marine Corps (1769–1786) The infantry and marine artillery units were briefly merged into a single marine corps in 1769. Some colonial units were created at the same time, organized along the same lines of artillery and infantry units. • (Royal Marine Artillery and Infantry Corps), created in 1769. Its name was changed in 1772 to (Royal Marine Corps). The Corps was organized in eight regiments, each centered on a harbor: (
Bayonne,
Bordeaux,
Brest,
Le Havre,
Marseille,
Rochefort,
Saint-Malo and
Toulon). The corps was broken down in 1774, in line with
Antoine de Sartine's reform of the navy. • ("Royal Marine Infantry Corps), created in 1774 with the infantry units of the Royal Marine Corps, organized in three
divisions centered on the only three military harbors remaining: Brest, Rochefort and Toulon. The Corps' name was changed to in 1782, but it remained an infantry-only unit. The corps was disbanded in 1786. • (Marine Artillery), created in 1774 with the artillery units of the Royal Marine Corps, organized in three
divisions centered on the same three military harbors: Brest, Rochefort and Toulon. The Marine Artillerymen were tasked to serve aboard Navy ships as well as manning the coastal batteries. The commanding officers of the Marine Artillery were naval officers. The corps was dispanded in 1786. • Colonial Regiments • "Cap", created 1766, became the
106th Infantry Regiment • "Pondichéry", set up 1772, became the
107th Infantry Regiment • "Martinique et Guadeloupe", created 1772, became the
109th Infantry Regiment • "Port-au-Prince", created 1773, became
110th Infantry Regiment Revolution and First French Empire (1786–1816) After 1786, the Marine units were often reduced to artillery units, except for some short-lived infantry regiments (1792–1794). • (Royal Sailors-Gunners Corps), created on 1 January 1786. The was an early attempt to use sailors for duties previously done by marines – soldiers specializing in naval and amphibious combat. This naval artillery corps was suppressed in 1792 and its duties transferred to a new marine unit. • (Marine Artillery and Infantry Corps), created in 1792. The Corps had four infantry regiments, two artillery regiments, two engineer companies and two training companies. The infantry units were transferred to the Army in 1794. • (Marine Artillery Corps), created in 1794 from the artillery units of the Artillery and Infantry Corps. It was organized in seven
half-brigades and re-organized in four regiments in 1803. The Corps gained the title
Impérial at
Napoléon I's coronation (1804) and
Royal at
Louis XVIII's return (1814 and 1815). These units fought for France during the
French Revolutionary Wars and in all the
Napoleonic Wars.
19th century The colonial expansion of the 19th century saw the extensive use of French sailors and marines serving together in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and West Africa. The were tasked with insuring the French presence in its Asian, African, and American colonies. The revolutionary period saw a definite division in 1792 between the reconstituted and the ships of the navy. Under Napoleon, the were used primarily as
line infantry. Following the disbandment of the
Imperial Guard, under the
Restoration, separate marine artillery () and marine infantry () units were created as part of a reorganization between 1818 and 1822. These two corps were popularly known as « bigors » and « marsouins » respectively. Starting in 1831, these two arms ceased to serve on board naval ships and were exclusively armed with regular army equipment and weapons. Their role was now to serve on land in the new French colonial territories, as well as defending the large naval ports and bases in France itself. The diverse colonial or exterior operations administered by the
July Monarchy, essentially conducted by the Marines and their troops, led to the rehabilitation and the increase of the latter in 1846. The revolution of 1848 led to a draconian reduction in size. The
Crimean War saw them, along with the equipment of naval vessels of the
fleet, illustrating their capability during the
Siege of Sevastopol while aiding the heavy artillery pieces ( to constitute a siege artillery ) to disembark from the naval vessels under the orders of
Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly. Honored since 1855, with the return of their staff of 1846, the marines demonstrated their capability during the expeditions of the
Second French Empire. In 1870, marine artillery and infantry were for the first time regrouped in a grand unit:
Blue Division of general Élie de Vassoigne, named after the blue uniforms worn by the soldiers to differentiate them from the line troops. Following the
Franco-Prussian War, the marines participated to the construction of the
second colonial empire of France.
Marine Infantry and Marine Artillery Regiments (1816–1900) The 21 February 1816, royal ordinance of Louis XVIII re-establishing authorized two regiments. This was increased to three regiments in 1838 and four in 1854. The 1st Regiment was located in Cherbourg, the 2nd in Brest, the 3rd in Rochefort and the 4th in Toulon. In 1890, was increased to eight regiments. , created in 1793, was formed into a single regiment in 1814. A second was added on 8 July 1893. Battles fought in this era included
Bomarsund (1854) in the Baltic, Sea of Azoff and the Crimea (1855–56), Ki Hoa in China (1860), and the
Battle of Puebla in Mexico (1863). Their most famous battle was
Bazeilles (1870) in the Franco-Prussian War. The fought in the
Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885) and during the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) that preceded it. Between June 1883 and April 1886 the
Tonkin Expeditionary Corps included several marine infantry battalions and marine artillery batteries. These units saw service in the
Sơn Tây Campaign (December 1883), the
Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884), the
Capture of Hưng Hóa (April 1884), the
Bắc Lệ ambush (June 1884), the
Keelung Campaign (October 1884 to June 1885), the
Battle of Yu Oc (November 1884), the
Battle of Núi Bop (January 1885), the
Lạng Sơn Campaign (February 1885) and the
Pescadores Campaign (March 1885). In March 1885 the two marine infantry battalions in Lieutenant-Colonel Ange-Laurent Giovanninelli's 1st Brigade suffered heavy casualties storming the Chinese trenches at the
Battle of Hòa Mộc. The French victory at Hòa Mộc relieved the
Siege of Tuyên Quang, and was commemorated thereafter in an annual ceremony at Tuyên Quang in which a soldier of the French Foreign Legion (representing the besieged garrison) and a marine infantryman (representing the relief column) solemnly presented arms on the anniversary of the relief of the beleaguered French post. The French Navy itself, due to the trouble it was having in obtaining naval infantry detachments from the Ministry of the Navy, established the
Fusiliers Marins in 1856. The were initially composed of sailors, senior rates and naval officers who undertook special infantry training to form the "marine" detachments aboard ships and conduct small scale landings. Unlike their anglophone contemporaries, they are graded by
naval rates rather than adopting
army ranks.
Transformation to Troupes Coloniales In 1890 the Ministry of Colonies was separated from that of the
Ministère de la Marine. This raised the question of to which authority the , who only now served in the colonies, should be responsible. By a decree dated 7 July 1900 the renamed
troops were placed under the and were thus rebadged, now as part of the
French Army, under one name – the , retaining the anchor badge as a reminder of their naval heritage. The were composed of two distinct corps. One was the colonial forces in metropolitan France, composed of Europeans who had voluntarily enlisted for successive service engagements of five years duration. These regulars (as opposed to
conscripts) were assigned in small contingents to undertake tours of duty in the various French colonies outside North Africa. There they served either in (all white) units, or were employed as officers and NCOs in the recruitment, training and leadership of locally recruited indigenous troops (
tirailleurs,
cipayes etc.). The proportion of European to "native" colonial troops were progressively reduced as additional locally recruited units were created during the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries. One problem of this system was the differences between the training and equipment required for colonial and European warfare. Service conditions in turn would differ between the various colonial territories in Africa and South East Asia. The two types of colonial troupes were however successfully employed in
World War I and
World War II, as well as the
Indochina War and the
Algerian War. The Construction Service of the marine artillery (which designed and engineered the naval artillery guns in the metropolitan arsenals), became an integral part of the colonial artillery following the reorganisation of 1900. In 1909 those colonial artillery officers who specialised in artillery design and manufacture work were transferred into the newly created "Engineers of
Naval Artillery"; a newly created corps of the French Navy which subsequently merged with the Naval Engineer Corps (responsible for the construction of naval ships) during the Second World War. In 1905, the strength of the stationed in (the 19 military districts of metropolitan) France was marked at 2,123 officers and 26,581 other ranks. The strength maintained in the colonies amounts to 1,743 officers, 21,516 European troops and 47,868 native soldiers.
Troupes Coloniales (1900–1958) By the time the Troupes were transferred to the Army the unit names changed from "Marine" to "Colonial" while the remained part of the French Navy. The were still used in occasional amphibious landings but this was because of the ready availability of units normally based near naval embarkation ports or in colonial garrisons. In the World War I
Gallipoli campaign in the
Dardanelles, the
Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient was more than two-thirds including the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Colonial Infantry Regiments and Colonial Artillery. (The artillery element at Gallipoli did not contain any artillery units from the .) The were however far more likely to see action in African or Asian land campaigns or, during both World Wars, in France itself. In World War II, one Colonial unit did have "Marine" in its title – The Bataillon d'Infanterie de Marine du Pacifique (BIMP). Two divisions of the were trained in amphibious tactics by the Americans and performed amphibious landings at
Corsica (6th Moroccan Mountain Division) and
Elba (9th Colonial Infantry Division – 9e DIC). Both these divisions also landed in southern France in the follow-on echelons of Operation Dragoon. The French wanted the United States to transport these two divisions to the Pacific to fight against the Japanese and later retake French Indochina, but transport was a problem. The distinguished themselves in both World Wars. The most decorated regimental colors of the
French Armed Forces are those of the
Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (RICM) and the regimental colors of the
2nd Marine Infantry Regiment 2e RIMa. After 1945 the decolonization wars involved the colonial troops in
Indochina,
Algeria, and
Madagascar. Following 1962, operations in Africa were undertaken by the again renamed and the
Légion étrangère which were the only units mainly or entirely composed of "engaged" (non-conscript) soldiers. This was also the case in
Tchad and in
Lebanon and the former
Yugoslavia before metropolitan troops started also to recruit volunteer soldiers. The cessation of obligatory military service after 2001 permitted the deployment of the remainder of the
French Army in overseas operations.
End of Troupes Coloniales and recreation of Troupes de Marine Troupes de Marine (1958– present) in 2016. With France divesting itself of its colonies, on 1 December 1958 the title of (Overseas Troops) replaced that of . Finally, on 4 May 1961, the historic designation of "Troupes de marine" was readopted, this time for all the . They became a major component in France's . In July 1963 the
9th Marine Infantry Brigade (9e Brigade d'Infanterie de Marine) (9e BIMa) of the was formed a French . It was named after and carried the insignia of the
9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC) that had performed a successful amphibious assault on Elba in World War II. The remaining overseas became part of the . In 1964 the was expanded by adding two
airborne brigades and one motorized brigade and formed into the 11th , which became the
11th Parachute Division in 1971. The were removed from this division in 1976 to form a separate intervention force, and the was expanded on 1 January 1976 to form the (9e DIMa). This division was the amphibious component of the Force d'Intervention, which was renamed the Force d'Action Rapide (FAR) in 1983. Because of their overseas heritage and their use in the , the were mostly volunteer regulars, as in France, draftees are legally exempt from overseas duty. The conversion of the French Army into a smaller professional force led to the French Army's decision to make the brigade its largest formation and the was reduced in size on 1 July 1999 and became the
9th Light Armoured Marine Brigade (France) () and then back to the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade () in 2016. The are one of the "" (corps) of the French Army, which includes specialties associated with other corps (artillery, cavalry, signals, armour,
paratroopers) but with overseas deployment as a specialisation.
Gallery File:Marsouins 1870.gif|Marsouin in full
metropolitan dress, as worn until 1914. File:Troupes de marine detail.jpg|Officer and Marsouin (private) in colonial dress, late 19th century. Image:FrenchMarsouinsIndochina1888.jpg|Marine infantrymen
in Tonkin, 1888. File:LaGuerreAMadagascar.jpg|French Marines
in Madagascar (1894–1895). File:French Colonial army in Congo 1905.jpg|French colonial soldier in
Congo (1905) == Nicknames ==