- For other uses of CIC, see CIC
A
commander-in-chief is the
commander of a nation's
military forces or significant element of those
forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as
those forces within a particular region or those forces which are
associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the
military competencies that reside in a nation-state's executive,
head of state or government. Often, a given country's
commander-in-chief need not be or have been a commissioned officer
or even a veteran, and it is by this legal statute that
civilian control of the
military is realized in states where it is constitutionally
required.
The term "commander-in-chief" derives from the Latin
imperator.
Imperatores (commanders-in-chief) of
the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed
imperium
(command) powers. In its modern usage, the term was first used by
King Charles of England in
1639. A nation's
head of state usually
holds the position of national commander-in-chief, even if
effective executive power is held by a separate
head of government. Colonial governors
are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the military forces
in their colonies. Examples are Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces
North, or Commander-in-Chief East Atlantic.
Commanders-in-Chief is sometimes referred to as
Supreme
Commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The
term is also used for military officers who hold such power and
authority, not always through dictatorship, and as a subordinate
(usually) to a head of state. The term is also used for officers
that hold authority over individual branches or within a theatre of
operations
Within
NATO
and the European
Union, the term Chief of
Defence (CHOD) is usually used as a generic term for the
highest military commanders of the NATO and EU member states,
irrespective of their actual title.
Australia
HM Elizabeth II,
Queen of
Australia as represented by the Governor-General of Australia
(currently
Quentin Bryce)
Canada
The current Commander-in-Chief of the
Canadian Forces (in
French:
Commandant en chef des Forces
canadiennes) is
Elizabeth II,
Queen of Canada. The powers of this
position are constitutionally vested in the Canadian sovereign and
are delegated by him or her to the
Governor General of Canada, who
may also use the title
Commander-in-Chief. Government
ministers may sometimes exercise the powers of command; however, it
is ultimately the monarch who has constitutional power over the
armed forces and in whose name it is exercised. The sovereign may
also stop any attempts to use the Canadian Forces
unconstitutionally.
Croatia
According to the
Croatian
constitution, the
President of
Croatia is the Commander-in-Chief of
Armed Forces of the
Republic of Croatia. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises
his command through the Minister of Defense. In war and in cases
where the
Minister of
Defense is not fulfilling orders, the Commander-in-Chief
exercises his command directly through the chief of
General
Staff.
Egypt
In
Egypt
the President
of the Republic holds the ceremonial
title of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
while a member of the Government holds
the position Commander-in-Chief. This person tends to be the
Minister for Defence. The
President still remains the only
individual capable of declaring war. So far all Egyptian presidents
have been former military officers, and during the
Yom Kippur War the President played a major
role at all levels of the planning of the war, and was in a literal
sense Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces giving direct orders to
the commanders from the headquarters during the war as
field marshal of the
army, colonel general of the
air force and air defence forces and
admiral of the
navy.
Anwar el-Sadat often wore his military
uniform, while
Hosni Mubarak has
abandoned this tradition. However Hosni Mubarak holds the same
ranks during war time.
Finland
According to the Finnish constitution, the
President of Finland is the
Commander-in-Chief of all Finnish military forces. In practice, the
everyday command and control is in the hands of
Chief of Defence and the
Commander of the
Finnish Border
Guard. The economic administration of the
Finnish Defence Force is the
responsibility of Ministry of Defence. Since the constitutional
reform of 2000, the minister of defence has the right to be present
while the president uses her command powers, unless the matter is
of immediate concern. In questions of strategic importance, the
prime minister has the same right.
The President commissions officers and decides on the mobilisation
of the Defence Forces. If Parliament is not in session when a
decision to mobilise is taken, it must be immediately convened. A
declaration of war is made by a presidential decree, which must be
afterwards accepted by the parliament.
France
In
France
, the President of the Republic,
currently Nicolas Sarkozky holds
the title of "Chef des Armées" ("Chief of the
Armies"). He is the supreme authority for military affairs,
and is the only competent authority for the use of nuclear
weapons.
Since the reign of
Louis XIV
France has been strongly centralized. After crushing local nobles
engaged in warlordism, the Kings of France retained all authority
with the help of able yet discreet Prime ministers (
Mazarin,
Richelieu).
The 1789 Revolution transferred the supreme authority to the King
(in the context of the short-lived constitutional Monarchy), then
to the multi-member
Comité de Salut Public
during the
Convention,
and later to the
Directoire, before being regained in
the hands of
Consul Napoléon Bonaparte, later
Emperor Napoléon I, alone.
The
Restoration
restored authority of the King, in an absolute, then constitutional
way before being overthrown by the Second Empire. The following
Third Republic was a
parliamentary system, where the military authority was held by the
President of the Council (Prime Minister).
During
World War II,
Maréchal Philippe Pétain assumed power and held
the supreme authority in
Vichy France,
while Général
Charles De Gaulle,
acting on behalf of the previous regime, founded the
Free French Forces, upon which he held
supreme authority all through the war.
The following and short-lived
Fourth Republic was a parliamentary
system, which was replaced by the present
Fifth Republic, a
semi-presidential system.
Germany
Pre-1945
During the
Weimar
Republic
and the
Nazi era, whoever was head of
state---the Reichspräsident to
1934 and Adolf Hitler from 1934---was
Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Each branch had its
own commander-in-chief, holding the highest rank---in the case of
the
Reichsheer, a
Generaloberst; in the
Reichsmarine, an
Admiral.
When
Adolf Hitler assumed power, he
granted his war minister,
Werner von
Blomberg, the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
However, in 1938, Hitler took the title of Commander-in-Chief
himself and assumed personal command of the Armed Forces.
West Germany (later united Germany)
Upon the
remilitarization of West
Germany
in 1955, when it joined NATO, the
Grundgesetz
was amended to include constitutional provisions for command of the
armed forces. In peacetime, the
Federal Minister of
Defence (Bundesminister der Verteidigung) is the
commander-in-chief of the
Bundeswehr.
If the Bundestag
(parliament) declares a "state of defence"
(Verteidigungsfall), the Federal Chancellor
(Bundeskanzler) assumes command of the German armed
forces.
East Germany
The
parliament of the German Democratic Republic
(GDR), the Volkskammer, enacted on 13 February 1960
the "Law on the Formation of the National Defense Council of the
GDR", which established a council consisting of a chairman and at
least 12 members. This was later incorporated into the
GDR
Constitution in April 1968. The National Defense Council held
the supreme command of the GDR's armed forces (including the
internal security forces), and the Council's chairman (usually the
General Secretary of the ruling
Socialist Unity Party) was
considered the GDR's commander-in-chief.
The GDR joined with
the Federal
Republic of Germany
on 3 October 1990, upon which the GDR's
constitution and armed forces were abolished.
European Union
The
High
Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy,
Javier Solana, is the
Commander-in-Chief of the
EUFOR (European
Union Armed Forces).
Hong Kong
When Hong Kong was a British colony the
Governor was
ex officio
Commander-in-Chief of
British Forces Overseas Hong
Kong. (After the
transfer of
sovereignty the commander of the
People's Liberation Army Hong Kong
Garrison are PLA personnel from the
mainland China.)
India
The Supreme Command of the Armed Forces vests in the President,
although effective executive power and responsibility for national
defence resides with the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. This
is discharged through the Ministry of Defence headed by Defence
Minister, which provides the policy framework and resources to the
Armed Forces to discharge their responsibilities in the context of
the defence of the country.
On August 15, 1947, each Service was placed under its own Chief
Commander. In 1955, the three Service Chiefs were redesignated as
the Chief of the Army Staff (General), the Chief of the Naval Staff
(Admiral) and the Chief of the Air Staff (Air Chief Marshall) with
President of India as supreme
commander.Chief of the Army Staff : General Deepak KapoorChief of
the Naval Staff : Admiral Sureesh MehtaChief of the Air Staff : Air
Chief Marshal Fali H. MajorCommander-in-Chief,Strategic Forces
Command : Vice-Admiral Vijay ShankarChief of Integrated Defence
Staff : Vice-Admiral Raman Puri
Iran
Before 1979, the
Shah was the
commander-in-chief in Iran. After the inception of the Islamic
Republic, the
Supreme Leader of
Iran has taken on the role.
Ireland
In
Ireland
, the commander-in-chief of the army is the President. Though this is just a
title, the minister of defence holds the power over the military to
the General.
Italy
The
Constitution of Italy,
article 87, states that the
President of the Republic
is the commander of the armed forces and chairman of the
supreme defense council constituted by law; he declares war
according to the decision of the parliament; however, since
the president has no direct executive power, the
Prime Minister and the Minister of
Defence have the actual control of the armed forces, while the
president retains a supervision role.
Mauritius
In the
Republic of
Mauritius
, the
President it
is the Head of state and therefore the
commander-in-chief.
Pre-1968
Before gaining independence in 1968, it was the monarch (
Queen Elizabeth II at the
time) who was the head of state and therefore
commander-in-chief.
1968-1992
After obtaining independence in 1968, Mauritius continued to
recognize the Queen as
Head of State
and commander-in-chief, who was represented by a
Governor-General.
After 1992
After the country was proclaimed
Commonwealth Republic, the
new constitution stipulated that a President would assume the
position of the Head of State and hence commander-in-chief.
Pakistan
In the
Islamic Republic of
Pakistan, before the
1973 Constitution, the head of the Army, i.e., the Chief of the
Army Staff, was referred as
Commander-in-Chief.
The term was replaced by
Army Chief per
recommendation of the
Hamoodur Rehman Commission's
report. The report also recommended that the President, being the
head of state, be referred to as
Supreme
Commander. (The role of President is only a ceremonial
position since the real power rests with the elected Prime
Minister, who is the
Chief Executive of the
state.) Since 1973 these roles have been changed. Today, the
President of the Federation holds the real power since most of the
Presidents (especially Dictators and Army Rulers) have played a
more significant role.
People's Republic of China
Article 93 of the
Constitution of
the People's Republic of China places the authority to direct
the armed forces of the PRC in the
Central
Military Commission. However, Article 80 gives the
President of the
People's Republic of China the power to proclaim martial law,
proclaim a state of war, and issue mobilization orders. Since the
mid-1990s, it has been standard practice to have the President, the
CMC Chairman, and the
General
Secretary of the Communist Party of China be the same person
although the differences in the start of terms means that there is
some overlap between an occupant and his predecessor.
Republic of China
As stipulated in the national
constitution of the
Republic of China (commonly known as "Taiwan" since the 1970s),
the
President of the
Republic of China is also the Commander-in-Chief of the ROC's
Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines,
Special
Forces, and Space program.
Poland
In Poland, President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
However, the art. 134 ust. 4 of the constitution states:
The
President of the Republic, for a period of war, shall appoint the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on request of the Prime
Minister. He may dismiss the Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces in accordance with the same procedure. The
authority of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, as well as
the principle of his subordination to the constitutional organs of
the Republic of Poland, shall be specified by statute.
During the interwar period, the General Inspector of the Armed
Forces was appointed the commander-in-chief for the time of war
(Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces). However, after the war
this function ceased to exist thus it is expected that in case of
formal participation participation in war by Poland,
Chief of the General Staff of
the Polish Armed Forces will be appointed Supreme
Commander.
Portugal
In Portugal the President of the Republic holds the title of
Coomander-in-Chief, but he delegates it in the
Chief of Defence Staff
.
Russia
According to the
Constitution of
Russia, the
President of
Russia is the supreme commander in chief of the Armed Forces.
He approves the
military doctrine
and appoints the defense minister and the chief of the general
staff.
Slovenia
In Slovenia, the commander-in-chief is formally the
President of Slovenia, although he or
she doesn't exercise this position in peacetime. Instead, this role
is usually assumed by the Minister of Defence.
Spain
The
King of Spain (as of present
Juan Carlos I of Spain) is
the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the
Spanish Armed Forces.
Sri Lanka
As head of state, the
President
of Sri Lanka, is nominally the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces. The
National Security
Council, chaired by the President is the authority charged with
formulating and executing defence policy for the nation. The
highest level of military headquarters is the
Ministry of Defence, since
1978 except for a few rare occasions the President retained the
portfolio defence, thus being the Minister of Defence. The ministry
and the armed forces have been controlled by the during these
periods by either a
Minister of
State,
Deputy Minister for
defence, and of recently the
Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of
Defence. Prior to 1978 the
Prime Minister held the
portfolio of Minister of Defence and External Affairs, and was
supported by a
Parliamentary
Secretary for Defence and External Affairs.
Responsibility for the management of the forces is Ministry of
Defence, while the planning and execution of
combined operations is the
responsibility of the Joint Operations Command (JOC). The JOC is
headed by the
Chief of the
Defence Staff who is the most senior officer in the Armed
Forces and is an appointment that can be held by an
Air Chief Marshal,
Admiral, or
General. The
three services have their own respective professional chiefs: the
Commander of the
Army, the
Commander of the Navy and
the
Commander of
the Air Force, who have much autonomy.
Sweden
In Sweden the
Monarch was
according to the
Instrument of Government the
Commander-in-Chief of all
Swedish
Armed Forces ( ), up and till the new
constitution of 1975.
After the
new constitution
came into effect: the
Cabinet,
which in turn is led by the
Prime Minister of Sweden, holds the
highest
Executive Authority
and is thus the Swedish Commander-in-Chief. Some Government
decisions regarding the Armed Forces may be delegated to the
Minister for Defence,
under the supervision of the Prime Minister and to the extent laid
down in law.
However, the Monarch of Sweden (as of present
King Carl XVI Gustaf), is still a four star
General and Admiral
à la suite in the
Swedish Army,
Navy
and
Air Force and is by convention
the foremost representative of the Swedish Armed Forces. The King
has, as part of his
Royal Court, a
Military Staff. The Staff is headed
by a senior officer (usually a General or Admiral, retired from
active service) and is manned by military officers serving as
aides to the King and his family.
To add to some confusion, the title of the commanding officer of
the Armed Forces is actually
Supreme Commander
of the Swedish Armed Forces ( ).
Switzerland
In peacetime, the
Armed Forces
are led by the Chief of the Armed Forces who has the rank of "Corps
commander" (
Korpskommandant or
Commandant de
corps.
Ranking OF-8 in NATO
equivalence). In a time of declared war or national
emergency however, the
Federal Assembly appoints a
General (
OF-9 by NATO) as
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The General acts as the
highest military authority, but is subordinate to the
Federal Council, which holds the
supreme authority.
Four generals were appointed in Swiss history, General
Henri Dufour during the
Swiss Civil War, General
Hans Herzog during the
Franco-Prussian War, General
Ulrich Wille during the
First World War, and General
Henri Guisan during the
Second World War ("
la Mob", "the
Mobilisation"). Although Switzerland
remained neutral during the latter three conflicts, the threat of
having its territory used as a battlefield by the much bigger war
parties of Germany and France required mobilization of the
army.
Turkey
President of the Republic of
Turkey has the constitutional right to represent the Supreme
Military Command of the Turkish
Armed Forces, on behalf of the Turkish
Grand National Assembly
, and to decide on the mobilization of the Turkish
Armed Forces, to appoint the Chief of the General Staff, to call
the National Security
Council to meet, to preside over the National Security Council,
to proclaim martial law or state of emergency, and to issue decrees
having the force of law, upon a decision of the Council of
Ministers meeting under his/her chairmanship. With all these
issues above written in the
Constitution of Turkey, the executive
rights are given to the President of the Republic of Turkey to be
represented as the Commander-in-Chief of the nation.
United Kingdom
As
head of state, the
British monarch,
Queen Elizabeth II, is
nominally the Head of the Armed Forces. Longstanding constitutional
convention, however, has vested
de facto executive
authority in the office of
Prime Minister and the
Cabinet. The Queen
remains the "ultimate authority" of the military and retains the
power to prevent its unconstitutional use. The
Ministry of Defence is
the
Government
department and highest level of military headquarters charged
with formulating and executing defence policy for the Armed Forces;
it employed 103,930 civilians in 2006 The department is controlled
by the
Secretary of State
for Defence and contains three deputy appointments:
Minister of State for the
Armed Forces, Minister for Defence Procurement, and Minister
for Veterans' Affairs.
Responsibility for the management of the forces is delegated to a
number of committees: the
Defence Council,
Chiefs of Staff Committee,
Defence Management Board,
and three single-service boards. The Defence Council, composed of
senior representatives of the services and the Ministry of Defence,
provides the "formal legal basis for the conduct of defence". The
three constituent single-service committees (
Admiralty Board,
Army
Board, and
Air Force Board) are
chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence.
The
Chief of the Defence
Staff is the professional head of the Armed Forces and is an
appointment that can be held by an
Admiral,
Air Chief Marshal, or
General. Before the practice was discontinued in the
1990s, those who were appointed to the position of CDS had been
elevated to the most senior rank in their respective service (a
5-star rank). The CDS, along with the
Permanent Under Secretary, are the principal advisers to the
departmental minister. The three services have their own respective
professional chiefs: the
First Sea
Lord, the
Chief of the General
Staff and the
Chief of the Air
Staff.
United States
The current Commander in Chief of the
United States armed forces is
U.S. President
Barack Obama. This is
pursuant to
Article II,
Section 2, Clause I of the
United States Constitution which
states that the
President:
see the
1941 Declarations of War[34257] against Japan
and Germany
for how this call is made).
The
John Warner Defense Authorization
Act of 2007, a federal law, briefly established the governor of a
state was no longer the sole commander-in-chief of the National
Guard during emergencies
within the state, providing that
the President would then be able to take control of a state's
National Guard units without the governor's consent. In a letter to
Congress, all 50 governors opposed this change. These changes were
repealed in 2008, restoring full command within a state to that
state's governor. This restoration of gubernatorial authority
occurred by repealing the 2006 amendments to the
Insurrection Act.
The title commander-in-chief has been used from time to time to
refer to powerful regional U.S. military leaders (such as
CENTCOM); in 2002 these regional CINCs were
redesignated "
combatant
commanders." The
National Security Act of 1947
made the President, as a consequence of the creation of the
United States Air Force,
also the Commander-in-Chief of that branch of the armed
forces.
Although the United States presidency was partially modeled upon
the
monarch of Great
Britain, and the title of Commander-in-Chief was unlikely to
have been understood to confer upon the
President any powers additional to those
inherently held by a
Sovereign, the title
has increasingly come to be perceived as being a peculiarly
military position. This has led to a blurring of the distinction
between the President's civil and military responsibilities. It
was, for instance, the basis for the trial by
military commission of Dr.
Samuel Mudd.
In the United States, the
Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization
Act of 1986 added a new level of commanders-in-chief (CINCs).
Under Goldwater-Nichols, regional CINCs were created to bring a
local supreme commander to a conflict. The best known of these was
General Norman Schwarzkopf, who was
CINCCENT during
Operation Desert Storm.
On October 24, 2002, Secretary of Defense
Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that the title of
"Commander-in-Chief" would thereafter be reserved for the
President, consistent with the terms of Article II of the
United States Constitution. Armed
forces CINCs in specified regions would thereafter be known as
"combatant commanders," heading the
Unified Combatant Commands.
In 2008, there are ten Unified Combatant Commands. Six have
regional responsibilities, and four have functional
responsibilities. The chain of command runs from the
President to the
United States Secretary of
Defense to the
combatant
commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands. The
Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff may transmit communications to the Commanders
of the Unified Combatant Commands from the President and Secretary
of Defense, but does not exercise military command over any
combatant forces. Today, the Commander-in-Chief of the United
States Armed Forces is President
Barack
Obama.
Authority as Commander-in-Chief on the battlefield
As Commander-in-Chief, the U.S. President outranks any military
officer and so has the inherent right to assume command on the
battlefield. It should be noted that only one man has ever been
Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces without being
President: he was George Washington, appointed Commander in Chief
by the Continental Congress. However, because presidents are rarely
present in war zones, and often have less military experience than
the military commanders, only two presidents,
George Washington and
James Madison, have so far done so. Washington
personally led a federalized militia force of approximately 15,000
troops to quell the
Whiskey
Rebellion during his second term, although he was not present
during any of the skirmishing in the relatively bloodless
conflict.
During
the War of 1812, President Madison was
under enemy fire on August 24, 1814, when American forces were
routed by British
troops in Bladensburg, Maryland
. Madison, incensed by the American
commanding general's incompetence, was on the scene and personally
assumed command of the only remaining American force, a naval
battery commanded by
Commodore
Joshua Barney. He did so to stall the
British invasion of the American capital, but his efforts were
unsuccessful, and the British
burned Washington over the next two
days.
During the
American Civil War,
President
Abraham Lincoln considered
personally assuming battlefield command of the
Union Army, and studied military texts when he
became frustrated by the incompetence and lethargy of his generals.
He
actually came under enemy fire in 1864 during the Confederate
attack on Fort Stevens
in the District of Columbia
, but did not exercise battlefield authority as
commander-in-chief at any time.
See also
References
- Dupuy, Trevor N., Curt Johnson, and Grace P. Hayes. "Supreme
Commander." Dictionary of Military Terms. New York: The H.W. Wilson
Company, 1986.
- Queen and Armed Forces, royal.gov.uk. In Britain, the
term "commander-in-chief" is in fact used for the highest military
command of the land forces.
- United Kingdom (05/06), state.gov
- Civilian personnel by budgetary area and grade
equivalence, at 1 April each year, dasa.mod.uk
- Defence Organisation, mod.uk
- Defence Council and Chief of the Defence Staff,
armedforces.co.uk
- Hansard (1998), House of Commons Written Answers,
publications.parliament.uk
- Governors lose in power struggle over National
Guard
- National Governors Association
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