Gendarmerie

Under a gendarmerie (individual gendarme) is understood a state guard body for the maintenance of public peace, order and safety. Originally, such units were part of the army. The system of militarily organized police units became widespread under Napoleonic rule in Europe as well as in many former French colonies and mandate territories. Because such official units have historically developed from the military and usually exist alongside the regular armed forces of a country, they are sometimes also called paramilitary units (Greek para = alongside). A well-known example is the Italian Carabinieri.

The gendarmerie is usually distinguished from civilian police authorities by its affiliation with the military or its subordination to the state's Ministry of Defence. This is due to the origin of the gendarmeries, which often functioned as an early military police force. Today, the demarcation also exists in the areas of responsibility. Unlike in Germany, the security apparatuses are often divided into municipal and national levels, and in federal states also into federal levels. In these systems, the gendarmerie often takes over the maintenance of order in areas that do not have their own police authority, for example because they are too small or have too few inhabitants (villages, rural areas). In such cases, the gendarmerie is often based in the nearest larger town. Their exact remit varies from country to country, but the gendarmerie is often used as an additional independent law enforcement agency. In some countries it still provides the military police abroad. In addition, some states have established comparable formations, also called gendarmerie-like units, which are called troops of the Ministry of the Interior.

Etymology

The word 'gendarmerie' comes from the French gens d'armes via "gensdarmes" and means 'the armed', literally 'people under arms'.

Originally, it was a heavily armoured and armed force of knights founded by King Charles VII of France in 1445 as the first standing force. The 15 ordnance companies comprised 100 members each. The force survived as heavy cavalry until the Revolution of 1789.

French gendarmes in the 16th century

Origin

The gendarmerie was originally a military unit of heavy cavalry, which had nothing to do with the present-day tasks of the gendarmeries. It was only in the course of the French Revolution that the need for a protective force for internal security was increasingly seen. As successor to the Maréchaussée of the Ancien Régime, the Gendarmerie nationale (at times also called Gendarmerie impériale) was created in France by law of 16 February 1791. The concept of the Gendarmerie spread throughout Europe as a result of Napoleon's wars and military occupations.

In the Holy Roman Empire, the respective lord of the manor (and in the urban environment the respective magistrate) had usually still been responsible for internal security, for which the lord of the manor held, for example, the right of common land succession. This changed with the establishment of modern state systems at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century and at the latest in the course of the European Revolutions of 1848/49, in which the landlordships were finally abolished. In order for the respective sovereigns to be able to establish protective units for internal security, recourse was made to the military, from which separate units were assigned for police duties. In the Kingdom of Bavaria, the establishment of a "Gensd'armerie" was already stipulated in the constitution of 1808. In Prussia, also following the Napoleonic model, the Hardenberg "Gendarmerie Edict" of July 1812 established the military-style Prussian Land Gendarmerie, which was to remain part of the army for over a century. With the annexation of the Lombardy-Venetian kingdom after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Empire of Austria took over the gendarmerie regiment active there, which was just under 1,000 strong.