Commander-in-Chief
(Redirected from Commander in Chief)
- For the television series, see Commander in Chief (television).
Commander-in-Chief is the commander of all the military forces within a particular region or of all the military forces of a state. As a practical term it refers to the military competencies which reside in a nation-state's executive head of state or government. Oftentimes 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" was first used by King Charles I 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. In NATO lingo commander-in chief is often abbreviated to C-in-C or CINC pronounced "sink."
Below the national commander-in-chief are often appointed various regional commanders-in-chief. For example, at the start of the Second World War the Royal Navy had no fewer than nine Commanders-in-Chief, from Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth to Commander-in-Chief China Station. Such local commanders-in-chief usually have full decision-making authority.
NATO has also established various commands-in-chief, e.g. Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces North, Commander-in-Chief East Atlantic, etc.
The United States Constitution designates the President of the United States as commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. The title commander-in-chief has been used from time to time to refer to powerful regional U.S. military leaders (such as CENTCOM), but the United States abolished all local commands-in-chief in 2002.
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Commonwealth
In the Commonwealth of Nations, as elsewhere, the head of state invariably holds the title of Commander-in-Chief, though it is usual for Governors and Governors-General also to be Commander-in-Chief in their respective territories.
United Kingdom
The title Commander-in-Chief is rarely used by the Sovereign, but usually refers to local or service commanders-in-chief.
In the Royal Navy, the overall head of the Navy is known as the Lord High Admiral, and the post has been variously held by the monarch, an individual admiral, or by a board of commissioners. There have in addition long been many commanders-in-chief in charge of Royal Navy ships in foreign stations. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the term was extended to cover the senior Admiral in a theatre of the war, such as the Mediterranean or North Sea.
In the 1930s the Royal Navy had no fewer than nine commanders-in-chief; today there are two - the Commander-in-Chief Fleet and the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command. It is intended that the two commands-in-chief will soon be combined under a single Commander-in-Chief Fleet, who will be, as now, separate from the professional head of the Navy, known as the First Sea Lord.
In the British Army, the office of General in Chief Command, later renamed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, was instituted after the Restoration in 1660. Between 1672 and 1904, the title Commander-in-Chief was officially used for the general in charge of the Army, after which the title Chief of the General Staff was adopted. There existed also in times of war, and in places such as India, regional commanders-in-chief. In addition, colonial governors are and were usually appointed Commander-in-Chief in and over their colonies.
Canada
The situation in Canada as to the identity of the national Commander-in-Chief is slightly complex. The British North America Act of 1867 (now renamed the Constitution Act 1867) provides that: "The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and of all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, is hereby declared to continue to be vested in the Queen."
The Militia Act of 1904 provided that: "The Command-in-Chief of the Militia is declared to continue and be vested in the King, and shall be administered by His Majesty or by the Governor-General as his representative". Since that time Governors-General have been known by the title of "Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada". With the creation of Canadian naval and air forces in 1910 and 1919 respectively, the Governor-General gained command-in-chief over those forces as well.
It is therefore safe to say that the Sovereign of Canada, presently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is the national Commander-in-Chief, but the Governor-General is by law authorised to perform that role on her behalf, but only on advice of the Prime Minister.
Australia
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia provides that: "The command in chief of the naval and military forces of the Commonwealth is vested in the Governor-General as the Queen's representative".
New Zealand
The Governor-General is designated in the Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor-General 1983 and the Defence Act 1990 as "Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief". Although the Defence Act refers to the powers of the office none are descibed and this is left to common law, royal prerogative and administrational and operational practice.
Hong Kong
When Hong Kong was a British colony the Governor was the Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong, although there was also a Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong. (After the transfer of sovereignty the commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison are PLA personnel from the mainland.)
India
Before 1948 the Commander-in-Chief in India reported to the civilian Governor-General of India. Since independence the duties of the two posts have been merged into a single office, the President of India, though effective executive power is exercised by ministers in the Government of India. This model has been emulated by most other Commonwealth republics.
France
In France, the President of the Republic 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 power.
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 ("Droit Divin", "divine 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 Restauration 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 usurped power and held the supreme authority in Vichy France, while the last member of the precedent government able to exercise power, Général De Gaulle, 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.
Egypt
The Egyptian system appears to be an exception to the prevailing systems. 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.
People's Republic of China
From 1978 onwards, the Commander-in-Chief was the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the body which has overall command authority over the Armed Forces of China. The modern established practice is that a single "paramount leader" holds the following three offices, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, simultaneously to signify a single supreme executive authority over the party, state and the military.
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 three-star general). In a time of declared war or national emergency however, the Federal Assembly appoints a General (four-star general) 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.
United States
The Constitution of the United States gives the title to the President of the United States, who "shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States" (See the 1941 Declarations of War[1] against Japan and Germany for how this call is made). The governors of the several states are also commanders-in-chief of their states' respective National Guards and other military forces.
Although the United States presidency was modeled upon the kingship 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 CINC. Under Goldwater-Nichols, regional CINCs were created to bring a local supreme commander to a conflict. The most well known of which is CINC CENTCOM, who was Norman Schwarzkopf during Operation Desert Storm.
Commander-in-Chief reserved for the President
On October 24, 2002, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that the title of "Commander-in-Chief" would thereafter be reserved for the President, and that armed forces CINCs would shorten their title to "commander." They are typically referred to as combatant commanders, heading what are now know as Unified Combatant Commands. The title has taken on prominent importance in the political debate in the United States in the context of the "War against Terrorism" [2].
Political implications
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the declaration of the War on Terror, the American media has increasingly referred to the President as the "Commander-in-Chief," even in civil affairs. In the discourse of political opponents, this is often done when discussing the restriction of civil rights, such as with the Patriot Act, suggesting a comparison between President George W. Bush and the military leaders of dictatorial countries. However, ambiguous statements are also regularly made by those favorable to the Bush Administration, in such a way as to suggest that Bush is commander in chief of the nation itself.