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{{for|the Belgian institution known as the École royale militaire|Royal Military Academy (Belgium)}}
{{Infobox structure
| name             = École militaire
| image            = Central building of Ecole Militaire at dusk, Paris 7e 20140607 1.jpg
| image_size       = 250
| caption          = Central École militaire building
| completion_date  = {{start date and age|1750}}
| building_type    = Educational building complex,
| current_tenants  = [[Military academy]]
| website          = {{url|geostrategia.fr}}
| location_city    = Paris, [[Île-de-France]]
| location_country = France
| coordinates      = {{coords|48|51|09|N|2|18|13|E|display=inline,title}}
| address          = 1 Place de Joffre, 75007
| architect        = [[Ange-Jacques Gabriel]]
}}

The '''École militaire'''<!--Lower case second word--> ({{IPA-fr|ekɔl militɛːʁ|lang}}; "military school") is a complex of buildings in Paris, France, which house various military training facilities. It was founded in 1750 by King [[Louis XV]] and is located in the [[7th arrondissement of Paris]], southeast of the [[Champ de Mars]].

The building, constructed by [[Ange-Jacques Gabriel]], is an active military academy and is classified as a national monument since 1990.<ref>{{Base Mérimée|PA00088684|École Militaire}}</ref> This site can be visited during the [[European Heritage Days]].

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=June 2018}}

===Origins of the institution===
L'École Militaire was founded in 1750, after the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], by [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] on the basis of a proposal of Marshal [[Maurice de Saxe]] and with the support of [[Madame de Pompadour]] and financier [[Joseph Paris Duverney]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=🔎 École militaire (France) - Définition et Explications|url=https://www.techno-science.net/glossaire-definition/Ecole-militaire-France.html|access-date=2021-04-05|website=Techno-Science.net|language=fr-FR}}</ref>

Previously, military academies were exclusive to children of a noble background and offered apprenticeships in the King's Stables or the stables of other royal members. With the aim of creating an academic college for cadet officers from poor noble families, the exclusivity that royal military academies held vanished.

By the edict of January 1751, King Louis XV founded the institution intended for the education of five hundred noble young men and born without fortune.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Henri|first=Volpert|title=Édit portant création de l'École militaire|url=https://francearchives.fr/fr/commemo/recueil-2001/38816|access-date=2021-04-05|website=FranceArchives|language=fr}}</ref> Article XI of the edict provides for "by way of first perpetual endowment" the tax on playing cards. The administration is entrusted to the Secretary of State for War. The Royal Military Academy included a number of military colleges in the province such as the [[École de Brienne|School of Brienne]] where students were admitted on evidence of nobility. At the end of their schooling, admission to the Royal Military School in Paris was done through a national competition.

===Architecture and Ange-Jacques Gabriel===
Enlisted by the King to design a more grandiose building than the [[Hôtel des Invalides]] (constructed by [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]), Ange-Jacques Gabriel began construction in 1752 on the grounds of the farm of [[Grenelle]]. After a long period of construction, the school did not open until 1760. Gabriel presented an immense area with beautiful façades and running water through a system of wells and pipes. It was indeed much larger, and striking than the Invalides.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Paris des Utopies|last=Christ|first=Yvan|publisher=Balland|year=1977|location=Paris|pages=92 and 93}}</ref>

The ''[[Claude Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain|Comte de Saint-Germain]]'' reorganised the establishment in 1777 under the name of the ''École'' ''des Cadets-gentilshommes'' (School of Young Gentlemen), of which accepted the young [[Napoleon I|Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1784. Bonaparte went on to graduate after only one year instead of two.

It now hosts:
* The {{Interlanguage link|École de guerre|fr|École de guerre}} (EdG) (College of Warfare),
* the [[Ecole de Guerre-Terre]] (EDG-T), and
* The ''[[Institut des hautes études de défense nationale]]'' ("Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defense")

[[File:Paryż szkoła wojskowa2.JPG|thumb|center|upright=2.8|The vast complex formed by the École militaire.]]

<gallery mode=packed>
File:Ecole-militaire-from-place-de-fontenoy.jpg|École Militaire from the [[Place de Fontenoy]]
File:École Militaire Chapelle St Louis.jpg|St Louis Chapel at the École Militaire
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Ecole de Guerre-Terre]] (EDG-T), Paris
*[[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr]] (ESM), [[Coëtquidan]], Brittany
*{{Interlanguage link|École de guerre|fr|École de guerre}} (EdG) (School of Warfare)
*[[École militaire interarmes]] (EMIA), [[Coëtquidan]], Brittany
*[[École supérieure de guerre]] (1876 - 1993)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Category:École militaire}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080914155344/http://www.college.interarmees.defense.gouv.fr/ Official website of CID] {{in lang|fr}}

{{Wikipedia|École militaire}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole Militaire}}
[[Category:Education in Paris]]
[[Category:1750s establishments in France]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Paris]]
[[Category:Military academies of France]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris]]
[[Category:Palaces and residences of Napoleon]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1750]]
[[Category:Terminating vistas in Paris]]