France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the Defence Historical Service (''Service historique de la défense'' or ''SHD'') is the archives centre of

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and its armed forces. It was set up by decree in 2005. The SHD consists of the "Centre historique des archives" at

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, the "Centre des archives de l’armement et du personnel" at

Châtellerault Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the re ...

and a number of smaller repositories. In total, the archives contain about 450 km of records of which 100 km are at Vincennes and 70 km at Châtellerault. The SHD also harbors a research lab in War Studies, the "Division Recherches, Études et Enseignement (DREE)", staffed by ca. 20 professional historians, including both military officers and academic scholars. It deals prominently with French military history (17th-20th century) but some of its members also research broader issues of European, North American or global history.Ministère des Armées, Service historique de la défense: Recherches historiques, études et enseignement
/ref>

References

Military history of France Archives in France Buildings and structures in Val-de-Marne Defence agencies of France {{France-mil-stub