Commander-in-chief

The commander-in-chief of Bangladesh Armed Forces is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister.

The first commander-in-chief, General M. A. G. Osmani, during Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, who was commander of Muktibahini/Bangladesh Forces, reinstated to active duty by official BD government order, which after independence was gazetted in 1972.

In war and in cases where the minister of defence is not fulfilling orders, the commander-in-chief exercises his command directly through the Chief of Joint Staff.

In war and in cases where the minister of defence is not fulfilling orders, the commander-in-chief exercises his command directly through the chief of General Staff.

[22][23] According to the Constitution, Article 128, Section II, Title IV, the president is the head of foreign policy, the civil administration and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the National Police and all other state's security agencies.

The president of Ethiopia is the Supreme Commander of the Ethiopian Armed Forces which is the ceremonial role that is limited to granting high military titles and awards.

[27]: § 129 In France, the president of the Republic is designated as "Chef des Armées" (literally "Chief of the Armies") under article 15 of the Constitution; the officeholder is as such the supreme executive authority in military affairs.

After crushing local nobles engaged in warlord-ism, the kings of France retained all authority with the help of able yet discreet Prime ministers (Mazarin, Richelieu).

During World War I, the many visits to the trenches by the elder statesman Georges Clemenceau impressed the soldiers and earned him the nickname Father of Victory (French: Le Père de la Victoire).

The Constitution of Italy, in 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, although effective executive power and responsibility for national defence resides with the government headed by the prime minister; the president declares war according to the decision of the parliament".

In accordance with Article 41 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is Supreme Commander of the Malaysian Armed Forces and holds the rank of Field Marshal.

Accordingly, the Monarch is commander-in-chief of the Norwegian Armed Forces, and serves as chief diplomatic official abroad and as a symbol of unity.

4 of the constitution states:[49] 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.

As with most remaining European monarchies, the position of the Spanish monarch as the nominal head of the armed forces is deeply rooted in tradition.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 authorizes the King in article 62 (h): to exercise supreme command of the Armed Forces[55]The king regularly chairs sessions of the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of staff and the individual general staffs of each branch of the Armed Forces in his capacity as supreme commander.

Furthermore, article 97 stipulates that; The Government shall conduct domestic and foreign policy, civil and military administration and the defence of the State[55]No provision in the constitution requires the king/government to seek approval from the Cortes Generales before sending the armed forces abroad.

[57] The president of Turkey has the constitutional right to represent the Supreme Military Command of the Turkish Armed Forces, on behalf of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, 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.

He shall have charge of all matters of administration and organization, which shall be in all respects, insofar as necessary and applicable, the same as that of the National Guard.Similarly, Section 140 of Article 2 of the California Military and Veterans Code states:[68] The Governor is commander in chief of a militia that shall be provided by statute.

In this capacity, the president give decisions on declaring war or martial law, the appointment of senior officials, and the development of the armed forces.

In the event of an attack on the republic, the president announce a state of war and will submit within 72 hours a resolution for a plan of action to the Oliy Majlis.

When the country is in a wartime situation, the minister of defense will serve in an official capacity as the deputy supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces, essentially assisting the president in his day-to-day activities and decisions regarding national security.

The hereditary title and rank of Sparapet' (Armenian: սպարապետ) was a used to describe the supreme commander of the military forces of ancient and medieval Armenia.

However, beginning in 1993, during the tenure of Jiang Zemin as General Secretary of the Communist Party and CMC chairman, it has been standard practice to have the offices of the CCP general secretary, president, and the CMC chairman to be normally held by the same person; although the slight differences in the start and end of terms for those respective offices means that there is some overlap between an occupant and his predecessor.

By assigning it directly to the responsible minister, instead of with the Federal Chancellor, this also meant that military affairs is but one of the many integrated responsibilities of the government; in stark contrast of earlier times when the separate division of the military establishment from the civil administration allowed the former to act as a state within a state (in contrast to the Federal Republic, the Weimar Republic began with the Ebert–Groener pact, which kept the military establishment as an autonomous force outside the control of politics; the 1925 election of Paul von Hindenburg as Reichspräsident, surrounded by his camarilla and the machinations of Kurt von Schleicher, did little to reverse the trend).

However, in 1938 due to the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, Hitler withdrew the commander-in-chief title, abolished the war ministerial post and assumed personal command of the Armed Forces.

The war ministerial post was de facto overtaken by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, which was headed by Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel until the German surrender.

However, the commander-in-chief of the IDF is the chief of general staff who, despite being subordinate to the minister of defense, holds the highest level of command within the military.

Notwithstanding the previous sentence, under the Constitution, the Federal Council can only, in the operational sense, command a maximum of 4,000 soldiers, with a time limit of three weeks of mobilisation.

Whilst the General acts as the highest military authority with a high degree of autonomy, he is still subordinate to the Federal Council (See Articles 58, 60, 174, 177, 180 & 185).

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.