It was headed by the Minister of War, occasionally taking various titles.

On 27 April 1791, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree organizing the six ministries of Justice, Interior, Finances, War, Navy and Foreign Affairs.

[1] The Committee of Public Safety suspended all six ministries in April 1794 and implemented instead twelve Executive Commissions ; this act dismembered the department into numerous commissions.

[2] In 1817, the State acquired the Hôtel de Brienne, at 14 rue Saint-Dominique (7th arrondissement) to serve as the Ministry of War.

In 1915, during the First World War, an Under Secretariat of State of the Military Aeronautics was created.