From 1963 to the present, dozens of overseas operations have been carried out, involving military personnel from across all the armed forces, directorates and services: army, navy, air force, joint armed forces directorates and services, and Gendarmerie Nationale. By telling the story of certain military operations of recent decades and the reasons that led to France’s involvement in these foreign theatres, a genuine history of French overseas operations, or ‘OPEX’, can be written.

A civil and military mission set up by the United Nations to restore peace and stability in Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, was established in 1978 and had its objectives redefined in 2006.

In November 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall brought an end to 40 years of Cold War. But the global situation had not stabilised and interstate conflicts persisted, leading to the mobilisation of the international community. The French armed forces then saw a multitude of operational engagements, beginning with the First Gulf War, in 1991.

In 1992, the French armed forces engaged in a theatre of operations just an hour and a half's flight away from France. The powder keg of the Balkans of 1914 reared its head and the international community decided to act. The successive operations would give rise to a ”Balkans generation”, particularly among the ranks of the French army.

Following the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, on 11 September 2001, the international community turned its attention to Afghanistan, a country marked by a succession of violent wars. The United States located the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, in that country, where he was offered protection by the Taliban regime.

In June 1941, after the launch of Operation Barbarossa (22 June 1941), the collaborationist parties demanded to be part of the ”crusade against Bolshevism” in the USSR. The Légion des volontaires français was created with this goal on 6 July 1941. About 6,000 Frenchmen would fight in German uniform after enlisting in this organisation. The archives of the special services provide a better understanding of how it worked.

In Vichy at the beginning of January 1944, the Germans promoted Joseph Darnand, head of the Milice (militia), to the post of secretary general responsible for keeping order. With the Allied landings expected at any time, and Pétain having lost the occupier's confidence, radicalisation was the order of the day with this appointment of an unconditional collaborator.

In a series of interviews given to the Army Historical Service in 1998 and 1999, Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac retraced his path from mobilisation to enlistment in the Free French Forces in London and then operations with the National Interior Commission. His statement sheds light on how a young man, a history student unsurprised by the declaration of war in September 1939, came to enlist.