Demi-brigade

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A demi-brigade (English: half-brigade) is a military formation used by the French Army since the French Revolutionary Wars. The demi-brigade amalgamated the various infantry organizations of the French Revolutionary infantry into a single unit. Each one was headed by a chef de brigade.

The term "demi-brigade" was chosen to avoid the feudal ancien régime connotations of the term "régiment". Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the term to be abandoned in 1803, and the demi-brigades were renamed "régiments". The term was reused by certain later units in the French army, such as the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion, the only permanent demi-brigade in the modern French Army.