Public Force (Congo)

Force Publique
Force Publique soldiers on parade with their Belgian officer in the late 1940s
Active	1886–1960
Country	Belgian Congo
Allegiance	Belgian Empire
Branch	Army
Size	24,000
Nickname(s)	FP
Motto(s)	Congo uni, pays fort

The Force Publique (French: [fɔʁs pyblik], "Public Force"; Dutch: Openbare Weermacht) was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of Belgian colonial rule (Belgian Congo - 1908 to 1960). After independence, the FP was retitled as the Congolese National Army or ANC.

The Force Publique was initially conceived in 1885 when King Leopold II of the Belgians, who held the Congo Free State as his private property, ordered his Secretary of the Interior to create military and police forces for the State. Soon afterwards, in early 1886, Captain Léon Roger (of the Belgian Army's Carabiniers) was sent to the Congo with orders to establish the force. A few months later, on August 17, he was promoted to "Commandant of the Force Publique". A number of other Belgian officers and non-commissioned officers were also dispatched to the territory as the nucleus of the officer corps. The officers of the Force Publique were entirely European. They comprised a mixture of Belgian regular soldiers and mercenaries from other countries who were drawn by the prospect of wealth or simply attracted to the adventure of service in Africa.

Leopold II was able to rely on three kinds of volunteers to command his Force Publique: regular officers from the Belgian Army, adventurers, and former officers from armies of other European nations, especially Scandinavia, Italy and Switzerland. To these men, service in the Congo Free State offered military experience, adventure and—as they saw it—an opportunity to participate in a humanitarian endeavour. From 1886 to 1908 the officer core consisted of 648 Belgians, 112 Italians, 53 Danes, 47 Swedes, 26 Norwegians and smaller numbers recruited from other nations, such as the British empire and the USA.