User:Felix Galloux/Revue Défense nationale

The Revue Défense Nationale (RDN) is a French monthly magazine created in 1939, dealing with major military, political, social, economic and scientific issues from a strategic and defence perspective.

It is traditionally run by general officers: its director has been General (Air) Thierry Caspar-Fille-Lambie since May 2018, and its editor-in-chief has been Jérôme Pellistrandi (Land) since the summer of 2014 (General in second section since December 2018). It is based at the École militaire in Paris.

History
The Revue des questions de défense nationale appeared in May 1939. Its creators were general officers who made up the first Steering Committee: Generals Henri Bineau, Henry Freydenberg and Bertrand Pujo, as well as Vice-Admiral Georges Robert. It is assisted by an advisory committee comprising a member of each ministry. Its publication is monthly, a periodicity that has never been modified.

Despite a promising start, with prestigious signatures, notably the very first article, written by Marshal Pétain (who was then still the hero of Verdun and not the head of the French state), the Revue quickly ran into difficulties. The October 1939 issue was incorporated into the November issue. However, the editors affirmed their desire to continue publishing the magazine, which they did until June 1940.

After having ceased all activity until July 1945, the Review was given a new impetus at the end of the war, and changed its name to Revue de défense nationale. This time, it was chaired exclusively by General Henry Freydenberg, still supported by an executive committee and an advisory committee comprising a member of each ministry but chaired by General Juin.

Under the title 'The Belgian Problem', the first article in the new journal is a study by Colonel de Gaulle, inspired by the Reich's reoccupation of the left bank of the Rhine on 7 March 1936.

From then on, the Review continued its publication without interruption (except in June 1968), following a rhythm of twelve issues (1946-1947) then eleven issues per year with a traditional August-September issue, abandoned in 2010 for ten issues per year with a summer issue (July-August-September) devoted to a single theme and mixing news articles and articles from the archives. Its name will change again several times: in 1973, it becomes Défense nationale, then Défense nationale et sécurité collective in 2005 before taking its current name in January 2010 of Revue Défense Nationale.

Functioning
The articles published in the Review are not the work of salaried journalists, but of specialists from various backgrounds: politicians, academics, military personnel, sociologists, political scientists, journalists, scientists, etc. The articles are either commissioned or submitted directly by their authors to the Review. Since 2015, an annual programme has been drawn up in order to build up dossiers on major defence issues.

In 2014, the RDN published 342 articles, representing 1849 pages, divided between the paper magazine and the website, the latter making it possible to deal with current issues through its Tribune and its news items. The RDN also publishes booklets on specific topics, as well as a newsletter for its subscribers called Repères de la RDN (63 issues since the beginning of 2015).

On the website, which was renovated in 2017, a new section has been created: "Les Brèves", which deals with current affairs from a military perspective. Every Monday, the Florilège publishes an article from the archives and put into historical perspective. The monthly summary is now available in English.

The summer edition are monothematic and have focused on the following themes :


 * 2014 : The Middle East
 * 2015 : Civil nuclear power
 * 2016 : Les Afriques.
 * 2017 : Russia
 * 2018 : Asia-Pacific
 * 2019: The Mediterranean sea, coordinated by Pierre Razoux, domain director at IRSEM and FMES, based in Toulon.

In the spring of 2016, the RDN had decided to launch a biannual supplement of an academic nature. However, this project was not pursued as IRSEM relaunched its Cahiers entitled Champs de Mars. It was therefore important to have a coherent publications policy for the Military Academy.

Par ailleurs, la RDN est régulièrement sollicitée pour intervenir dans les médias audiovisuels et écrits (BFM, C News, France 24, LCI, France Culture, France Info, RCF, Radio Classique, Le Figaro, La Vie...).

The Review is not dependent on any ministry or the state, but lives on subscriptions, advertising revenue and its own resources. There is, however, a tradition, which originated at its inception, that the directors are general officers. The following is a list of directors and editors-in-chief since its inception: