- published: 03 Jul 2015
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The Canadian Army (French: Armée canadienne) is the branch of the Canadian Forces responsible for land warfare. In 2011, the Army comprised 19,500 regular soldiers and 16,000 reserve soldiers, for a total of around 35,500 soldiers. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada and is also responsible for the largest component of the Primary Reserve, the Army Reserve. The Commander Canadian Army is Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin.
The term "Canadian Army" has been traditionally applied to the land forces of Canada's military from Confederation in 1867 to the present. However, the name Canadian Army was only officially used beginning in 1940. In 1965, as a precursor to the unification of the navy, army, and air force, all army units were placed under a new entity called Mobile Command. In 1968 the Canadian Army ceased to exist as a legal entity as the navy, army, and air force were merged to form a single service called the Canadian Forces. Mobile Command was renamed Land Force Command in a 1993 reorganization of the Canadian Forces. In August 2011, Land Force Command reverted to the pre-1968 title, the Canadian Army.