Gen Pierre de Villiers said in a statement he could no longer "guarantee the durability of the army model" that he considered necessary to ensure France's protection.

France's government last week revealed major cuts to bring its budget deficit below the level of an EU cap.

Mr Macron had said he would not tolerate dissent from the military.

In a speech at the defence ministry last week, he said: "It is not dignified to hold certain debates in the public arena."

Then in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, he said: "If the military chief of staff and the president are opposed on something, the military chief of staff goes."

But he had also said the general had his "full trust" as long as he "knows the chain of command and how it works".

The pair had been scheduled to meet on Friday to try to sort out their differences.

Gen de Villiers' replacement will be named on Wednesday, French media said.

He will be Gen François Lecointre, Agence France-Presse reported, citing government sources.

'Reservations'

Gen de Villiers, 60, was infuriated by an €850m ($975m; £752m) cut in the military spending budget for 2017. Most was to come from cuts to equipment.

Gen de Villiers told a parliamentary committee last week that the government should not mess with him on the matter, using a far stronger expletive.

The general, who was appointed head of the military in February 2014 and had his tenure extended by Mr Macron in June, had previously spoken out on budget cuts.