France founded a legion of foreigners in 1831 and barred it from French soil
King Louis Philippe created the Foreign Legion in March 1831 from disbanded Swiss and German regiments and recruits of murky pasts. The founding ordinance said these foreigners could serve only outside France. Within months they were shipped to Algeria, which became their home for 130 years, and within four years France had lent them to Spain.
The first legionnaires landed in Algeria in late 1831, reinforcing the force that had seized Algiers the year before. They were given the worst postings and took part in the brutal conquest of the colony, including draining marshes around Algiers. At first they were organised into six national battalions, among them Swiss, Poles, Germans and Italians, while tiny groups such as ten Englishmen counted in December 1832 were scattered at random.
In 1835 France handed the whole unit to Spain to back Isabella II's claim to the throne against her uncle. Around 1,400 men landed at Tarragona that August, where locals nicknamed them the Algerians. Their commander promptly broke up the national battalions to forge a shared identity, and added lancers and artillery. By December 1838 only 500 remained and the force was dissolved; survivors went home, and many rejoined a new legion alongside former Carlist enemies.
Crimea proved the Legion could fight in Europe. Four battalions sailed on the ship Jean Bart in June 1854, fought at the Alma and endured the siege of Sevastopol through cholera and shortages. Russians called them leather bellies after their big cartridge pouches. Legion casualties came to 1,703 killed and wounded, against French losses from battle and disease of 95,615. In Italy in 1859 legionnaires distinguished themselves at Magenta and Solferino, and Milan later awarded a medal that still hangs on the Second Regiment's flags. Two battalions joined the expedition to Mexico, growing to six by 1866 before withdrawal in 1867.
Across the nineteenth century the Legion mainly served France's colonial expansion, and later fought on the Western Front in the First World War and at Dien Bien Phu in Indochina. Its losses since 1831 total nearly 40,000 men. It came close to disbandment after some units joined the generals' putsch during Algeria's war of independence, which ended in 1962. Today legionnaires may seek citizenship after three years, or at once if wounded, a rule called French by spilled blood.
Source: French Foreign Legion
