Origins of the French Foreign Legion
The Foreign Legion was established in 1831 by King Louis Philippe I to consolidate all foreign corps fighting under French colors, which included, among others, the Swiss Guards, the Swiss regiment of the Royal Guard, and the Hohenlohe Regiment. After its creation, the Legion participated in the further recruitment of foreign nationals into French military service.
Day of August 10, 1792 La Prise des Tuileries (The taking of the Tuileries). The red uniforms of the Swiss are distinct from the other combatants.
A company of the Legion on the Champ de Mars in Paris (1836).
Portrait of Marie Alphonse Bedeau.
Siege of Constantine, by Horace Vernet
The French Foreign Legion is an elite corps of the French Army that consists of several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army. It formed part of the Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with France's colonial project in Northern Africa, until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.
Uniform of a legionnaire during the 1863 Mexican campaign
A Legionnaire sniper at Tuyên Quang
Monument commemorating the soldiers of the Foreign Legion killed on duty during the South-Oranese campaign (1897–1902).
Review of the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion, RMLE at the end of November 1918
