Foreign legion
Foreign legion or Foreign Legion is a title which has been used by a small number of military units composed of foreign volunteers.
It usually refers to the French Foreign Legion, part of the French Army, established in 1831.
It can also refer to:
In military
- Polish Legions, several Polish military units that served with the French Army from the 1790s to the 1810s.
- Portuguese Legion, a Portuguese military force integrated in the Napoleon's Imperial Armies, mobilized after the occupation of Portugal, in 1807.
- King's German Legion (KGL), a British Army unit of expatriate German personnel during the Napoleonic Wars
- Russian–German Legion, a Russian Army unit of expatriate German personnel during the Napoleonic Wars
- Foreign volunteers, a general term for troops joining a foreign army
- Mahal (Israel), foreigners serving in the Israeli army, both during the 1948 war of independence as well as in the present IDF
- Spanish Legion, a quasi-independent unit of the Spanish Army originally intended as an equivalent to the French Foreign Legion
- Brigade of Gurkhas, light infantry unit of the British Army largely manned by ethnic Nepali.
The title Foreign Legion has been applied commonly but unofficially to:
- Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL), informally known as "Dutch Foreign Legion" (1830–1950)
- Rhodesian Light Infantry, informally known as "Rhodesian Foreign Legion" (1961–1980)
- International Legion, created in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi
- International brigades, of the Spanish Civil War
- Recruited Foreigners Regiment, Värvat främlingsregemente, Swedish Regiment made up of Polish deserters during the Great Northern War
In culture
- Foreign Legion (band), a punk band from Wales
- Foreign Legion (album), a 2002 album by Murfreesboro
- Foreign Legion (Tin Hat album), a 2010 album by Tin Hat
- Foreign Legion (hip hop crew), a hip hop crew from Oakland, California
- Foreign Legion (wrestling) (La Legión Extranjera), a loosely affiliated group in Mexican wrestling
- Foreign Legions, a 2001 anthology edited by David Drake
See also
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