French Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère) is a unique elite unit within the French Army established in 1831. It was created as a unit for foreign volunteers, because foreigners were forbidden to enlist in the French Army after the July Revolution in 1830.

It was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century, but has also taken part in all of its wars with other European powers such as the Franco-Prussian War and both World Wars.

Despite being considered an anachronism by some, the Foreign Legion has remained an important part of the French Army. It has survived three republics, one empire, two World Wars, the rise and fall of mass conscript armies, the dismantlement of the French colonial empire and finally, the French loss of the legion's birthplace, Algeria.

The French Foreign Legion is known to be an elite military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills, but also on the building of a strong “esprit de corps” amongst members. As its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a widely accepted solution to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically hard, but also extremely psychologically stressful.