What is the French Foreign Legion? It is a unit of highly trained foreign soldiers that form a part of the French army.
Most countries generally only allow soldiers that have citizenship to join the armed forces. There are some exceptions. The US allows people with a US permanent resident card to sign up for the armed forces. The UK allows people from Commonwealth countries, which are the countries that used to make up a large part of the British Empire. The general reason for not allowing noncitizens to join is because there might be a conflict of interest were the two countries to go to war. The same fear was the reason why all Japanese Americans were interred during the Second World War. Most of the time the fear is not valid and most of the Japanese Americans sided with America. Although, their treatment in the war might have changed their minds. France is an exception in that the French army has a unit made up almost entirely of foreigners.
The unit is mostly made up of foreigners because the officers have to be French citizens or naturalized French citizens. If an enlisted man wants to become an officer, he must become French. Anyone serving in the Foreign Legion can apply for French citizenship after three years of service, as long as they have an exemplary record. There are currently 9,000 soldiers in the unit and they make up about 7% of the total French army. The recruits come from a total of 140 countries. A lot of them were traditionally from Europe, but there are more South Americans joining up these days. Women are not allowed to serve in the unit.
The rules changed in 2020, but up until then, recruits to the French Foreign Legion had to sign up with an assumed name. This started in the early days of the Foreign Legion and came about because a lot of the recruits were actually escaping from certain things in their own countries, usually some kind of crime. To avoid being detected and to give them a chance at anonymity, the Legion demanded that they make up a fake name. French citizens that wished to join the Legion had to do the same and usually said they came from some other French speaking country, such as Belgium or Canada. Soldiers have to serve under their assumed name for the first year and then they can choose to revert to their real name. They can also continue with the assumed name; which people might choose if they were trying to hide from something particularly heinous. Since 2020, soldiers can sign up under their real name from the very beginning. The rules on a criminal record have also changed. The Foreign Legion used to take anybody, no matter what crimes they had committed, and it was a very common place for criminals to hide. These days, they might overlook a few brushes with the law, but if you have an extensive criminal record, they won’t accept you.
The French Foreign Legion is considered one of the toughest fighting forces in the world. The troops are well trained, but there are not as many specialists as the US special forces, or the UK SAS have. However, the soldiers undergo very vigorous training and only the fittest and strongest soldiers pass. They are renowned for their strength and their perseverance.
The French Foreign Legion was created in 1831 by King Louis Philippe I. He formed it because France was trying to conquer Algeria and there weren’t enough troops in the French army to do it. There were a lot of foreign soldiers from different armies milling around Europe and Louis realized that he could put them to good use. The French Foreign Legion was formed, but with the proviso that the soldiers could only be used outside France.
The Foreign Legion is allowed some concessions that other units don’t always get. When they march in parades, they go at their own pace. The French army marches at 116 steps per minute but the Foreign Legion only marches at 88 steps per minute. That means they are slower, and they always go at the back of parades because of this. They are allowed their own marching band as well. They also never split. The Foreign Legion prides itself on never separating in war or peace. In a lot of parades, other units will split left and right to go past objects, but the Foreign Legion will always stick together as a unit and go to the same side. They are ferocious, tenacious, and extremely loyal to each other. And this is what I learned today.
If you liked this, try these:
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion
https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-legion
https://science.howstuffworks.com/french-foreign-legion.htm
https://www.usa.gov/military-requirements
Image By © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28855332