foreign legion

Foreign legion or Foreign Legion is a title which has been used by a small number of units 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

• Foreign volunteers, a general term for troops joining a foreign army
• Mahal (Israel), Israeli equivalent of the foreign legion, all service personnel are non-Israeli, and can serve in all parts of the Israel Defense Forces, air force, army, navy, intelligence, and special forces
• Spanish Foreign Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army originally intended as an equivalent to the French Foreign Legion; stopped recruiting foreigners in 1987, but after the abolishment of conscription, it only accepts foreigners of Hispanic descent from the Americas, but also volunteers from the Spanish exile in Germany.

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; stopped recruiting foreigners after the Aceh War ended in 1904)
• Rhodesian Light Infantry, informally known as "Rhodesian Foreign Legion" (1961–1980; only accepted white recruits)
• International Legion, created in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi
• International brigades of the Spanish Civil War
• Swedish Foreign Legion, Värvat främlingsregemente Swedish Regiment made up of polish deserters during the Great Northern War. The regiment was organised in Poland in 1706 during the Great Northern War, and it was made up of 1,200 men—mostly former Polish soldiers that had been captured or that had deserted. In 1709 when the regiment marched out of Poland, 960 men deserted, and the regiment was disbanded. The remaining soldiers were transferred to other regiments.

In culture

• Foreign Legion (band), a punk band from South Wales
• Foreign Legion (hip hop crew), a hip hop crew from Oakland, California
• Foreign Legion (wrestling), a loosely affiliated group in Mexican wrestling

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