On 10th March 1831 The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of the French, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France, primarily the Hohenlohe Regiment (German/Swiss) and various Swiss guard units. These, along with remnants of other foreign corps from the Napoleonic era, were disbanded and reorganized into the new unit to fight outside mainland France.
The Legion was initially organized into six (later seven) national battalions: Swiss and German (1st), Swiss/German volunteers from the Royal Guard (2nd, 3rd), Spanish (4th), Sardinian and Italian (5th), Belgian and Dutch (6th), and Polish (7th). Its first uniform upon formation consisted of a dark blue coat with yellow collars and red trousers. This initial, often mismatched, uniform was heavily influenced by the standard-issue equipment of the French Army at the time, which they modified for campaigns in Algeria.
The Legion was heavily involved in the French conquest of Algeria (1830–1849) and the First Carlist War (1833–1840). After it was essentially abandoned by the French government in Spain, a second unit was formed in 1836. In Spain The Legion often fought alone and, as a result, slowly became more autonomous. Their commander supplemented his troops with three squadrons of lancers, a howitzer battery for support, and a medical company, marking the beginning of Foreign Legion in its modern form. Out of the approximately 6,000 personnel who had arrived in Spain in 1835, no more than 63 officers and 159 enlisted men returned.
The Legion was permanently garrisoned in Algeria and France in 1840. It expanded, assimilating the survivors of the First Legion and even many of the Carlists who had fled to France after their failed revolution. The Legion was garrisoned at Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria in 1843, where it would remain for 119 years, until 1962, when Algeria gained independence from France. The headquarters of the French Foreign Legion is located these days at the Quartier Vienot in Aubagne, near Marseille in Southern France. Known as the "Maison mère" (Motherhouse), it used to be the administrative center and home to the 1st Foreign Regiment (1er RE).
The French Foreign Legion currently consists of eleven regiments and specialized units under the Foreign Legion Command (COMLE). Key units include the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP), 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC), 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI), 13th Demi-Brigade (13e DBLE), and two engineering (genie) units (1er REG and 2e REG).
The Foreign Legion's 3rd Regiment (3e REI) is the former Foreign Legion Marching Regiment and is the most decorated unit of the French Foreign Legion stationed in French Guiana (South America). The 4th Foreign Regiment (4e RE) is the training regiment for the French Foreign Legion, and its 5th Regiment (5e RE) is a newly reactivated regiment that has been stationed in Dzaoudzi, Mayotte (Indian Ocean) since 2024.
The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (1er Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes, or 1er REP) was a elite French Foreign Legion unit that was disbanded in 1961 after having taken control of strategic points in Algiers during the mutiny then. It was, however, never a coup d'état by the Foreign Foreign Legion because out of the 450,000 French soldiers in Algeria then, only elements of France's 10th Parachute Division (10e PD) and 25th Parachute Division (25e PD) participated. Regiment wise that meant that only, within the 10e DP, 1er REP (Legion) and 9e RCP participated, and in the 25e DP, 1er RCP, 14e RCP, 18e RCP, 2e REP (Legion), and 8e RPC participated
