Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers

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Published: Summer 2021

The 1st Battalion of the world-famous Foreign Legion arrived in Paris on July 12, 1939. The legionnaires, 800 strong, were allowed to break ranks and talk to relatives they had not seen for a number of years as they marched though the French capital. They have come to Paris to take part in the big military parade which is to mark the national fete day on July 14 when all Paris annually celebrates the Fall of the Bastille in the French revolution. Bearded sappers of the Foreign Legion marching through Paris to their barracks, on July 12, 1939, after their arrival from Marseilles.

Modern states recurrently buttress their militaries by recruiting legionnaires—individuals who are neither citizens nor subjects of the governments for which they fight. When facing severe territorial threats, political constraints on domestic recruitment, or both, states lean on legionnaires to balance the competing imperatives of national security and domestic politics. Because states often reach beyond their citizenries to secure combat personnel, legionnaires demonstrate how frequently this central component of national military power is, in fact, international.

Recommended citation

Elizabeth M.F. Grasmeder, "Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers," International Security, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Summer 2021), pp. 147–195, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00411.