188 years ago, on 10 March 1831, a royal ordinance of Louis Philippe I, King of the French was issued. The ordinance ordered the establishment of the Foreign Legion, to engage a number of foreign deserters asking to serve France. Until the 2000s, the 10th March of 1831 marked the official birthday of the current French Foreign Legion which derived its origin from that original Legion. Nevertheless, the lineage of the Legion is far more complex and because of that, the official birthday was quietly changed in the last decade to the more neutral 9th March.

To understand this step and to map the entire lineage of the current Foreign Legion, a separate article was created. For those interested in history of the Legion, see the article:
–> French Foreign Legion: The Lineage

—

Related article:
French Foreign Legion History