The Foreign Legion has had a long and unique history amongst the units of the French Army. It was historically formed of expatriate enlisted personnel led by French officers. Founded by a royal ordinance issued by King Louis Philippe of France on March 9, 1831 with aim of bolstering the strength of the French Army while also finding a use for the influx of refugees inundating France at the time. The Foreign Legion subsequently found a permanent home in the ranks of the French military. The Foreign Legion's history spans across Conquest of Algeria, the Franco-Prussian War, numerous colonial exploits, both World Wars, the First Indochina War, and the Algerian War. Background The French had a history of employing regiments of foreign soldiers from an early date: such as Louis XI's creation of the Scottish Guards in the 15th century. Later kings, from Francois I to Louis XVI made use of both German and Swiss Regiments. Even after the Revolution, the National Assembly in June 1792 created a Foreign Volunteer Legion and in the Revolutionary Wars Dutch, Italian and Polish were employed. Napoleon employed Hanoverian, Portuguses and Spanish Legions and Poles from the Vistula region. Following the fall of Napoleon in 1815, surviving units amalgamated under the title of the "Royal Foreign Legion", renamed in 1821 as the "Regiment of Hohenlohe" which was disbanded in 1831 at the instigation of the Foreign Legion. Formation of the Legion On March 9, 1831, the Foreign Legion was created by a royal ordinance issued by King Louis Philippe, at the suggestion of Minister of War Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult. Nine days later on March 18, 1831, an additional directive was issued restricting membership in the newly formed Legion to foreigners. The latter directive reflected the initial purpose of the Foreign Legion as a mechanism to lessen the potential disruption to the provisional French government and the newly enthroned House of Orléans posed by the large influx of foreigners following the collapse of the Bourbon Restoration in the previous year's July Revolution. Some of these foreigners in France were the remnants of regiments formed during the campaigns of Napoleon of Germans, Swedes, Poles, Hungarians, and others. These foreign veterans had been left with little means and professional military training which proved to be of concern the French government. Many had flocked to France following the July Revolution or came to France following failures of the