Output details

Die Fremdenlegion. Kolonialismus, Söldnertum, Gewalt 1831 - 1962

This monograph required considerable effort to produce, equivalent to more than two outputs. It is based on a very large body of primary sources, including archival material collected in France, the UK and Switzerland and the autobiographical writing of more than 100 former legionnaires. Conceptually it is also complex since this is the first attempt systematically to analyse the Foreign Legion as both a European and extra-European masculine space of experience. Covering a wide range of topics, it marries perspectives of global and micro history with approaches from cultural, social, military, gender, political and media history.

The Foreign Legion as a mercenary force appears as both a successor of early modern mercenary armies and a forerunner of current tendencies towards ‘privatization’ of warfare. This study, based on legionnaires’ autobiographical writing and archival sources gathered in France, the UK and Switzerland, for the first time systematically analyses the Legion as both a European and extra-European masculine space of experience, focusing on its microstructures, problems of different national and social backgrounds, formal and informal hierarchies and types of comradeship as well as Legionnaires’ interactions with people in the colonies, ranging from military encounters to sexual contacts.