Foreign volunteers

This article is about foreign volunteers who are serving in forces of a country other than their own, but who are not primarily motivated by personal financial gain. For soldiers recruited in colonies, see Colonial troops. For soldiers in foreign armies who are motivated by personal financial gain, see Mercenaries. For foreign soldiers temporarily serving in another country's military, see Exchange officer.
Prince Abdelkader El Djezairi, wearing the sash of the Legion d'Honneur presented to him by the French Government.
The exiled Muslim Algerian, along with his 1000 volunteers protected most of the diplomats, and thousands of Christians during the 1860 Druze–Maronite conflict. He was awarded the highest medals by the European Governments.

The armed forces of many nations have, at one time or another, used foreign volunteers who are motivated by political, ideological or other considerations to join a foreign army. These may be formed into units of a given nationality or may be formed into mixed nationality foreign units. Sometimes foreign volunteers were or are incorporated into ordinary units. The practice has a long history, dating back at least as far as the Roman Empire, which recruited non-citizens into Auxiliary units on the promise of them receiving Roman citizenship for themselves and their descendents at the end of their service[1]

Reasons for volunteering

Three main reasons for volunteering can be identified:

This is a simplistic analysis and, in many cases, a volunteer will be influenced by two or more of these reasons. It follows, therefore, that a unit of foreign volunteers may contain soldiers with different, or different combinations of, motivations.

Mixed nationality units

Units by nationality

American

During both world wars, American volunteers served on the allied side before the USA joined the war.

Belgian

British

Chinese

Croatian

Flag of the 369th Reinforced Infantry Regiment that was involved in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Filipino

French

German

Greek

Irish

See Also Irish Military Diaspora

Israel

Italian

Nepalese

Moroccan

Polish

Portuguese

Rhodesian

Russian

Scottish

South African

Spanish

Swedish

Swiss

See also

References

  1. Webster, Graham (1979). The Roman Imperial Army (Second ed.). London: A & C Black. p. 144. ISBN 0-7136-1909-0.
  2. Webcast Author Interview Rachel Cox Into the Fire 2012 ISBN 9780451234759
  3. Graciela Iglesias Rogers, British Liberators in the Age of Napoleon: Volunteering under the Spanish Flag in the Peninsular War (Bloomsbury Academic, London and New York, 2013) ISBN 978-1-4411-3565-0
  4. Richard Baxell, Unlikely Warriors: The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism (Aurum Press, London, 2012)
  5. 1 2 Arielli, Nir. "In Search of Meaning: ForeignVolunteers in the Croatian Armed Forces, 1991–95". Academia.edu.
  6. 1 2 Krott, Rob (2008). Save the Last Bullet for Yourself: A Soldier of Fortune in the Balkans and Somalia. Casemate. pp. 168–69. ISBN 1935149717.
  7. Krott (2008, p. 148)
  8. "Garibaldi Division". Vojska.net. Retrieved 2013-09-17.
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