The French Foreign Legion and its Colonial Legacy

Most Americans know about the French Foreign Legion through films like Beau Geste, or the antics of Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion. This famed fighting organization, however, has a grittier and less romantic history tied to France’s brutal colonial conquests in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. This presentation will review the history of the FFL from its origins as a dumping ground for foreign “undesirables,” to its continued role today as an element of France’s influence throughout the world. Participants will learn about some of its noted engagements and its complicity in some of the ugliest episodes of France’s imperial history.