Lesson 53 - The French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion was founded by a Royal Ordinance, written on a small piece of official French War Office notepaper dated March 9th, 1831, and signed by the then reigning monarch of France, Louis-Philippe. He had been on the throne for barely eight months when he authorized this measure, which was as much a product of necessity as of careful planning, although there may be divided views on this.
The reasons for forming the French Foreign Legion were probably twofold. In the first place the men of the disbanded royal bodyguard and the Regiment of Hohenlohe, suddenly turned loose on to the street of a capital seething with unrest, unemployed and perhaps disgruntled at their abrupt dismissal, were a potentially dangerous element. They were trained to the use of arms, and should they become tools of the politically ambitious or discontented they would present a distinct menace to the new regime, not yet too firmly established and sure of itself.
For some time Paris had been swarming with countless other discharged foreign soldiers who had served in the French army at various times under the Empire and the Republic, many of whom were in needy circumstances and open to suggestion, whilst others were openly looking for trouble and always ready to take part in any disturbance. It was clearly both expedient and desirable to remove these dangers as far away from the capital as possible.
Next, the Algerian adventure had begun, and it appeared that this might prove expensive in lives. The more Frenchmen killed in North Africa, the less popular the government at home would be, so if foreign cannon fodder was available so much the better. The Algerian landing had been viewed with mixed feelings in a politically divided France, but there does not seem to have been, any marked indication on the part of the politicians that they were unanimous that the occupation should be abruptly terminated; most were wary and many apprehensive as to how the Algerian business would turn out.
The formation of a foreign legion seemed therefore to be an ideal method of killing these two birds with one stone. Once the conditions were made clear there does not seem to have been any serious opposition.
Marshal Soult was reputed to be the man behind the scheme both for removing and using the unemployed foreign ex-soldiers. He could not have failed to recognize, once they were formed into disciplined units, how useful they would be, both for garrison duty and for active operations in Algeria, nor the fact that if their casualties were heavy or their conditions not of the best, there would be no embarrassing reaction for agitation in France on their behalf.
The Royal Ordinance decreed that there should be a legion formed foreigners for service outside France, which was to be called the 'Foreign Legion' and it was to be part of the French army and under the control of the War Minister. It laid down that as far as possible companies should be composed of men of the same nationality or who spoke a common language. Algeria was not specifically mentioned but as it was the only scrap of foreign territory of any size possessed by France at that moment, there was no doubt as to the meaning of the phrase 'outside France'.
In the anxiety to get dubious, restless characters out of the country no questions were asked as to nationality, previous record or history, and no proof of identity was required. The name and particulars given by the recruit were accepted at face value and many gave noms de guerre,* for understandable reasons. Thus the practice began, and the tradition started of 'asking no questions'. This tradition of guaranteeing anonymity began to develop quickly, although it was not until later that it was carried to the extreme of denying all knowledge of any individuals who were in its ranks and of refusing point blank to answer questions or to allow any outside contact with the legionnaires. * Pseudonyms.
参考译文——法国外籍军团
法国外籍军团是根据一项皇家法令成立的，该法令写在1831年3月9日法国战争办公室的一小张官方便笺上，由当时的法国在位君主路易斯·菲利普（Louis Philippe）签署。当他批准这项措施时，他在位仅八个月，这既是必要的，也是精心策划的结果，尽管有人对此可能持不同意见。
组建法国外籍军团很可能基于两个原因。首先，被解散的皇家保镖和霍恩洛厄团（Hohenlohe）的士兵们突然在首都街道上晃荡，他们焦躁、没有工作，且可能对他们突然遭到解雇感到忿忿不平，这些构成了一个潜在的危险因素。这些人接受过使用武器的训练，如果他们成为政治野心家或不满者的工具，他们将对尚未巩固且不太自信的新政权构成明显的威胁。
一段时间以来，巴黎到处都是退役的外国士兵，他们曾在帝国和共和国统治下的不同时期的法国军队服役，其中许多人处境困难，乐于接受建议，而另一些人则公开寻找麻烦，随时准备参加任何骚乱。显然，让这些危险尽可能远离首都既是迫不得已，又有利可图。
接下来，与阿尔及利亚的战争开始了，看来要让人付出高昂的生命代价。在北非被杀的法国人越多，政府在国内就越不受欢迎，因此，如果能让外国人来当炮灰，实在是件好事。在政治分裂的法国，人们对阿尔及利亚战争的看法喜忧参半，但没有任何迹象表明政治家们一致认为应该突然停止占领行为，大多数人对阿尔及利亚的战事十分关心，许多人对此感到担忧。
因此，组建外籍军团似乎是一举两得的理想方法。一旦条件明确，似乎没有任何严重的反对。
苏尔特元帅被认为是这项计划的幕后策划者，因为是他解散了这些外籍士兵，又是他雇佣了这些失业的士兵。他不可能没认识到，一旦他们组成一支纪律严明的军团，无论是在驻军执勤还是在阿尔及利亚的现役行动中，他们都将发挥很大作用。他也不可能没认识到这样一个事实，即如果他们的伤亡很重，或者他们的状况不好，那么法国政治代表为此而煽动就不会造成令人尴尬的局面。
《皇家法令》规定，应该有一个由外国人组成的军团，在法国境外服役，该军团被称为“外籍军团”，是法国军队的一部分，由战争部长指挥。它规定，军团各单位应尽可能由同一国籍或说共同语言的士兵组成。该法令没有特别提到阿尔及利亚，但由于它是当时法国拥有的任何规模的外国领土中唯一的一块，因此“法国境外”一词的具体含义毫无疑问。
在急于将这些可疑的、不安的人驱逐出境的过程中，没有人询问其国籍、以前的记录或历史，也不需要身份证明。新兵提供的姓名和详细信息被全盘接受，出于可以理解的原因，许多人提供的是化名。于是，“不问问题”这一实践开始了，变成了传统。这种匿名保护的传统开始迅速发展，后来发展到了极端——对队伍中任何人的情况一概不知，拒绝直截了当地回答问题且不允许与退伍军人进行任何外部接触。
注：博主基于百度翻译校译而成
参考资料：
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