The French Foreign Legion Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1831

On the 10th March 1831, by Royal ordinance - the "birth certificate" of the French Foreign Legion.

Answer: King Louis-Philippe

Louis-Philippe's accession to the Kingdom of France in 1831 had been followed - as always in France - by "reorganization", which was no more than a purge of adherents of the old régime in favor of the partisans of the new. The army did not escape this process. The creation of the Foreign Legion (which Marshal Soult, the Minister of War, decreed "should not be employed in the continental territory of the kingdom") was intended to remove from France those officers and soldiers, French or foreign, who felt to be awkward, excitable of frankly dangerous subjects for the new monarchy. In France there were the Legitimists of Bourbon party, who considered Louis-Philippe of Orleans a usurper and who remembered that in 1793 his father, "Philippe Egalite", had condoned the execution of his cousin, Louis XVI. There were former Bonapartists, who had rallied to Louis XVIII in 1814-15. And there were republicans, who felt robbed of their revolution by this "bourgeois" monarchy.

Answer: Mexico

The official monument says
HERE, THEY WERE LESS THAN SIXTY AGAINST A WHOLE ARMY
ITS NUMBER CRUSHED THEM BUT LIFE RATHER THAN BRAVERY
LEFT THESE FRENCH MEN ON THE 30TH OF APRIL 1863.
TO THEIR MEMORY
THE COUNTRY BUILT THIS MONUMENT

Answer: Honneur et fidélité

The motto says it all ....

Answer: Le Boudin

The name "Boudin", or sausage, probably derives from the rolled blanket worn across the chest and so nicknamed.

Answer: Seven flames and a grenade

A badge reserved for Elite French Forces, the grenade has been worn by the Legion since 1874 on either the képi or on the shoulder. It is now worn on the left arm on all ranks of the Legion. The grenade has gradually assumed the form with seven flames, the outer two turned back, with the number of the regiment stamped in the bomb. However, the number was not used between about 1888 and its reintroduction in the early 1990's. It is also the symbol of today's Legion (2003). Other units of the French Army have only six flames.

Answer: False

All the officers are French; if French nationals born in France wish to join the Legion, they have their identity changed automatically. Their nationality will be changed to either Canadian or Swiss or Belgian.

Answer: False

After the end of the war of Algeria, most of the regiments of the Legion was moved to Provence, in the south of France.

Answer: green tie

Regulation wear of youth camp stocks were discovered in 1945 and adpoted.

Answer: True

Seargents and ranks above wear a black képi with a red top. Full corporals with ten or more years' service also wear the black képi. All the ranks can be distinguished by changes in the képi except for legionnaires and caporaux. The képi is not worn during exercises or on active working engagements.