CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

1st Foreign Regiment (France)

military unit

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ2576634
Source-derived summary

The 1st Foreign Regiment (French: 1er Régiment étranger, 1er RE) is a depot regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. It is located at Aubagne.

The regiment is also responsible for running special institutions of the Legion. These include the magazine Képi Blanc, the Legion's Athletics Team (ATHLEG), the Legion Military Band, the Legion Museum and numerous other Legion initiatives.

History

Royal Foreign Legion

Under the first restoration, the Bourbons only retained the Swiss foreign soldiers, as a mark of their loyal service rendered to France during four centuries, and with them also, four foreign regiments out of which one colonial, formed of Spanish and Portuguese. The eight reorganized foreign regiments by Napoleon at the Hundred Days formed in 1815 the Royal Foreign Legion, which became the Hohenlohe Legion, then in 1821 the Hohenlohe Regiment. Licensed in 1830, the latter contributed to form the twenty first light, then the French Foreign Legion. The Swiss regiments of the restoration disappeared in 1830, nevertheless, the Swiss were reincorporated again in the French Army from 1855 to 1859 under the successive denomination of 2nd Foreign Legion (French: La Deuxième Légion Etrangère) and 1st Foreign Regiment (French: 1er Régiment Etranger).

Creation and different nominations

On April 1, 1841 : creation of the 1st Foreign Regiment.

1859 : merged with the 2nd Foreign Regiment and became the Foreign Regiment.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “1st Foreign Regiment (France)” as military unit. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Foreign, Regiment and France.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1815, 1821, 1830, 1855—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1841. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Foreign, Regiment and France providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “1st Foreign Regiment (France)”, the useful work is to connect “military unit” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2576634. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1815, 1821, 1830 and 1855.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “1st Foreign Regiment (France)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 1st Foreign Regiment (France) primary sources, 1st Foreign Regiment (France) archive and Foreign research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1st Foreign Regiment (France)”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from 1st Foreign Regiment (France)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.