Garibaldi Legion (Foreign Legion)
unit of the French Foreign Legion during World War I
The Garibaldi Legion (French: Légion Garibaldienne) or officially the 4th Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment (French: 4e régiment de marche du 1er étranger, 4eR.M. 1erR.E) was a unit of the Foreign Legion in the French Army which formed the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion composed entirely of Italian citizens, who fought in France in World War I against the Germans and existing ephemerally from the end of 1914 to 1915. After having distinguished themselves at Argonne (Bois de Balante) in December 1914, the regiment was finally dissolved on May 5, 1915, due to Italy's entry in the war and the departure of the majority of the regiment back to their country of origin.
Today the Legion in Italy is an association of veterans and people who share the ideals of the Republic Garibaldi.
Creation and different nominations
On November 5, 1914: the 4th Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment (French: 4e régiment de marche du 1er étranger, 4e R.M. 1erR.E) was created.
On March 5, 1915: dissolution of the regiment.
History
With the outbreak of World War I in the fall of 1914, Giuseppe Garibaldi II (also known as Peppino Garibaldi) and his four brothers went to England to offer their services. The English refused, so Peppino went to Paris and agreed to accept an Italian unit. With French permission he created the Garibaldi Legion to fight for France. It was enthusiastically joined by members of the Italian Youth Republican Legion, veterans of previous campaigns, Greece and South Africa, Mazzini and trade unionists also joined. Instead of joining the French Army the Paris government insisted that the Garibaldi unit join the French Foreign Legion.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Garibaldi Legion (Foreign Legion)” as unit of the French Foreign Legion during World War I. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as unit of the French Foreign Legion during World War I. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2817058. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914 and 1915.
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This entry incorporates text from “Garibaldi Legion (Foreign Legion)” 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.