List of military legions
This list of military legions is in chronological order where possible. In modern times, most units using the name "legion" were composed of soldiers from a specific ethnic, national, religious or ideological background, and that background is often specified in the legion's name.
Ancient Rome
- List of Roman legions
- * Theban Legion, a Roman legion whose members, according to a long-lasting tradition, were massacred for their Christian beliefs
18th century
- Western Legion and Eastern Legion, Greek rebel forces under Russian command in the Orlov Revolt
- Lee's Legion, an infantry and cavalry unit of the American Continental Army
- Armand's Legion, an American dragoon unit
- British Legion , made up of Loyalist American infantry and cavalry
- Lauzun's Legion, composite corps of the French Army comprising cavalry, infantry and artillery elements, mostly recruited from foreign mercenaries
- Pulaski's Legion, one of the few cavalry regiments in the American Continental Army, later merged into Armand's Legion
- Legion of the United States, an early United States land force commanded by Anthony Wayne
- French Revolutionary Legion of the Mississippi, a French commissioned force of Americans commanded by George Rogers Clark
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
- Légion des Allobroges, Swiss, Piedmontese, and Savoyard supporters of the French Revolution
- Batavian Legion, Dutch supporters of the French Revolution in 1793
- Belgian Legion, Liégeois Legion, and Legion of Belgians and Liégeois: Belgian volunteers fighting on the side of the Republicans in the French Revolution
- Irish Legion, a French battalion established in 1803 for a future invasion of Ireland
- King's German Legion, British units of expatriate German personnel that fought against the French during the Napoleonic Wars
- La Legion Noire, a military unit of the French Revolutionary Army
- Polish Legions, Polish units in the service of Napoleonic France
19th century
- British Legion, a British provincial regiment that served in the American Revolutionary War, 1777–1782
- British Legions, foreign volunteer units, established in 1819, who fought against Spain in South America's independence wars
Other uses
- British German Legion, a group of German soldiers recruited to fight for Britain in the Crimean War, 1855–1856
- Greek Legion, a Septinsular Republic unit active between 1805 and 1807, taking part in the War of the Third Coalition and the Russo-Turkish War
- Royal Foreign Legion, infantry corps of mostly German mercenaries forming part of the restored French Bourbon army in 1815, renamed the Hohenlohe Regiment after 1821
- British Legion, officially the Auxiliary Legion, a British military force sent to Spain to support the Liberals and Queen Isabella II against the Carlists in the First Carlist War
- Academic Legion, a revolutionary students' group in Vienna in 1848
- Academic Legion, Polish nationalist students at the University of Lviv in 1848
- Greek Volunteer Legion, helping Russia in the Crimean War
- International Legion, a military force formed by Garibaldi in 1860 during the wars of Italian unification
- * The British Legion British contingent of the above
- Nauvoo Legion, a significant militia in early Mormon history
- List of American Civil War legions, both Confederate and Union
- Guelphic Legion, Hanoverian paramilitary unit supporting George V, deposed king of Hanover, from 1866 to 1870
20th century
World War I
- Czechoslovak Legions, Czech and Slovak volunteer forces fighting on the the Allied Powers side
- French Armenian Legion, part of the French Army; also involved in the Franco-Turkish War of 1918–21
- Georgian Legion, a unit of the German Army recruited from Georgians
- Infantry Regiment of the Academic Legion, formed by volunteer Polish students in 1918, later taken into the regular Polish Army
- Italian Legione Redenta, an Italian military formation that participated in the Siberian Intervention during the Russian Civil War
- Jewish Legion, in the British Army at Gallipoli and Palestine
- Polish Legion in Finland, fighting for the Finns against the Russians
- Polish Legions in World War I, part of the Austro-Hungarian Army
- Puławy Legion, a Polish formation that was part of the Imperial Russian Army
- Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, a corps of the Austro-Hungarian Army
Interwar period
- 2nd Legions Infantry Division, elite unite of the Polish Army, mostly composed of veterans of the Polish Legions in World War I
- British Legion Volunteer Police Force, a short-lived police force established in response to the outcome of the Munich Agreement in September 1938
World War II
- Armenian or Armenische Legion, name given to the 812th Armenian Battalion of the German Army, made up largely of Armenian Red Army prisoners of war
- , made up largely of Azerbaijani Red Army prisoners of war
- Blue Legion, Spanish volunteers fighting against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front
- Condor Legion, a unit of "volunteers" from the German Luftwaffe serving with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War
- Crna Legija, the name given to the 1st and 5th Croatian Ustaše Brigades
- Croatian Legion
- Croatian Air Force Legion
- Croatian Naval Legion
- Czechoslovak Legion in Poland, 1939
- Estonian Legion, a unit in the Waffen SS created in 1942, mainly consisting of Estonian soldiers
- Flemish Legion, recruited among Dutch-speaking volunteers from German-occupied Belgium, notably from Flanders.
- , a pro-Nazi Vichy French unit
- Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism, pro-Nazi French
- Georgian Legion, a unit of the German army recruited from Georgians
- Indische Legion, also known as the Free India Legion or Tiger Legion, an Indian unit raised in 1941 and attached to the German Army
- Latvian Legion, a formation of the Waffen-SS created in 1943 and consisting primarily of ethnic Latvians
- Legion of St. George, the original name of the British Free Corps
- Ostlegionen, conscripts and volunteers from the occupied eastern territories recruited into the German Army
- La Légion Tricolore, a pro-Nazi French unit which was absorbed into the LVF after six months
- Volga Tatar Legion, one of several units formed by the Wehrmacht out of Soviet prisoners of war according to their ethnicity
- Walloon Legion, recruited among French-speaking volunteers from German-occupied Belgium.
Other
- Arab Legion , the regular army of Transjordan, predecessor of the present Jordanian Army
- Foreign legion
- * French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French Army mainly composed of foreigners wishing to fight for France
- Polish Legions, eleven units at different times between the 18th and 20th centuries
- Spanish Legion, an elite unit of the Spanish Army