Hohenlohe Regiment
Hohenlohe Regiment | |
---|---|
Light Infantry | |
Role | Chasseur |
Patron | Louis Aloysius, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein |
Campaigns | Spanish expedition |
Commanders | |
First Commander and Founder | Louis Aloysius, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein |
Later Commander | Pozzo di Borgo |
The Hohenlohe Regiment (Régiment de Hohenlohe) was an
History
The Hohenlohe Regiment was established on September 6, 1815. Upon its formation, it was known as Légion royale étrangère and was composed of the consolidated elements of eight foreign regiments that had been raised during the Hundred Days, but which had been disbanded following the abdication of Napoleon I.[1] While foreigners in French service had historically been grouped into specific national units (Swiss, German, Irish etc.) the newly created regiment was a mixed force. The bulk of its rank and file were however from the various German states of the period.
In February 1821, it was renamed the Régiment de Hohenlohe after its founder and then commanding officer Colonel-Prince Louis Aloysius de Hohenlohe.[2] The Hohenlohe Regiment participated in the French intervention in Spain of 1823 as part of Colonel-Prince Hohenlohe's 4th Corps of the Armée des Pyrénées. In 1829, the namesake of the regiment, Colonel Hohenlohe, died.[2]
Other than during the French intervention in Spain, the Hohenlohe Regiment's service was largely uneventful as they were primarily used as a garrison force in various provincial towns around France. This was in marked contrast to the service of the other notable foreign regiments of the era: detachments of
This relative isolation did not last for long, as the newly established
Legacy
As an infantry regiment composed of foreigners, the Hohenlohe Regiment constituted one of the forebears of the French Foreign Legion. An immediate legacy was passed onto the Foreign Legion in the form of some of the Hohenlohe Regiment's commissioned and non-commissioned officer cadre, who were credited with forming the newly raised Legion into a functional fighting force. In its original form, the Legion's 1st and 2nd Battalions were composed of veterans of the former Swiss regiments and the Hohenlohe Regiment.[4] The distinctive slow-stepping parade march of the modern Foreign Legion is reportedly traceable to that of the Hohenlohe and Swiss regiments prior to 1830.
References
- ^ British Troops in Service of France, and the Regimental System.(1855). In Ainsworth, William H. (Ed.), The New Monthly Magazine (p. 378).
- ^ ISBN 0-06-092308-3
- ^ ISBN 1-59228-768-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-3239-4.