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. Since the Napoleonic Wars, many countries have used the term "legionnaire" to refer to recruits who are neither citizens nor imperial subjects of the government whose military they enter.[1] These governments often, but do not always, group these foreign recruits into specific units that bear the name "legion."