France after Napoleon’s defeat was a boiling pot of instability. King Charles X took over, only to be overthrown due to his repressive governing style. King  Louis-Philippe I took over under less than ideal circumstances: as a result of the recent revolutions the capital was bimming with potentially subversive foreigners: Germans, Czechs, Poles — you name it. At the same time, France was fighting a costly war in Algeria, and needed more troops. Louis-Phillipe’s genius was in using one problem to solve the other.

On this day, March 10, in 1831,  Louis-Philippe established the French Foreign Legion – a subset of the regular army open to foreign-born residents only. The Legion was designated to support the war in Algeria.

Phillippe eliminated most of the barriers to enlistment. No background checks were conducted — whatever name was given was accepted at face value. No questions were asked. This don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy led to an unexpected result, however, as French criminals began volunteering for the Legion to escape investigations at home.