The word legion admits two uses, on the one hand, understanding a group of people in a specific space, and on the other, being the most used, the one that designates the various military bodies that have existed throughout history. Among them: Roman Legion, Spanish Legion, Foreign Legion and French Foreign Legion.
Military body
The spanish legion It is a military force of the light infantry type, specialized in rapid action; was created by Royal Decree on January 28, 1920, when he was minister of war Jose Villalbameanwhile, it would be the Infantry Colonel José Millán-Astray Terreros, who would give it its mystique and uniqueness.
For its part, the French foreign legion It is an elite unit corresponding to the French army, which has been active since the March 10, 1831, specialized in light-protected infantry; It was created as a unit for foreign volunteers, hence the denomination, since the recruitment of foreigners in the French Army was prohibited after the revolution of the year 1830.
Its reason for being was to protect and extend the French colonial empire during the 19th century, although it also participated in almost all the country's wars with other European powers. Among his colleagues he has stood out for his ability and the strong spirit of his members.
And the roman legion It was the military infantry unit of the Ancient Rome; it would start with around 4,200 men and would rise to 6,000 soldiers later.
The Roman legions were undoubtedly pioneers and one of the most important in the history of antiquity and were also the model for others that would emerge later.
At first they were made up of citizens with exclusively patrician origin and after some reforms, the economically well-off commoners were also allowed to enter. In this way the commoner population would be divided among those with money who could join the legion and of course those who without resources could not do so.
At the same time, the Roman legions were internally divided, meanwhile, when another reform decided the entry of foreigners, it was the beginning of their end until they disappeared.
Legion of Honor: order of merit created in France by Napoleon in the 19th century and with which French or foreign personalities who contribute in some area with their action are distinguished
On the other hand, the Legion of Honor, is a very popular order of merit, created in France, at the request of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1804, with the mission of decorating, distinguishing, those men and women who had developed some transcendent action or activity in the civil, military plane, while, then, with the passage of time, the causes of recognition were expanded and thus the French Legion of Honor has also reached athletes, musicians, actors, among other characters from French or foreign public life.
In other words, it is not necessarily nor only given to French citizens, foreign people who are worth it for the contribution they have made in some field can also receive this great distinction.
In the aforementioned, admission is as a Knight, being the Grand Master the most relevant distinction, which corresponds to the President of France, at this time François Hollande.
Indeterminate and large number of people
But the aforementioned is not the only use, as we indicated, since we find another that says that legion is also the indeterminate and numerous number of people or things that exist or are found in a certain space or place. “Ricky Martin has a legion of fans in Mexico who follow him from the first day he arrives in the country until he leaves. A legion of flies did not let us enjoy the picnic.”
In other words, this last use would be a synonym for crowd, crowd, or mass. When we want to indicate that in some place or event there is a fantastic number of people or something, we can apply this word that refers to abundance. The crowds of people in demonstrations or events, or in any other situation well deserve the qualification of legion.
