The British Legion or British Legions were foreign volunteer units that fought under Simón Bolívar against Spain for the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. The Venezuelans called them the Albion Legion. They were composed of over seven thousand volunteers, mainly Napoleonic War veterans from Great Britain and Ireland, as well as some German veterans and some locals recruited after arriving in South America. Volunteers in the British Legion were motivated by a combination of both genuine political and mercenary motives.
Their greatest achievements were at Boyacá (1819), Carabobo (1821), and Pichincha (1822), which secured independence for Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and during the last great campaign, culminating in the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru (1824), which destroyed Spanish rule in South America forever. The British Legions fought until the end of the wars, their number much depleted.
Read more about British Legions: Background, Motivation
Famous quotes containing the words british and/or legions:
“However British you may be, I am more British still.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“By now, legions of tireless essayists and op-ed columnists have dressed feminists down for making such a fuss about entering the professions and earning equal pay that everyone’s attention has been distracted from the important contributions of mothers working at home. This judgment presumes, of course, that prior to the resurgence of feminism in the ‘70s, housewives and mothers enjoyed wide recognition and honor. This was not exactly the case.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)