In European warfare, the hiring of mercenaries was common practice even before the establishment of the nation state. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, foreigners fought to further political ends. But by the beginning of the twentieth century, foreign mercenaries had disappeared from European armies. In World War II, ideological mercenaries would fight for Nazi Germany.

To understand more fully the reasons why hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals should fight for Nazi Germany, it is necessary to provide a brief background to the rise of Germany prior to the twentieth century, and the employment of foreign nationals in European armies.

Mercenaries in European history

Modern readers, especially those from the United States and Britain (countries whose borders have remained fixed for 200 and 300 years respectively), might view the foreign nationals who fought for the Nazis with particular disdain for two reasons. First, because they fought to preserve one of the most murderous regimes in modern history. Second, because they were mercenaries, a type of soldier often associated with lawlessness and atrocities. However, though the first reason has some merit, foreign mercenaries have been a part of warfare throughout history and have not all been marauding bands of outlaws. In ancient times, for example, Greek mercenaries served the Persian Empire. And it was not unusual for a ruling power to hire mercenaries during the Middle Ages. Barbarossa (died 1546), for instance, was a Barbary pirate and later admiral of the Ottoman fleet whose efforts resulted in Algeria and Tunisia becoming part of the Ottoman Empire. For his own protection he created a bodyguard of renegade Europeans that formed the nucleus of a professional army, owing its loyalty and support to him alone. Between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries, the Varangian Guard of Viking mercenaries served the Byzantine emperors.

The early modern era

In the fourteenth century, Genoese crossbowmen fought in many European armies, while Flemish "hand-gonne" men in the fifteenth century were highly sought after. In Germany during the same period, Landsknecht mercenaries imitated the tactics of the mercenary Swiss pikemen, the latter being the most highly prized professional soldiers in Europe (though apt to mutiny or to changing sides if their pay was not forthcoming). Some 200 years later, Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army in England relied on the expertise of German artillerymen. The hiring of mercenaries was thus a common, if rather expensive, practice of European warfare. And in the eighteenth century the military use of foreign nationals developed further.

Many European states employed foreign professionals in permanent regiments. They found their manpower from such countries as diverse as Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. The "Wild Geese", the young men of Ireland who left their native land to serve in the armies of Europe, fought for France (in the Irish Brigade), Spain, Austria and Russia.

The early nineteenth century saw the term "legion" applied to many detachments of émigré patriots, notable among them being Napoleon's Polish Vistula Legion and the King's German Legion (in 1803 the French occupied Hanover and disbanded the Hanoverian Army; thereafter, many Hanoverian soldiers made their way to England and were formed into the King's German Legion, the king being George III). Some members of these units were seeking to free their homelands from foreign occupation; others fought purely for profit. Today, the surviving legions are the French Foreign Legion, with its romantic overtones, and the Spanish Legion, which actually stopped recruiting foreigners in 1987. In addition, there is the Swiss Guard of the Vatican, which has the honour of guarding the Pope. In the British Army, the Gurkhas on occasion stand guard at Buckingham Palace, the seat of the British monarchy. Thus, it can be seen that the use of foreign nationals is part of the European military tradition. In this, the Third Reich was no different from other regimes throughout history. But what about individual motives for fighting for Nazism?

Patriotism and nationalism

By 1914 foreign legions had largely disappeared from the armies of the main European powers. They may have deployed colonial units, but the concepts of patriotism and nationalism had made them out-moded (it could be argued, though, that the armed forces of the polyglot Hapsburg Empire were nothing more than a collection of foreigners). The four years of bloodshed that took place in Europe between 1914 and 1918 brought about the defeat of Germany, the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the end of Romanov rule in Russia.

Nineteenth century imperial-style nationalism had been discredited. However, in its place would emerge an ideology that would transcend national boundaries to appeal to racial brethren to unite in a common cause. That ideology was National Socialism, and the appeal was to unite the Aryan race in a fight to the death against ideological foes and "race polluters" who threatened Western civilization. It would be a call that would be answered by hundreds of thousands of non-Germans.