I am about halfway through the amazing new Bernard Cornwall non-fiction book, “WATERLOO; The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles.” Prior to readig it I had not known that the British Army fielded unit of expatriate German personnel, The King’s German Legion (KGL). They fought with distinction during the Peninsular Campaign and distinguished themselves at Waterloo with a herioc stand at the farmhouse at La Haye Sainte. So foreign legion can work, at least when they are German.
Uh, that didn't work out so well for the Hessian mercenaries working for an earlier King of England...