The Armenian Legionnaires: Fighting with the Allies in World War I

Varak Ketsemanian

In the chaos of World War I, a group of Armenian volunteers who had defied death during the 1915 genocide joined the French Foreign Legion, hoping their contributions to the Allied forces against the Ottoman Turks would help reclaim their lost homeland.

Their heroic  journey is a powerful testament to courage, resistance and sacrifice to keep the vision of a free Armenia alive. However, it is also a haunting reminder of how the hopes and dreams of Armenians are often compromised by the geopolitical ambitions of greater powers.  Yet, a century later, their story still inspires, highlighting the loyalty of Armenians around the globe to fight for a greater cause.

Originally published Septiembre 2025.

About the speaker

Head shot Varak Ketsemanian
Head shot Varak Ketsemanian

Varak Ketsemanian

Varak Ketsemanian is an Assistant Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History in the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut. Before joining AUB, Ketsemanian taught at Princeton University and the American University of Armenia. His  articles have appeared in the Journal of Ottoman and Turkish Association, Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi, International Journal of Middle East Studies, and Archival Science among other chapters in edited volumes. His book (co-edited with Emre Can Dağlıoğlu) Memoirs of Boghos Shadigian (1874-1951): A Revolutionary from Baku to Marseille is forthcoming with Michigan State University Press. He is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including Princeton University’s Near Eastern Studies Department Prize for Outstanding Dissertation, Fulbright, the Donald and Mary Hyde Fellowship, and the Gulbenkian Fellowship for Armenian Studies among others. Ketsemanian is currently working on his monograph titled Between the Law and The Gun: Armenian Constitutionalism and Revolutionism in the Late Ottoman Empire. 

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