Las milicias de voluntarios franceses en el Río de la Plata. Tradiciones bélicas, politización y diplomacia informal en tiempos de crisis (1829-1851)

The article analyzes the role played in the Rio de la Plata by the militias of foreign residents between 1829 and 1851, stopping especially in the bodies of French volunteers. I argue that these militia and legions in port cities such as Buenos Aires and Montevideo generated a transnational space, where different legal traditions and political cultures were combined, which allowed resident foreigners to exercise an “overseas citizenship”.  This militia experience not only made possible the self-defense of foreigners, but also became a politico-diplomatic channel of representation of their interests, in competition with the official French agents.