Zouave
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Zouave was the name given to certain infantry regiments in the French army, as well as to units in other armies which imitated the dress or drill of the French zouaves.
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[edit] French Zouaves
The corps was first raised in Algeria in 1831 with one and later two battalions, and recruited solely from the Zouaoua, a tribe of Berbers, dwelling in the mountains of the Jurjura range (see Kabyles). In 1838 a third battalion was raised, and the regiment thus formed was commanded by Lamoriciere. Shortly afterwards the formation of the Tirailleurs algeriens, the Turcos, as the corps for Muslim troops, changed the enlistment for the Zouave battalions, and they became a purely French body. Three regiments had been formed by 1852, and a fourth, the Zouaves of the Imperial Guard, in 1854.
[edit] Second Empire
The Crimean War was the first service which the regiments saw outside Algeria. They subsequently saw service in the Franco-Austrian War of 1859, the Mexican Intervention (1864-66)and the Franco-Prussian War(1870). Their distinctive dress and dash made them well known outside France.
[edit] Third Republic
After 1871 the Zouaves lost their status as an elite corps of long service volunteers and became mainly comprised of conscripts from the French settlers in Algeria and Tunisia doing their compulsory military service. Shortfalls in numbers were made up by transfers from metropolitan infantry regiments in southern France. Shortly before 1914 additional battalions of Zouaves were raised in the Paris area, to create a bond between the metropolitan and North African elements of the French Army.
The four Zouave regiments of the French Army wore their traditional colorful dress during the early months of the First World War. The development of the machine gun, rapid fire artillery and improved small arms obliged them to adopt a plain khaki uniform from 1915 on. Between the wars the "oriental dress" of red fez ("chechia"), blue sash, braided blue jackets with waistcoats and voluminous red trousers was still seen as off-duty dress for re-enlisted NCOs and other long service regulars in the Zouave regiments. White trousers of the same style had earlier been worn as an item of hot weather dress. The four regiments were distinguished by the colours (red, blue, white and yellow)of the "tombeaus" or false pockets on the front of their open fronted jackets
The Zouaves played a major role in the 1914-18 War with their numbers being expanded to nine regiments de marche. These units retained much of their traditional panache, especially in the attack. during World War I. They were however less conspicuous in World War II, seeing service mainly during the opening stages of the War (1940) and in the course of the liberation of France (1944).
[edit] Post 1945
As predominantly conscript units the Zouaves did not serve in Indo-China between 1945 and 1954. They were however employed extensively during the Algerian War, before being finally disbanded in 1962 following Algerian independence. This was inevitable since their recruitment base was the European population of Algeria, which dispersed with the ending of French rule.
The traditions of the Zouave regiments are maintained at the present time by the French Army's Commando Training School, which occasionally parades colour parties and other detachments in Zouave dress. While other branches of the old "Armee d' Afrique" have either survived or been restablished as representative units in recent years (notably the Foreign Legion, Chasseurs d' Afrique, Tirailleurs and Spahis) the French Army does not appear to have any plans to recreate one of its most distinctive and best known corps.
[edit] Papal Zouaves
The Papal Zouaves were formed in defence of the Papal states by Lamoriciere in 1860. The Zuavi Pontifici were mainly young men, unmarried and of course Roman Catholic, who volunteered to assist Pope Pius IX in his struggle against the Italian Risorgimento. They formed quite an international regiment, coming from Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Bavaria and even Canada. After the occupation of Rome by Victor Emmanuel in 1870, the Papal Zouaves served the government of National Defence in France during the Franco-Prussian War, and were disbanded after the entrance of German troops into Paris. They wore a similar style of uniform to that of the French Zouaves but in grey with red trim. A grey and red kepi was substituted for the North African fez, which would not have been considered appropriate for Papal troops.
[edit] American Zouaves
Numerous Zouave regiments were organized from American soldiers who adopted the name and the North African inspired uniforms during the American Civil War. The Union army had Zouave regiments throughout the conflict, while the Confederates fielded only a handful of Zouave units. Arguably the most famous Union Zouave regiments were from New York: the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, "Duryee's Zouaves" (after its first colonel, Abram Duryee), and the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, "Fire Zouaves". The 11th New York was initially led by Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, until his death in 1861. The regiment was badly mauled during the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The 5th New York was considered one of the elite units of the Army of the Potomac and was only one of two volunteer regiments brigaded with the regular division commanded by George Sykes. At the Second Battle of Bull Run, the 5th New York, along with another Zouave regiment, the 10th New York "National Zouaves", held off the flanking attack of James Longstreet's Corps for ten crucial minutes before it was overrun. The 5th New York thus suffered the highest percentage of casualties in the shortest amount of time of any unit in the Civil War (of 525 men, approximately 120 were killed and 330 were wounded in less than 10 minutes). From 1863 onward, Zouave uniforms were often used to reward Union army regiments for exceptional battlefield performance. Zouaves gradually vanished from the U.S. military in the 1870s and 1880s, as the militia system slowly transformed into the National Guard.
The Zouave uniform was sometimes quite elaborate, to the extent of being unwieldy. Some Zouave regiments wore a fez with a colored tassel (usually yellow, blue, green, or red) and turban, a tight fitting short jacket (some without buttons), a wide ten-foot long sash, baggy pantaloons or "chasseur" trousers, white leggings, and a short leather cuff for the calf, called jambieres. The sash was especially difficult to put on, often requiring the help of another Zouave. The Zouave uniform was better suited for warm climates and rough terrain. The loose pantaloons allowed for greater freedom of movement than trousers, while the short jacket was much cooler than the long wool blouse worn by most armies of the time. One of the reasons for the smaller number of Zouave units in the U.S. and Europe was the expense of the specialized uniform over that of mass-produced uniforms of a single color and cut.
[edit] Zouave Influence
Features of the zouave dress were widely copied by the colonial units of various European armies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These included African regiments raised by Portugal, Britain, Spain and Italy, as well as West Indian troops in the British service. Amongst the French North African forces the Spahis (Algerian cavalry with French officers) and the Turcos (Algerian infantry) were both dressed in the same style as the Zouaves but with different colours.
Between 1880 and 1893 the Turkish Imperial Guard included two Zouave regiments. The Abdul Hamid II Collection in the US Library of Congress has a number of photographs of these soldiers. They wore a uniform similar to that of the French Zouaves but with green turbans and less widely cut red breechs.
During Polish January Uprising in 1863, French officer who served previously in the Zouave regiment, F. de Rochebrun set up Polish "Death Zouave" territorial regiment. Members of this regiment swore "to conquer or to die", not to surrender.
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia still have zouave-style dress uniforms for their ceremonial guard units, and American Civil War reenactments often feature zouave units.
[edit] Zouave in Current Culture Use
The French expression "Faire le zouave" can be translated roughly as "to play the giddy goat". It is a long established term, dating back to the nineteenth century, and appears to reflect the popular image of the French zouaves as devil-may-care risk takers.
In imitation of the abusive verbal style favoured by the cartoon character Capitaine Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin, "zouave" is occasionally used as an modern insult in both French (France) and French-Canadian cultures.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Smith, Robin. American Civil War Zouaves. London: Osprey Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-85532-571-3
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] External links
- Van Gogh portrait of a Zouave soldier
- Emmanuel Fremiet Bronze Sculpture of an 1855 Zouave Soldierde:Zuaven
es:Zuavo eo:Zuavo fr:Zouaves nl:Zouaaf pl:Żuawi pt:Zouaves ro:Zuav
