The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zouave

ZOUAVE, zoo-äv, a soldier in the French army. Zouaves were organized in 1831 and were originally mercenaries belonging to a Kabyle tribe. The Zouaves in the pay of the dey of Algiers were, when Algeria became a French possession, incorporated with the French army there, preserving their Arab dress. Ultimately the native element was eliminatcd, and the Zouaves became French soldiers in the picturesque Arab costume. As such they distinguished themselves in the Crimea, which was their first European service, and the Franco-Italian War of 1859. There were several regiments of Zouaves among the volunteer Federal troops in the American Civil War, so-called because of their wearing an adaptation of the costume of the French Zouaves. The Papal or Pontifical Zouaves were recruited from French soldiers at Rome in 1860 and under General Lamoricière, a former commander in Algeria, defended the temporal sovereignty of the Pope. They were unsuccessful against the Italian troops at Rome in 1870, and after serving in France against the Germans and the Commune they were disbanded in 1871.