Batalha de Palestro, Os Zuavos Franceses com Vittorio Emanuele II Contra os Austríacos, Palestro, Itália (Battaglia di Palestro: Gli Zuavi Francesi con Vittorio Emanuele II Re di Sardegna Battono gli Austriaci) - Luigi Norfini
Palestro - Itália
Palazzo del Quirinale Roma
OST - 1863
Os zuavos eram soldados de Infantaria da Argélia e de outros
territórios árabes, ao serviço do Exército Francês,
nos séculos XIX e XX. O Exército Francês ainda mantém unidades, designadas
honorificamente, de "zuavos".
Zuaves foram unidades de tropas coloniais sob
o comando francês, ativas especialmente durante o século XIX, compostas principalmente de argelinos e outros árabes do Norte de África.
The Zouaves (French pronunciation: [zwav]) were a class of light infantry regiments of the
French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French
North Africa, as well as some units of other countries modelled upon
them. The zouaves, along with the indigenous Tirailleurs
Algeriens, were among the most decorated units of the French Army.
It was initially intended in 1830 that the
zouaves be a regiment of Berber volunteers
from the Zwawa group of tribes
in Algeria—thus the French term zouave—who had
gained a martial reputation fighting for local rulers under the Ottoman Empire. The
regiment was to consist of sixteen hundred Zwawa Berbers, French NCOs and
French officers. Five hundred Zwawa were recruited in August and September, but
to raise numbers to the desired sixteen hundred, it was decided that the pool
of recruits should be expanded to volunteers of any ethnicity, so the first
zouave regiment was a mixture of Berber, Arab, European and black volunteers.
Twelve years later, zouaves began to be recruited almost exclusively from
Europeans, a policy which continued until the final dissolution of these
regiments after the independence
of Algeria.
In the 1860s, new units in several other
countries called themselves "Zouaves". The Papal Zouaves were
organized by General de La Moricière, a former commander of
North African zouaves, while a former zouave sergeant, François
Rochebrune, organized the Polish "Zouaves of Death" who
fought against Russia in 1863-64. In the 1870s, former Papal zouaves formed the
cadre for a short-lived Spanish zouave unit. The "zouave" title was
also used by Brazilian units
of black volunteers in the Paraguayan War, possibly
due to a perceived link with Africa.
In the United States, zouaves were brought to
public attention by Elmer
E. Ellsworth, who ran a drill company called the "Zouave
Cadets". The drill company toured nationally. "Zouave" units
were then raised on both sides of the American
Civil War of 1861–65, including a regiment under Ellsworth's
command, the New
York "Fire Zouaves".
The distinctive uniforms of zouave units
tended to include short open-fronted jackets, baggy trousers (serouel), sashes
and oriental head gear.
