The conquest of Algeria in 1830, as well as the later annexation of Tunisia and Morocco, led to the emergence of new and unusual military formations in France. The most famous of these are undoubtedly the zouave. However, there were other exotic combat units in the French army: tyrallers, spahis and gumiers. And on March 9, 1831, King Louis-Philippe signed a decree on the formation of the famous Foreign Legion, whose units are still part of the French army. In this article we will talk specifically about the Zouaves, in the following we will talk about the rest.
First Zouaves
As we remember from the article "The Defeat of the Pirate States of the Maghreb", on July 5, 1830, the last dei of Algeria, Hussein Pasha, surrendered to the French army that was besieging his capital and left the country.
A little more than a month later (August 15, 1830), 500 mercenaries sided with the French - zwawa from the Berber tribe of Kabil, who served Hussein for money and did not see anything wrong with the fact that not devout Muslims would pay them now, but Giaur-Franks … According to one version, it was the name of this tribe that gave the name to the new military units.
According to another, less probable version, the name “Zouaves” derives from the local abodes of Sufi dervishes, whose influence in the Maghreb was very great at that time.
The French accepted the Kabyles with joy, since the territory of Algeria was huge and there were not enough troops to fully control the cities and ports. These first "soldiers of fortune" were soon joined by others. By the beginning of autumn 1830, two battalions of Zouaves, numbering 700 men, had been formed.
The French military command did not completely trust them, and therefore decided to add ethnic French to the "natives", making the Zouave formations mixed. In 1833, the first two battalions of the Zouaves were disbanded, and a mixed battalion was created in their place. In addition to the Arabs and Berbers, it included Algerian Jews, volunteers from the Metropolis and the French who decided to move to Algeria (the Arabs called them "black-footed" - by the color of the boots they wore, they also began to be called in France).
A little distracted, nevertheless, we note that later immigrants from other European countries began to be referred to as "black-footed": Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Malta. All of them became French over time and did not separate themselves from immigrants from France. Moreover, a certain number of Russians turned out to be among the "black-footed". The first were the servicemen of the Russian Expeditionary Force, who after the revolution refused to join the Foreign Legion and were exiled to North Africa. Most of them returned to Russia in 1920, but some remained in Algeria. There was also a second wave: in 1922, ships with White Guards evacuated from Crimea arrived in Bizerte (Tunisia). Some of them also settled in Tunisia and Algeria.
Let's go back to the Zouaves. In 1835 the second mixed battalion was formed, in 1837 - the third.
How the Zouaves became French
However, the mentality of the Berbers and the French was too different (not to mention their different religions), so in 1841 the Zouave compounds became completely French. The Arabs and Berbers who served in the Zouave formations were transferred to the new military units of the "Algerian Riflemen" (tyrallers; they will be discussed later).
How did the French end up in the Zouaves? The same as in other military units. There were two ways here: either a 20-year-old young man was unlucky at the draw, and he went to the army for 7 years. Or he went to serve as a volunteer - for two years.
However, young men from rich and well-to-do families did not want to join the army as rank and file and, as a rule, put in their place a “deputy” - a person who went to serve for them for a fee. In the battalions of the Zouaves, almost all privates and many corporals were "deputies". According to contemporaries, these were not the best representatives of the French nation, there were many lumpen and outright criminals, it is not surprising that discipline in these first battalions was at a low level, drunkenness was commonplace, and these soldiers did not disdain to rob the local population.
F. Engels wrote this about the Zouaves:
“They are not easy to deal with, but if trained they make excellent soldiers. It takes a very strict discipline to keep them in check, and their notions of order and subordination are often very bizarre. The regiment, in which there are many of them, is not very suitable for garrison service and can cause many difficulties. Therefore, we came to the conclusion that the most suitable place for them is in front of the enemy."
However, over time, the qualitative composition of the Zouaves changed greatly, their units turned into elite units of the French army. Soldiers of other regiments wishing to join the battalion of the Zouaves could do so only after two years of blameless service.
In 1852, there were three regiments of Zouaves in Algeria, which were stationed in the largest cities of this country: in Algeria, Oran and Constantine.
In 1907, there were already four such regiments.
In total, 31 battalions of Zouaves were created, of which 8 were formed in Paris and Lyon.
Vivandiere. "Fighting friends"
In the formations of the Zouaves (as well as in other French military units) there were women who were called Vivandiere ("vivandier" - waitresses). Among them were concubines of soldiers and sergeants, and there were also prostitutes, who were also laundresses, cooks, and during the hostilities and nurses. The ethnic composition of Vivandiere was motley: French women, Algerian Jews, even local natives. In 1818, waitresses in the French army received official status, each of them was issued a saber, and sometimes in the most desperate situations they took part in hostilities.
It must be said that among the Zouaves, Vivandiere were highly respected, and even the most "anxious" and "frostbitten" males did not risk offending not only the official friends of their colleagues, but also the "ownerless" (regimental) waitresses. In relations with them, everything had to be honest and by mutual agreement. In the formations of the Zouaves, Vivandiere disappeared only shortly before World War II.
Zouaves military uniform
The Zouaves had an unusual shape that made them look like Turkish janissaries. Instead of a uniform, they had a short woolen jacket in dark blue, embroidered with red woolen braid, under which they put on a vest with five buttons. In the summer they wore short white trousers, in winter - long red ones, made of a denser fabric. They had leggings on their feet, on which buttons and boots were sometimes sewn as decoration. As a headdress, the Zouaves used a red fez with a blue tassel ("sheshia"), which was sometimes wrapped in green or blue cloth. The fez of officers and sergeants could be distinguished by the golden thread woven into it.
By the way, in the middle of the 19th century, the so-called Zouave jackets came into fashion among women, look at one of them:
But we digress a little, back to the Zouaves. On the right side of the jacket, they wore a copper badge - a crescent moon with a star, to which a chain with a needle was attached to clean the seed hole of the musket.
All Zouaves wore beards (although the charter did not require this), the length of the beard served as a kind of indicator of seniority.
In 1915, the shape of the Zouaves underwent significant changes: they were dressed in uniforms of mustard color or khaki color, as the decals remained the fez and the blue woolen belt. At the same time, the Zouaves were given metal helmets.
Vivandiere also had its own military uniform: red harem pants, leggings, blue jackets with red trim, blue skirts and red fez with blue tassels.
The battle path of the Zouaves
The first big war for the French Zouaves was the famous Crimean War (1853-1856).
At that time, their formations were already considered elite and very combat-ready, but it soon became clear that it was against them that the Russians were fighting especially stubbornly. It turned out that the Russians, dressed in exotic "Eastern" uniforms, were mistaken for Turks, whose military reputation at that time was already extremely low. And the Russians were simply ashamed to retreat before the "Turks".
Nevertheless, the Zouaves fought skillfully and with dignity. In the Battle of Alma, the soldiers of the First Battalion of the Third Zouave Regiment, climbing the steep cliffs, were able to bypass the positions of the left flank of the Russian army.
Malakhov kurgan was stormed by seven regiments, three of which were Zuavs. Even the body of the French Marshal Saint-Arno, who died of cholera, was entrusted to accompany the company of Zouaves.
After the Crimean War, Napoleon III ordered the formation of an additional regiment of Zouaves, which became part of the Imperial Guard.
In 1859, the Zouaves fought in Italy against the Austrian troops and suppressed the uprising in the Kabylia region (Northern Algeria). During the Italian War, the Second Zouave Regiment captured the banner of the 9th Austrian Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Medzent. For this he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor, and the reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) Victor Emmanuel II became his honorary corporal.
In 1861-1864. The Second and Third Regiments of the Zouaves fought in Mexico, where French troops supported Archduke Maximilian (brother of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph): as a result of that campaign, the Third Regiment was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
And other units of the Zouaves fought in Morocco at the same time.
In July 1870, the Zouave regiments (including the Guards regiments) took part in hostilities during the Franco-Prussian War, which ended in France with a heavy defeat and the collapse of the monarchy.
The new republican authorities disbanded the Zouave Guards Regiment (like all other imperial guards units), but then re-formed it as an army regiment. When the Bey of Tunisia signed a treaty recognizing the French protectorate in 1881, the Fourth Zouave Regiment was stationed in that country.
The history of the Zouaves continued: in 1872, four regiments of the Zouaves fought against the rebels in Algeria and Tunisia, in 1880 and in 1890. - "pacified" Morocco. In 1907-1912. units of the Zouaves again participated in hostilities in Morocco, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Fez in 1912 with this country (recognition by the Sultan of the French protectorate). At the same time, eight battalions of Zouaves were stationed in Morocco.
At the end of the 19th century, the Zouaves also ended up in Vietnam, where a battalion of the Third Regiment was sent. The other two battalions took part in the fighting during the Franco-Chinese War (August 1884 - April 1885). And in 1900-1901. the Zouaves were part of the French contingent during the suppression of the Ichtuan uprising.
After the outbreak of the First World War, in December 1914 and January 1915, in addition to the existing Zouave regiments in Algeria, the Seventh Regiment, the Second-bis and the Third-bis (based on the reserve battalions of the Second and Third Regiments) were formed, in Morocco - Eighth and Ninth Regiments.
Several battalions of Zouaves were formed during the war from Alsatian and Lorraine defectors.
The Zouaves were then famous for their desperate bravery and earned a reputation as "thugs" - both in the French army and among German soldiers. In the course of hostilities, all the Zouave regiments received the Order of the Legion of Honor and "records on the standards."
The indigenous inhabitants of the Maghreb also took part in the First World War - about 170 thousand Arabs and Berbers. Of these, 25 thousand Algerians, 9800 Tunisians and 12 thousand Moroccans were killed. In addition, up to 140 thousand people from North Africa worked at that time in French factories and farms, thus becoming the first mass labor migrants.
You have probably heard about the "Miracle on the Marne" and the transfer of French troops to combat positions in Parisian taxis (600 vehicles were involved).
So, first two regiments of Tunisian Zouaves were delivered to the front, and then part of the soldiers of the Moroccan division, which included units of the Zouaves, the Foreign Legion and Moroccan tyraliers (about legionnaires and tyraliers, as well as spags and gumiers, will be discussed in the following articles).
Interventions
In December 1918, the Zouaves (as interventionists) ended up in Odessa and left it only in April 1919. How they behaved there can be guessed from a statement made by the commander of the French troops in the east, General Franchet d'Espere, on the very first day after the landing:
“I ask the officers not to be shy with the Russians. We must act decisively with these barbarians, and therefore, just a little, shoot them, starting with the peasants and ending with their highest representatives. I take responsibility for myself."
However, representatives of other "enlightened nations" (Serbs, Poles, Greeks, and Senegalese tyrallers "showed up" as Frenchmen) behaved no better in Odessa: it is estimated that 38 436 people were killed in the city of 700,000 in 4 months, 16 386 were wounded, 1,048 women were raped, 45 800 people were arrested and subjected to corporal punishment.
Despite this harshness, the intervention authorities demonstrated a complete inability to establish basic order in the city. It was with them that the "star" of the well-romanticized Moishe-Yankel Meer-Volfovich Vinnitsky - Mishka Yaponchik ("Odessa Stories", in which Yaponchik became the prototype of the bandit Benny Krik), rose up.
It got to the point that Yaponchik's bandits robbed a Romanian gaming club in broad daylight (the Romanians occupied Bessarabia, but preferred to have fun in the more cheerful Odessa).
In January 1919, the Governor-General of Odessa A. N. Grishin-Almazov said in an interview with the Odesskie Novosti newspaper:
"Odessa in our crazy time has had an exceptional share - to become a refuge for all the criminal banners and ringleaders of the underworld who fled from Yekaterinoslav, Kiev, Kharkov."
Mishka Yaponchik then wrote him an ultimatum letter, which said:
“We are not Bolsheviks or Ukrainians. We are criminal. Leave us alone, and we will not fight with you."
The Governor-General dared to refuse this offer, and the "offended" Yaponchik bandits attacked his car.
At the same time, Yaponchik himself was, as they say, “sissy,” Leonid Utyosov, who knew him, said about him:
“He has a brave army of well-armed Urkagans. He does not recognize wet deeds. At the sight of blood turns pale. There was a case when one of his subjects bit him on the finger. The bear screamed like a stabbed one."
An employee of the Cheka F. Fomin recalled Odessa after the invaders:
“Once a rich, noisy and crowded city lived in hiding, anxious, in constant fear. Not only in the evening, or even more so at night, but during the day, the population was afraid to take to the streets. The life of everyone here was constantly in danger. In broad daylight, unbelted thugs stopped men and women in the streets, tore off jewelry, and ransacked their pockets. Bandit raids on apartments, restaurants, theaters have become commonplace."
About Mishka Yaponchik Fomin writes:
“Mishka Yaponchik had about 10 thousand people. He had personal protection. He appeared where and when he liked. Everywhere they feared him, and therefore they were given royal honors. He was called the "king" of Odessa thieves and robbers. He occupied the best restaurants for his revelry, paid generously, lived in grand style."
A separate article can be written about the not at all romantic adventures of this criminal. But we will not be distracted and we will only say that the Chekists quickly managed to stop this "chaos", Yaponchik himself was arrested in July 1919 and shot by the head of the Voznesensky combat area, NI Ursulov.
The Zouaves also visited Siberia: on August 4, 1918, the Siberian Colonial Battalion was formed in the Chinese city of Taku, which, along with other parts of the colonial regiments, included the 5th Company of the Third Zouave Regiment. There is information that this battalion took part in the offensive against the positions of the Red Army near Ufa. Further in Ufa and Chelyabinsk, he carried out garrison service, guarded railway tracks, accompanied the trains. The Siberian adventures of the Zouaves ended on February 14, 1920 - with the evacuation from Vladivostok.
Rif war in Morocco
After the end of the First World War, some of the Zouaves were demobilized, and in 1920 six Zouaves remained in the French army - four "old" and two new (Eighth and Ninth). All of them took part in the so-called Rif War, which, despite the victory given at a high price, did not bring glory to the Europeans (the Spaniards and the French).
In 1921, on the territory of Morocco, the Confederate Republic of the tribes of Rif was created (Rif is the name of the mountainous region in the north of Morocco), which was headed by Abd al-Krim al-Khattabi, the son of the leader of the Berber tribe Banu Uriagel.
Back in 1919, he started a partisan war. In 1920, after the death of his father, he led the tribe, introduced universal conscription for men between the ages of 16 and 50, and eventually created a real army, which included artillery units. The uprising was supported first by the Beni-Tuzin tribe, and then by other Berber tribes (12 in total).
All this, of course, could not please the French, who controlled the bulk of the country's territory, and the Spaniards, who now owned the northern coast of Morocco with the ports of Ceuta and Melitlya, as well as the Rif Mountains.
The fighting continued until May 27, 1926, when the Moroccans were finally defeated by the French-Spanish army (numbering 250 thousand people), led by Marshal Petain. The losses of the Europeans, who used tanks, aircraft and chemical weapons against the rebels, turned out to be shocking: the Spanish army lost 18 thousand people killed, died from wounds and missing, the French - about 10 thousand. The losses of the Moroccans were almost three times lower: about 10 thousand people.
From 1927 to 1939, the First and Second Regiments of the Zouaves were in Morocco, the Third, Eighth and Ninth in Algeria, and the Fourth in Tunisia.
Unsuccessful war
After the outbreak of World War II, 9 new Zouave regiments were created: 5 were formed in France, 4 - in North Africa. This time they failed to distinguish themselves: during the hostilities, these formations suffered heavy losses, many soldiers and officers were captured. But the First, Third and Fourth Zouave regiments remaining in Africa after the Allied landing in Operation Dragoon fought in Tunisia together with the British and Americans (1942-1943 campaign), nine battalions of Zouaves in 1944-1945. together with the allies they fought in France and Germany.
Completion of the history of the French Zouaves
In 1954-1962. Zouaves again took part in hostilities in Algeria.
It should be said that Algeria was not a colony, but an overseas department of France (a full-fledged part of it), and therefore the life of ordinary Algerians could not be called very difficult and hopeless - their standard of living, of course, was lower than that of the French of the metropolis and the "black feet", but much higher than that of its neighbors. However, the nationalists preferred not to look around. On November 1, 1954, the National Liberation Front of Algeria was created. The war began, in which the French forces invariably defeated the poorly armed and organized insurgents. The French army achieved especially great success starting in February 1959: in 1960 it was already possible to speak of a military victory of the French units and the disorganization of the FLN, almost all of whose leaders were arrested or killed. However, this did not help in the least to achieve the loyalty of the local population.
The Algerian war was ended by Charles de Gaulle, who on June 1, 1958 received the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers, and on December 21, was elected president of the French Republic. Ironically, it was under him that the French army achieved the greatest success in the fight against the FLN, but the president made a firm decision to leave Algeria. This "surrender" led to an open mutiny of the military units stationed in Algeria (April 1961) and to the emergence in 1961 of the SLA (the Secret Armed Organization, or the Organization of the Secret Army, Organization de l'Armee Secrete), which began the hunt for de Gaulle (according to various sources, from 13 to 15 attempts), and on other "traitors".
We will talk about these events later in the article dedicated to the French Foreign Legion, since it was its units that played the most important role in the denouement of this story and the most famous and elite regiment of legionaries was disbanded by de Gaulle's order.
In the meantime, let's say that everything ended with the conclusion of the Evian agreements (March 18, 1962), after which, in the referendums held in France and Algeria, the majority of the population spoke in favor of the formation of an independent Algerian state. The independence of Algeria was officially proclaimed on July 5, 1962.
And then the long history of the Zouaves of the French army came to an end, the combat units of which were disbanded. Only in the French commando military school until 2006 were the flags and uniforms of the Zouaves still used.
It should be said that the French Zouaves were very popular in other countries, where attempts were made to organize their military formations according to their model. We will talk about them in a separate article. In the following articles, we will talk about the purely Maghreb formations of the French army: tyralers, spags and gumiers.
