Institution

Zouaves

1830–1962 · 19th century

The Zouaves were light infantry regiments of the French Army, first raised in Algeria in 1830 and named after the Zwawa, a Kabyle tribal confederation that supplied the earliest recruits. Later recruited mainly from European settlers and Frenchmen, they were famed for their baggy trousers, short jackets and fezzes. The name and uniform were copied by other forces, including the Papal Zouaves who defended Rome in the 1860s.

Zouaves
Image: Paul Louis Narcisse Grolleron; cropped by Beyond My Ken 23:35, 26 July 2018 (UTC) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 profiles

French AlgeriaMilitaryPapal StatesMilitary

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Zouaves. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zouaves
MLA
“Zouaves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zouaves. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Zouaves.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zouaves.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Zouaves’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/zouaves (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻