Redirected from 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 natives, changed the enlistment for the Zouave battalions, and they became, as they now remain, a purely French body. Three regiments were formed in 1852, and a fourth, the Zouaves of the Imperial Guard, in 1854. The Crimean War was the first service which the regiments saw outside Algeria.
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