2-914-010 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Zouaves, 1854. North African soldiers in the French army during the Crimean War. 'The enemy were getting up all their strength for a final effort, when Canrobert came up with three regiments of Zouaves, five regiments of French infantry, and a strong force of artillery, and commenced a terrible attack on the enemy's right flank...What are Zouaves?...a paragraph is going the round of the press which states that they are natives of the French provinces of Algiers, disciplined and exercised by French officers; and hold exactly the same relation to the French army that the Sepoys in India have to the regular British troops. Others speak of them as having been recruited from Les Classes Dangereuses of Paris, and propose that similar regiments should be formed out of our convicted poachers and ticket-of leave men'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.