Editing Zouave (section)

===Recruitment===
[[File:Prise de la Zaatcha (1849).png|thumb|left|Zouaves at the [[Battle of Zaatcha]] during the [[French conquest of Algeria|Conquest of Algeria]]]]

The zouaves of the [[French Army]] were first raised in [[French rule in Algeria|Algeria in 1831]] with one and later two battalions, initially recruited primarily from the [[Zouaoua]] (or Zwāwa),<ref name="Mollo 166">{{cite book|first=John|last=Mollo|page=166|title=Military Fashion|year=1972|publisher=Barrie and Jenkins |isbn=0-214-65349-8}}</ref> a tribe of [[Berbers]] located in the mountains of the [[Jurjura Range]] (see [[Kabyle people|Kabyles]]).<ref>page 1044, volume 28 Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition</ref> The Zouaoua had formerly provided soldiers for the [[dey]]s of [[Algiers]] and in August 1830 the commander of the French expeditionary force which had occupied the city recommended their continued employment in this role.{{sfn|Larcade|2000|p=15}} The existence of the new corps was formally recognised by a Royal decree dated 21 March 1831.{{sfn|Huré|1977|p=462}}

[[File:RaczynskiAleksander.ZuawiWWalce.1858.jpg|thumb|upright|French zouaves during the [[Crimean War]]; painting by [[Aleksander Raczyński]] (1858)]]
From their beginning the zouave units included a French European element, initially drawn from the demobilized ''Garde royal'' of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] and other Parisian volunteers. From March 1833 each zouave battalion was organised into ten companies, of which eight were Muslim Berbers and Arabs and two French.{{sfn|Larcade|2000|p=15}} In 1838 a third battalion was raised, and the regiment thus formed was commanded by Major de [[Lamoriciere]]. Shortly afterwards the formation of the ''[[Tirailleur|Tirailleurs algériens]]'', the ''Turcos'', as the infantry corps for Muslim troops, changed the basis for enlistment of the zouave battalions.<ref>{{cite book|first=Laurent|last=Mirouze|page=184|title=The French Army in the First World War - to Battle 1914. Uniforms - Equipment - Armament (Volume 1)|ISBN=3-902526-09-2}}</ref> For most of their remaining history the zouaves became an essentially French body,<ref>{{cite book|first=Pablo|last=Gallardo|page=6|title=Soldats d'Algerie|date=2020 |publisher=Sophia Histoire & collections |isbn=978-2-35250-524-2}}</ref> until in 1956 a new policy of partial racial mixing was introduced amongst units of the Army of Africa.<ref>{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Windrow|page=20|title=The Algerian War 1954-62|year=1997|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1855326583}}</ref>