Zouaves Archives

Utilizing the natural terrain around Puebla, French Zoaves take cover while preparing to move on Mexican positions. Despite the superior pedigree of Comte de Lorencez’s French forces, General Ignacio Zargaoza’s homegrown defenders would serve as more than a match.

Zouaves

“Viva El Cinco de Mayo!” The Battle of Puebla

By Ron Gilliam

A hard, late-afternoon rain was falling on May 5, 1862, and the slopes at the foot of Puebla, Mexico’s twin forts were too slippery for another assault. Read more

French Emperor Napoleon III, center, directs action at the height of the Battle of Solferino. Painting by Adolphe Yvon.

Zouaves

Solferino: Birth of a Nation

By Eric Niderost

Long columns of blue-clad French troops marched east though the sun-baked plains of northern Italy in late June 1859. Read more

Zouaves

Battle of Alma: First Blood in the Crimea

By Eric Niderost

On the morning of September 14, 1854, an Anglo-French fleet arrived off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea. Read more

“Viva El Cinco de Mayo!” The Battle of Puebla

Solferino: Birth of a Nation

Battle of Alma: First Blood in the Crimea

From Around the Network

337 Days at Baler

The National Museum of the Marine Corps

U.S. Involvement in WWII: How (and How Much) the Military Grew

Divided Nation, Leyte Gulf, and Age of Empires III