Odd Fighting Units: The Zouaves of Death in Poland's January Uprising of 1863
The Zouaves of Death (in Polish Żuawi Death ) are perhaps one of the most ghoulishly named fighting units of the 19 th century conflicts which were fought in the buildup of empires, republican states, and commonwealths in the wake of the previous Napoleonic Age (c.1803-1815). Created by a former French army officer, François Rochebrune (b.1830-1870), the Zouaves of Death fought in the January Uprising of 1863-1864 against the Russian Empire who had dominated (along with Austria & Prussia ) much of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since the Great Partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795. The Zouaves of Death and Polish scythmen brace for a charge of Russian cavalry during the January Uprising in this dramatic and patriotic painting from the early 20th century Formed in Ojców in Febuary of 1863, Rochebrunes volunteer and free lance militia was styled in the debonair attire of the French Algerian Zouave, a popular ...