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Author Topic: Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?  (Read 6310 times)

Offline traveller

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Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?
« on: February 25, 2011, 09:15:34 PM »
Any reason for hesitation? Any comments welcome, thanks

Offline joroas

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'So do all who see such times. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that we are given.'


Offline Arthur

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Re: Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2011, 10:47:09 PM »
It depends on how picky you are regarding accuracy and which period your Zouaves are intended for (Crimean war ? Italian War ? Franco-Prussian war ?). The cut of the uniform was identical in both cases since the American version was a carbon copy of the French original, at least in those few regiments which retained the baggy Zouave trousers : most units in the ACW actually wore narrower chasseur-style trousers. Fortunately, the Perry plastics are based on the 5th NY, which copied the French style pretty faithfully.

The major differences would be :

a/ Canteens : the French army used square ones rather than the round type issued to U.S federal forces.

b/ Musket and bayonet : unless you have a particularly sharp eye, the musket will do for pre-1859 Zouaves. It won't pass muster for the Franco-Prussian war though, as the Chassepot looked significantly different. Also, the bayonet won't work from the late 1850's onward : by the time the Italian campaign started in 1859, French zouaves were issued with saber bayonets while the Turcos retained the traditional socket bayonet.

c/ Cartridge box and haversack : the former will be roughly O.K until the late 1860's, but the introduction of the Chassepot added an expense pouch on the waisbelt. The French haversack didn't have the strap on the flap, but this can easily be remedied with a hobby knife.   

There are a few other nits you could pick, but these are the most immediately conspicuous differences.




   

Offline traveller

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Re: Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2011, 06:11:03 AM »
Thanks for your comments and picture links. Arthur, I am truly grateful for your advice on the differences between French/ACW. My plan was to let them join a force of Perry (Carlist) FFL for a foray into North Africa in the 1840-1850s period.

Online Patrice

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Re: Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2011, 09:03:01 PM »
Er... a bit out of topic perhaps... this old statue of a zouave is well known by people in Paris
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39415781@N06/3766111036#/photos/ell-r-brown/3766111036/lightbox/

It has become a well-known level for mesuring the floods of the river Seine !  lol
http://lameteo.blogs.lalibre.be/media/01/02/1162293b77f3595e6f117d4809229682.jpg

Offline Arthur

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Re: Using ACW Zouaves for French Zouaves in North Africa?
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2011, 11:16:56 PM »
My plan was to let them join a force of Perry (Carlist) FFL for a foray into North Africa in the 1840-1850s period.

If you want to be finicky about it, your zouaves should be sporting ventral cartridge boxes then. These were adopted by the Foreign Legion during the Carlist War and subsequently adopted by the whole of the French African army between 1836 and the early 1840's. Pre-1840 Zouaves would mostly be wearing the more traditional cartridge box on the hip, as the image below shows :



The turban was either green or red before 1852, and green afterwards until it changed to white in 1867. Personally, I'd go for green just for the sake of colour variety. Here's a typical zouave for the period you're interested in (the angle at which the figure is drawn prevents the belly box from being visible of course) :   



And here's one more for road, to ensure no nit has been left unpicked :







 

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