From Zouaves Pontificaux to the volontaires de l'Ouest: Catholic volunteers and the French Nation, 1860-1910

Simpson, Martin

Abstract

This article examines the French papal zouaves, volunteers who fought for the defence of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope in the decade 1860-1870, and their successors, the irregular Volunteers of the West. The latter was a volunteer force formed around the returning zouaves in the context of the 1870-71 Franco- Prussian war. It explores Catholic discourse on the zouaves and the Volontaires between 1860 and 1910, comparing the defenders of Rome with the defenders of France. The concern is to understand how service in the Franco-Prussian war impacted upon Catholic interpretations of the zouaves. In particular, their heroic if suicidal charge in the battle of Loigny under the banner of the Sacred Heart aligned them with this devotion, that flourished in 1870-71 and would culminate in the Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre. The Volontaires also offered political arguments about the relationship between patriotism and Catholic convictions, deployed in the context of debates about French regeneration. Yet in terms of ideas of expiation, national history and counter-revolution the discourse on the Volontaires reflected the original discourse on the zouaves developed in the decade 1860-70. Ultimately they stood for a vision of French history and French identity diametrically opposed to the legacy of 1789, a challenge to the Republic's official vision.

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Oct 20, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Apr 12, 2018
• Publication Date: Apr 12, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 19, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: May 5, 2019
• Journal: Canadian Journal of History
• Print ISSN: 0008-4107
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-28
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjh.ach.53.1.01
• Keywords: Zouaves Pontificaux, Volontaires de l’Ouest, Catholic volunteers, French , 1860-1910
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/857002
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cjh.ach.53.1.01
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/cjh.ach.53.1.01
• Contract Date: Feb 6, 2018