Zoarque. A soldier who had charge of an elephant among the ancients.
Zone of Defense. A term used in fortification, signifying the belt of ground in front of the general [contour] of the works within effective range of the defenders.
Zone of Operations. The strip of territory which contains the lines of operations—or lines on which an army advances—between the base and the ulterior object. See [Strategy].
Zorndorf. A village of Prussia, province of Brandenburg, 4 miles north of Kustrin, and was the scene of the bloodiest of the many desperate conflicts of the Seven Years’ War. The Russians having for the second time been ordered by the czarina Elizabeth to invade Prussia, advanced towards Berlin, committing frightful devastations, while Frederick the Great, with the bulk of his forces, was engaged with the Austrians in Silesia and Saxony. The Russians, under Fermor, were 50,000 strong, and easily drove before them Dohna’s little Prussian army of 15,000; but Frederick hastened northwards with such reinforcements as raised the army to 30,000; and after taking care, by the breaking down of bridges, etc., to cut off their retreat, engaged the invaders. The battle was commenced at eight on the morning of August 25, 1758, and lasted till evening, consisted mainly in a succession of furious charges, accompanied with a tremendous artillery-fire, and was not decided till Seidlitz, by an able movement, turned the Russian flank. The next morning Fermor drew off his forces, diminished by 20,000 men, 103 cannon, and 27 standards; having inflicted on the Prussians a loss of 13,000 men, 26 cannon, and a few standards.
Zouaves (Arab. Zwawa). A body of troops in the French army, which derives its name from a tribe of Kabyles, inhabiting the mountains of Jurjura, in the Algerian province of Constantine. Long previous to the invasion of Algiers by the French, these Kabyles had been employed as hired mercenaries in the service of the rulers of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers; and after the conquest of the last-named country in 1830, the French, in the hope of establishing a friendly feeling between the natives and their conquerors, took the late dey’s mercenaries into their service, giving them a new organization. Accordingly, Gen. Clausel created, in 1830, two battalions of zouaves, in which each company consisted of French and Kabyles in certain proportions, officers, subalterns, and soldiers being selected from either race; the zouaves, though retaining their Moorish dress, were armed and disciplined after the European fashion; and the battalions were recruited by voluntary enlistment. Afterwards the native element was eliminated, and since 1840 they may be considered as French troops in a Moorish dress. They now number about 15,000, and are divided into four regiments. They are recruited from the veterans of the ordinary infantry regiments who are distinguished for their fine “physique” and tried courage and hardihood. Their uniform is very picturesque. There is one regiment of zouaves incorporated in the Guards. The name was also given to several regiments of volunteers in the Union army during the American civil war (1861-65), who were clad in zouave uniform.
Zullichau (Prussia). Here the Russians under Soltikow severely defeated the Prussians under Wedel, July 23, 1759.
Zululand. The country lying northeast of the colony of Natal, between its east boundary, the Umtugela and Umzimyati Rivers, lat. 29° 10′ E., and Delagoa Bay, lat. 26° S., long. 32° 40′ E., is generally known under the name of Zululand, or the Zulu country, inhabited by independent tribes of Zulu Kaffirs. The Zulu is by nature social, light of heart, and cheerful; his passions are, however, strong, and called out when in a state of war. He is hospitable and honest, yet greedy and stingy; and whatever the better nature of his impulses may be, yet when his great chief commands war, he is converted into a demon. It is from the Zulu country, however, that those terrible tyrants who so long devastated Southeastern Africa, the chiefs Chaka, Dingaan, Moselikatze, etc., issued. The training of their subjects to a peculiar mode of warfare spread desolation and havoc for many years among the Betjuana and other tribes of the interior. These chiefs with their thousands of followers, fighting, like Homer’s heroes, hand to hand, armed with stabbing assagais and shields of ox-hide, the colors of which distinguished the different regiments they were formed into, melted away with broken power into comparative insignificance before the terrible rifles of a few hundred emigrant Dutch Boers, who, in their turn, gave way to the energetic action of the British authorities. The Zulus often have serious intestine wars among themselves. The principal Zulu tribes are the Amazulu, the Amahute, Amazwazi, and Amatabele. The last, under the chief Moselikatze, have emigrated far to the north, where, among the mountains which separate the valley of the Limpopo from the basin of the Zambesi, they still issue forth, and carry their depredations as far north as the Lake Nyassa, where they were found by Dr. Livingstone. A war broke out in the latter part of 1878, or beginning of 1879, between the British and the Zulus, and on January 22, 1879, the British were defeated with terrible slaughter about 10 miles in front of Rorke’s drift; their loss in killed being put down at 30 officers, about 500 enlisted men of the Imperial troops, and 700 enlisted men of the Colonial troops. It seems that the troops were enticed away from their camp, as the action took place about one mile and a quarter from it. The camp containing surplus ammunition, etc., of the British force was taken by the Zulus, but was occupied after dark the same night by British troops. About the same time Rorke’s drift was attacked by some 3000 or 4000 Zulus; its defense by some 80 men of the 24th Regiment was most gallant, 370 bodies lay close around the post; the loss of the Zulus was estimated at 1000 here alone. At the camp where the disaster occurred, the loss of the Zulus was computed at over 2000. The Zulus are even more formidable than the military authorities expected; they are well drilled, great numbers are armed with breech-loaders, and they fight courageously. It is now known but too well how large a force they can mass at one point. Lord Chelmsford, the commander of the English forces in Zululand, after suffering some additional reverses, was superseded in June, 1879, by Sir Garnet Wolesley. Eugene Louis Jean Napoleon, prince imperial of France, participated as a volunteer with the British forces against the Zulus, and was killed (about the end of May or the beginning of June) while on a reconnoissance under the command of Col. Wood; he was suddenly beset by Zulus and assagaied, receiving no less than seventeen wounds. Prince Napoleon was born in Paris on March 16, 1856. He received his “Baptism of Fire” at the battle of Saarbruck, August 2, 1870, during the Franco-German war, in company with his father, the emperor. After the fall of the empire and the death of his father he resided in England, and graduated with high honors at the Military Academy at Woolwich. The war was terminated in the latter part of 1879, by the total defeat of the Zulus and the capture of the king Cetawayo.
Zumbooruks (Pers. Zumboor, “wasp”). Diminutive swivel artillery, carried on the backs of camels.
Zurich. A town of Switzerland, capital of the canton of the same name, at the northern extremity of the Lake of Zürich, 60 miles northeast from Berne. The Swiss defeated the Austrians near this town in 1443, and in 1799 the French defeated the Russians and Austrians before it. In 1859 a treaty between Austria, France, and Sardinia was signed here, and Lombardy sold by Austria to the king of Sardinia for £10,000,000.
Zutphen. An inland town of Holland, in the province of Gelderland, on the Yssel, 16 miles northeast from Arnheim. It is fortified and rendered peculiarly strong by its situation, which is in the midst of drained fens. It formerly belonged to the Hanseatic League, and was taken by Don Frederick of Toledo in 1572; by Prince Maurice in 1591; and by the French in 1672. The gallant and accomplished Sir Philip Sidney, author of “Arcadia,” was mortally wounded in the battle fought here on September 22, 1586, between the Spaniards and the Dutch. He was serving with the English auxiliaries, commanded by the Earl of Leicester.