Zawawa military
In the Tunisian popular imagination, the name of Lashkar Zawawa is associated with inferiority and contempt and with the socially and economically marginalized group. This is especially evident in the proverb used by residents when they talk about misery and misfortune. One of them says while lamenting his luck: “It happened to me as happened to Lashkar Zawawa. “Salary,” which is a description that carries within it a great irony, as despite being thrown into the nozzle of the cannon and in the front lines of battles, this category suffers from weak and often late salaries.
Their origins are from the Algerian Kabyle region. The Turkish rulers of Tunisia sought help from them since the end of the 16th century, that is, they came at the same time with the Janissary soldiers and the Turkish soldiers: two armies arriving in the country... so that their connection with its people was weak... Over time, Tunisia was transformed by the Turks and the Zawawis as well.. Those who used to specialize in building towers in major cities where there are walls, doors, and military shelters.
The Zawawa came to Tunisia as “bachelors” and spent a lot of time in the army as “conscripts”. They spent most of their lives on the war fronts and the rugged and boring life of the barracks. They carried out several rebellions that brought misfortune on them... Their names are distinguished: Hamo Muhannad Ahsnawi Amzian, leaders of Lahassan Amirash Idir. Mihoub... Then gradually their names changed to “Tatunset”... and moved away from the Kabyle heritage... The nicknames were also Zawawi, Zawaghi, Mazughi Lagha, Lalthani, Mahwashi, Jaljali and Jalili (Whoever of you remembers Esperance’s handball lineup in the 1970s will discover Mounir Jalili and Al-Nasser. Al-Jaljali)... Most of them were linked to the custom of Sidi al-Bashir, who was their guardian and protector, Dvin Bab al-Jazira in the metropolis.. especially their marriage when they started in Tunisia.
We understand from here that the Zawawa is an irregular army and another type of Tunisian army formation, but it differs from the regular military units that operate under arms and reside in barracks permanently. Members of this type live among the people, in cities and villages, and some of them guard according to their own system. By order of the state, they are like demobilized soldiers, but they also differ from them, because they are on call and participate in annual and exceptional collections (collection), and the children of this irregular army are hereditary soldiers when they reach the age of seventeen, and do not enter the lottery system like other city residents. And the villages are of Tunisian origin, and the elements of this irregular army include what was called at the time: the Hanafiya Military, the Zawawa Military, and the Awjaq Al-Makhzaniyah Army.
According to the Tunisian historian Abdel Wahid Al-Makni, the Zawawa soldiers who arrived in the country during the rule of the Turks in the late 16th century came to Tunisia as “bachelors” and were known to remain in the army, “conscripts” (ready), and to spend most of their lives on the war fronts and the rugged and boring life of the barracks, as described by them. Abu Al-Diyaf described in his book Al-Ithaf that they are a tough people who are distinguished by their lack of flexibility.
The Zawawa soldiers are also distinguished by their courage, courage, patience, and perseverance, despite their lack of equipment and armament, but they are also known for their strong hatred of the Turks, although historical studies have not provided any information as to whether this was due to competition in the field of military, or had other doctrinal motives, or resulted from the Ottomans’ entry into Algeria and Tunisia, but what is historically certain is that A group of Zawawa soldiers participated in the War of the Century under the banner of the Ottoman Caliphate.
On the other hand, what distinguishes the Zawawa soldiers from other military formations is obedience. In addition to not being preoccupied with politics, unlike the Janissaries, the Zawawa are known for their complete loyalty to the authority of the Beys, which reached the point of participating in the Tunisian-Algerian war that broke out in 1807, alongside the forces of Hamouda Pasha. , against their country's forces.
In a statement to Noon Post, Tunisian historian Mohamed Dhifallah confirmed that the Zawawa military existed much before French colonialism, and that their presence was due to the arrival of the Ottomans in Algeria and Tunisia, adding, “There is a common idea that says that they are Amazighs from Algeria, and this is a relative matter, as we find among them those who came From other regions, even from Tripoli.”
Historical references may differ in some details related to the emergence of the Zawawa military and its contribution to building and protecting the Tunisian state, but they are united in one fact, which is that the military in Tunisia was a heterogeneous system, as it brought together Janissaries (Turks), Zawawa from Algerian tribes, and Hanafi (relative to the Hanafi school of thought). And the Qaragla, the inability of the successive beys to rule the Ayalat to organize it and make it regular and unified, and this is mainly due to the rulers’ interest in extravagance and excessive financial extravagance and the tendency of some officials in the Ayalat, especially during the era of Sadiq Bey, such as Mustafa bin Ismail, to empty the army and exhaust it in order to prepare the situation for the entry of colonialism.
According to the same source, the army in general and the Zawawa in particular suffered from delayed salaries for months And the absence of supplies, clothing, and health care. Military formations in the nineteenth century did not live in isolation from the suffering of the common people, as they were afflicted by hunger, diseases, and epidemics such as the plague in the 1820s and cholera in the 1850s.
The Zawawa are no different from the common people. The Tunisian beys worked to subjugate these groups through tools of intimidation and enticement, exploiting their obedience to the tribe and the sheikhs who exercised their religious authority. In 1867, Sheikh Al-Arabi Al-Bashiri, one of the sheikhs of the Zawawa, was used to influence the soldiers and force them to obey orders and be satisfied with the little and what the governor gave him. Of a few riyals, and the irony is that the sheikh was allocated an annual salary in addition to 8,000 riyals allocated from the Supervisory Syndicate.
They are spread across Bizerte, Matir, Hammamet, Nabeul, Sousse, Kairouan, Kef, Moknine, Mahdia, Sfax, Gabes, Djerba and Gafsa.
“...they were a “public order” group today when chaos is severe in the cities. But they were always difficult and vilified by everyone. The most dangerous thing was that their decisions were not in their hands. They were always followers, and when they rebelled, their fate was miserable and bleak. Because they were vulnerable to conspiracies by those whom they trusted to manage their public and private affairs. The Zawawa army was dissolved in 1883 AD
In the end, it can be said that the soldiers of Zawawa were wronged historically by presenting them as a lowly soldier who was reprehensible and hated by Tunisians, given that his name was associated with the forced collection and collection of taxes and collections, and he was presented on the basis of the stick of the rulers and an instrument of their oppression without reviewing their role in the resistance, and the fact is that they were victims of elite corruption. A ruler, which was avoided by the modern Tunisian military establishment, which gave them a place in its national archive.
Source: websites