The 8th Zouaves Regiment disembarked from Bordeaux and Sète between 7 and 15 August 1914, consisting of three battalions (1st, 2nd, and 4th), the 3rd battalion belonging to a marching tirailleur regiment at the corps of the Moroccan Division. On 20 August they were in the region of Mézières - Charleville.
In the following days, they heard the cannon of Charleroi. On 25 August, they crossed the border of Belgium, and that of Sugny, a small Belgian village, where they witnessed the burning of the villages of the Meuse and Semois. They welcomed the IX Corps and assumed the rearguard.
October 1914: the 8th Zouaves took form with the four respective battalions and designated "8".
1915
In August 1915, the regimental colors were received. The regiment had three colonels throughout the war, lieutenants-colonel Modelon, Auronx and Lagarde. Lieutenant-colonel Modelon earned the regiment two palms and the fourragere with colors of the Croix de guerre 1914-1918. Under the command of Colonel Lagarde, the regiment conquered five palms, the fourragère with colors of the Médaille militaire, then the fourragère with colors of the Légion d'honneur. Conferred the Croix de Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur to the regimental colors, the 8th Zouaves Regiment was cited seven times at the orders of the armed forces during the course of the war (1914-1918).
While only taking part, to life in the sector, the 8th Zouaves was in almost all the major action offensives of the war. The regiment was able to inscribe on the regimental colors: la Marne, Yser, Artois, Champagne, Somme, Moronvilliers, Verdun, Soissons, 18 July Chemin des Dames.
Interwar period
After 1919, the regiment was in Oran. It dissolved in 1928, the 2nd Zouave replaced the 8th Zouave.
The regiment held garrison at Camp de Châlons in 1943. Accordingly, the regiment was motorised, the only regiment of Zouave in Metropole...
World War II
In 1940, the 8th Zouaves, with the 12th Motorised Infantry Division (French: :fr:12e division d'infanterie motorisée) disappeared at Dunkirk.
At the cease-fire on 19 March 1962 in Algeria, the 8th Zouaves Regiment constituted along with 91 other regiments, the 114 units of the local force through the accords of Evians on 18 March 1962. The 8th Zouaves Regiment formed a local unit force of the Algerian order of battle, the 496°UFL-UFO composed of 10% metropolitan military and 90% Muslim military personnel, while being at the service of the executive provisionary power of Algeria until the independence of Algeria.
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