The Spahis was the cavalry corp of the African Army of the French Army which is also composed of the Zouaves, the Tirailleurs, the Tabors and of the Moroccan Goumiers. The name of Spahi come from the Turkish word for cavalryman, Sibahi, they were originly mercenaries paid for still the places where they are engaged before to return in their tribes.
When the Algerian Dey has been dimissed by the French in 1830, the Sibahis, who were mostly Turkish under his orders, were unemployed and join the banner of the general Joseph Vantini, also known as Youssouf, who make them enter in the rank of the French Army and make of them terribles and effectives soldiers who will received the name of Spahi because of the misprononciation of the French people. In 1845, three regiments of Algerian Spahis are created in the three regionals capitals, the 1st at Algiers, the second at Oran and the third at Bône. In 1886, the fourth Spahi is created in Tunisia and in 1912 10 squadrons of Spahis are created in Morocco. Two others Spahis regiments are created in Algeria until the mobilisation of 1914, the Algerian Spahis joined the fight in September 1914 and the Moroccan Spahis join the fight in January 1915.
In 1921, we counted 12 Spahis regiments and, at the eve of the WWII, whose 6 of them (2 regiments made 1 brigade) were in France and it's the 1st Brigade, based at Compiègne, and the 3rd Brigade which will fight the most, the 3rd Brigade will be annihilted during the Battle of La Horgne, in the Ardennes, the 9e Régiment de Spahis which is one of the regiment of the 2nd Brigade which was guarding the Swiss border, will be distinguished by its resistance at Vercel from the 18 to the 20 june 1940. After the armistice of June 1940, the 1st Regiment of Moroccan Spahis leave Syria in July 1940, they joined the British troops in Palestine and become one of the first active regiment of the Free French Army.
The Saphis regiments re-created in the FFA joined the French expeditionary corp in Italy commanded by the Général Juin before to join the 1st Army of the Général de Lattre de Tassigny, they fought from Syria to Germany, from 1942 to 1945.
After the war, the Spahis will be engaged in the differents decolonisations wars, the 4th Tunisian Spahis will be dissolved after the Tunisian conflict from 1952 to 1954, in 1957, the Spahis regiments also served in the Algerian war and in the Koweit war in the early 90s.
Today, there's only one Spahi regiment remaining, it's the 1e Régiment de Spahis, a regiment which took the traditions of the 1st Moroccan Spahis Regiment, they are based at Valence in France, I had the luck to visit the museum few years ago. The Spahis were the last regiments to use horses, after the Algerian war, they will received their first armored vehicules.

One of the most known Spahi was the Capitaine Henri de Bournazel, a young officer who will become a patriotic symbol in France. He was nicknamed the Man in red because he went always at the attack without his white djellaba over his red tunic. It's during the Pacification of Morocco that he'll become famous, the south of Morocco is not yet safe when the regiment of the Capitaine de Bournazel, the 22nd Regiment of Moroccan Spahis, received the order to enter in the fight, they began the operations the 13 february 1933 and the 21, he guides his troops to the piton La Chappelle, there, the Général Giraud don't like the way that de Bournazel is dressed for the fights and order him to wear his djellaba for his next fights, the 28, he attacked Bou Gafer where he will be wouded a first time but he gathered his soldiers for a new attack but he's reach a new time by a bullet and die of his wounds in the full middle of the Jbel Saghro, his ennemies always thought that, as he was wearing a conspicuous tunic, he was bullet proof so they didn't fired on him and this day, as he was wearing the white djellaba, they shot him.