In 1863 slaves and conscript soldiers from Sudan landed in Mexico. What has happened? The Egyptian Khedive has sent them on the request of Napoleon III to fight for the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian against the Mexican republican troops of Benito Juarez of Zapotec origin. Although the story of this military adventure is so multi-facetted and connects a mosaic of diverse identities it is largely forgotten. Based on personal experience, literary translations, interviews, and the exploration of other repositories, David E. Long and Sebastian Maisel bring back the life-stories of those brave Sudanese men and their descendants and their ultimate fight for freedom and independence.

David E. Long was a foreign service diplomat, professor of Islamic and Security Studies, and international consultant on the Middle East and international terrorism. Sebastian Maisel is professor for Arabic language and translations at Leipzig University (Germany). His research focus is on language pedagogy and sociolinguistics with an emphasis on identity studies of minority groups.