Not slave soldiers

Submitted by KMax (United States), Jun 28, 2012 at 14:43

The 500 sudanese troops who fought with the French in Mexico were not slave soldiers. These soldiers were volunteered by Sa'id Pasha, the ruler of Egypt at the time and who was a strong ally of France. Napoleon approached the Pasha, requesting troops for his campaign. The French believed that the mostly black soldiers were acclimated to Mexico's heat and resistant to yellow fever. However, that latter belief was later found wrong as the battalion's commander died of yellow fever.

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