Slatin Pascha

The k.u.k. has had an unusual career. Lieutenant Rudolf Slatin. In 1879, at the age of 22, he became governor of Darfur, a province in Sudan. The young Austrian does not take on an easy position! In the country under Egyptian sovereignty, the slave trade is flourishing, mismanagement and corruption prevail. Two years later, a revolt of Muslim fanatics breaks out. Under the leadership of the monk Mohammed Achmed, who lets himself be celebrated as Mahdi (Savior), they want to liberate Sudan from Egyptian rule. Soon large parts of the country were in the hands of the rebels. Slatin can hold his province against huge odds for a year and a half. But when the troops that were supposed to put down the uprising were defeated in 1883, he too had to surrender.