Egypt

The Arab Republic of Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.

Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments. Tourism has helped Egypt to become one of the most developed economies in the Middle East.

After the fall of its own long-lived empire, Egypt fell to a series of foreign rules, including Persia, Macedonia, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and finally the Ottoman Empire. The invasion by France in 1798 helped spark an independence movement that, after some strife, saw de facto independence in 1805 under a hereditary monarchy. This monarchy ruled until 1952.

However, Britain asserted influence in Egypt beginning in 1882. Years of strife led to Egyptian independence in 1922, although Britain maintained a presence in the country throughout World War II. In 1952, the fall of the monarchy insured Egypt's complete self-governance.

Egypt in Days of Infamy
The Kingdom of Egypt was a major lynch pin of the British Empire as the Suez Canal allowed the British to supply its forces in India and Asia. During World War II, the country came under threat from the combined armies of Italy and Germany.

In late 1942, the Americans joined the British in Egypt and smashed the Axis forces there, driving them from the country.

Egypt in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Egypt was part of the Greater German Reich. The Nazis exterminated the "inferior" native Arab and Egyptian populations. Surviving pockets were used as slave labor.

Egypt in Agent of Byzantium
Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire. It followed the teaching of the Orthodox Church, though some regard for the old gods remained.

In Etos Kosmou 6818, Magistranos Basil Argyros visited Alexandria to solve a khoresis by workers who were constructing the Pharos.

Egypt also became the starting point of one of the most daring coups attempted by the Persian agent Mirrane. In Etos Kosmou 6826, she went to Egypt where she seduced a senior clergyman, became his mistress, manipulated him to espouse a radical heretical doctrine opposing the use of icons in Christian churches. She traveled with him to Constantinople itself to spread this doctrine and sow dissension and controversy so as to dangerously weaken the Empire. Basil Argyros managed to foil the plot at the last moment.

Egypt in Supervolcano
While the Yellowstone Supervolcano eruption had relatively mild climactic effects on Egypt, the country was still devastated. The eruption caused an increase in and regularity of rainfall. It would seem modest by American or European standards but in a country that drew its water from the Nile and had no regular rainstorms, it was worse than a monsoon. Most buildings were made with sun-dried mud bricks which were cheap, readily available and strong enough for construction of low-rise buildings. But when soak with even mild rain, they reverted to mud and buildings collapsed.

Egypt in The War That Came Early
The Kingdom of Egypt, though an independent nation, was firmly under the political influence of the British Empire.

During World War II. It was among most strategically important colonies of the empire as it contained the Suez Canal. Its ports allowed all men and materiel to flow to the British 8th Army, India, and Asia.

In 1941, Italy launched an invasion of Egypt in order to punish England for leaving its alliance with Germany. However the invasion was a failure as the British easily defeated the Italians and pushed them back into Libya in the closing months of 1941.

Before the British could definitively defeat the Italians at Tobruk, the German Afrika Korps intervened. By the beginning of 1942, the British were in retreating back into Egypt.

However, the Afrika Korps' campaign ultimately proved futile. Under the terms agreed following the overthrow of Hitler by the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation, Germany had to evacuate its forces from Egypt, as from most territories occupied during the war.

During the 1920s Ronald Cartland and his sister Barbara Cartland all visited Egypt and saw the Pyramids, as did Alistair Walsh, a fact that Walsh shared with Cartland in the 1940s.

Egypt in Worldwar
Though nominally independent, the Kingdom of Egypt was firmly under the political influence of the British Empire and major lynch pin as it controlled the Suez Canal. During World War II, the country had seen invasion first by the Italians and later, the Germans, but nether side managed to conquer the country.

When the Race arrived in mid 1942, they found the climate of Egypt very tolerable, and easily defeated the British, pushing them all the way back to the Canal. The British held here, until 1944, when the Race lunched an offensive, driving them back into Palestine, and defeating them. At the Peace of Cairo, Britain was forced to recognize Egypt as a Race colony.

In the Peace that followed, the Race chose Egypt's own capital, Cairo as its capital on Tosev 3 because of the country's hot, arid climate and strategic location. The majority of the population practiced Islam, and the region was not considered a pacified colony.