Chapter Two:
1838-1851
When I left you, The Second Oriental Crisis had just occurred, I had declared the Caliphate, and the Ottoman Empire had declared war to stop me.
France, upholding its guarantee of our independence, intervenes on our behalf. This will be crucial as we will be relying on the French navy to keep the pesky Turks away from our shores.
Meanwhile, the new divisions recruited from zealous followers are deployed, and the invasion of the Ottoman Empire commences:
Soon after, the French received their own Second Oriental Crisis event, where they chose the “Back Egypt” option. This leads to them intervening on my behalf, which they were already, and also gives us +200 relations with them.
This choice made by the French is the second most important choice the AI must make for an Egypt player’s success. This choice, and the proceeding +200 relations, will allow us to finance this massive war. As things are, we’re losing 97 pounds per day. We need cash.
So what do we do? Sell Crete and Cyprus!!
Notice not only the massive horde of cash I’m getting for this, but also the key technologies. This will put us in a substantial research point hole, but it will be necessary for industrialization, and therefore, civilization.
The war in the Middle East began promisingly. The newly enlarged Egyptian army managed to quickly form a wide encirclement around the Ottoman main force.
The first encirclement:
The second encirclement:
The third encirclement:
Meanwhile, the Ottoman and French navies tussle in the Eastern Mediterranean:
And on the border of distant Libya, the valiant 1st Corps of irregulars managed to hold off seven separate attacks by crack Ottoman cavalry attempting to break into our heartland.
I think I managed to destroy more irregulars in this war than regulars. The fourth encirclement:
General Ibrahim reaches the Bosporus and completes the fifth and final encirclement:
Sadly, the French have made a status quo peace with the Ottomans and thus General Ibrahim is unable to cross the Bosporus and take rebel-controlled Constantinople. But it has been enough. Finally, peace is concluded for the three provinces of Kaf, Ar Rutbar, and Diyarbakr.
Just three provinces?! After all that?! Yes, just three provinces, and here’s why: though Kaf and Ar Ruthbar were cheap, the province of Diyarbakr cost 49% warscore in itself. But it is the most important province Egypt can ever conquer. Diyarbakr was the Ottoman’s main source of iron. Now it is my main source of iron. Without this province, Egypt would have to rely on expensive iron importation to build its factories. Now, it has domestic supply.
Thanks to the losses and attrition suffered by our armies in the field, we can still make money if we keep army and defense spending to zero, but it is not to be. Now comes the most painful thing I have had to do so far. I must disband many of my new divisions. Send the zealots home! They are no longer needed! I recall a quote spoken by Alec Guinness in “Lawrence of Arabia”:
Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution.
So it was for the grand army of the Caliph. Of the 27 free divisions, 14 were disbanded. It was a necessary sacrifice.
Now for several years of peace and slow industrialization. In 1841 we receive the technology ‘Precision Work’ which, on top of allowing us to build a machine parts factory, also brings us to a total of 20 machine parts to help industrialize. We begin by constructing a fabric and regular clothing factory, and then expand these, watching out industrial points slowly rise.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman provinces of North Africa are in revolt and have been occupied by rebels. Like a vulture circling its dying prey, we have been watching the provinces defect one by one to Tripoli:
At last, they have all defected. The time for war has never been better.
The war was brief, though costly in attrition. Tripoli entered the lands of the Caliph on the 30th of September, 1849:
Soon after, the Persians continued along their own road to civilization by choosing to continue reforms under the rule of Shah Nasir Ud-Din. It seems Egypt shall have competition to the east.
One month later, in a surprising twist, Egypt, though not yet a civilized country, became a great power:
Finally, after much toil and effort, in late August of 1850, Egypt—the Caliphate of Islam—entered the world of the civilized powers. But Egypt would not have peace for long.
Who will break the peace of Egypt? Will it be the Russians? Or will it be the British perhaps? Will the Ottomans make a surprising comeback, or will the Persians prove to be a problem instead? For answers, stay tuned for the next update of
The Pharaoh and the Prophet.