My Egypt description
Here is the text of the Egypt description file.
EGY_DESC
In the nineteenth century Egypt became a self-governing province of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of the heirs of Muhammad Ali, an Albanian Muslim general who helped liberate Egypt from Napoleon and established himself as khedive. Under Muhammad Ali and his heirs, Egypt began to integrate itself into the Western world economy, culminating in the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. But Westernization came at a cost of greater Western influence in Egypt, and in 1882 an attempt to end western influence and the rule of the khedives was launched by Colonel Ahmad Urabi and led to British military occupation. While technically still an Ottoman province, Egypt became a British protectorate under the khedives who were dominated by the British advisors sent to help them continue to "modernize". After 1882 Egypt became the cultural center of the Arab world, and a lively press developed that promoted various causes to help the Egyptians improve their position with the West, leading to a rise in nationaism. With the outbreak of war in 1914 Brtain severed the Ottoman connection to Egypt and took over direct rule, causing much anger among educated Egyptians. In 1919 Egyptian nationalists tried to send a delegation, or Wafd, to Versailles in an attempt to gain support for ending British domination of Egypt. When the British refused to let the Wafd into the conference, revolt broke out that led the British to rethink their position. In 1922 Egypt was declared a kingdom but with the British still controlling many areas of Egyptian public life. The Wafd leadership, under Sa`d Zaghlul and later Mustafa Nahhas, demanded full independence and parliamentary control of
the state. The king, Fu`ad, also wanted an independent Egypt but under his, not the Wafd's, control, so that the 1920s and 1930s would witness a three-way struggle for power in Egypt
between king, Wafd and the British that would last until Fu`ad's death in 1936. As the international situation deteriorated in the mid-1930s, Britain hoped to settle conditions, and after Fu`ad's death reached an agreement with the Wafd that gave Egypt control over most areas of public life, with the exceptions of control over the Suez Canal and the Western desert, joint control over the Sudan (seen by Egyptian nationalists as vital for its control of the Nile River) and British rights to military access. While not all Egyptian nationalists were happy, Nahhas accepted the agreement and in 1936 Egypt entered the League of Nations. In the background, however, was the new king, 17-year old Faruq, who despised Nahhas and hoped to regain the power his father had enjoyed before his death. With new elections due in 1937 when Faruq came of age, the question of who would lead Egypt, the Wafd or the king, remained very much in doubt and the continuing influence of Britain in Egyptian life remained a sore point for many..
And yes I am writing similar descriptions for Syria and Lebanon