Chapter Four
1866-1877
When I left you, Russia and Greece had just declared war on me, and my allies in Britain, France, and Sardinia had joined in my defense. Russia had an army much larger than mine. Things didn’t look so hot, but fortunately for me, the border was all mountain, so my valiant Egyptian troops made a dash to cover their flanks:
From there on out the front stabilized. The Russians, though mobilized and far outnumbering me, didn’t dare attack my mountain strongholds. Meanwhile, I waited for my stronger allies to do their business.
The British and French navies duke it out with the Russians en route to St. Petersburg:
Meanwhile, Europe erupted into war as Prussia contested the Austrian leadership of Germany. Though the Prussians made early inroads towards Vienna, within a few years, they had found themselves on the short end of the stick as Bavaria and Austria had their way with them:
At the same time, Egypt took advantage of the stalemate and the Russian naval distraction to go around stealing Russian colonial claims. These were scattered throughout the world, and would become quite handy later. I used these claims to slowly buy off the French and British claimed lands in Africa.
Stealing the Russian claim in Samoa:
Finally, after three years of war, Russia’s Achilles heel was found—Greece. Russia was impenetrable, but Greece was easy pickings for the alliance and with Athens in French hands, Egypt found itself with 33% warscore over Russia.
Russia accepts peace:
So what did I offer them? The three iron-rich provinces I had occupied, of course…
…and
war indemnities.
I immediately received an influx of over 31,000 pounds. I was to receive 31,000 pounds every month for the next three years. This money was to prove vital to my plans.
With the Russian funds at my disposal, I quickly rebuilt my tattered army and further increased my industry. More importantly, however, I began building colonial claims as far as the eye could see.
Russia, meanwhile, delcared colonial war on Kalat, a Persian ally, and Persia and Russia--my two formidable neighbors, entered into war. I expected Russia to easily trounce Persia.
But then the British made an unexpected move:
There was only one thing for Egypt to do:
Thanks to my new cavalry (paid for by Russian rubles), the occupation of Sokoto went quickly, and the British were cut off post-haste:
Meanwhile, France continued to show how lily-livered it was in this game:
Sokoto was occupied, and the British did the annexing, meaning I got to keep all my land without receiving any badboy. The 89 POPs were worth the 100 prestige loss.
Soon after, the game turned 40. In the shot below, I included the massive push that Persia made into Russia. It would seem that the Sunnis and the Shiites had become ascendant once more.
All the lands of Egypt, January 1, 1876:
After a long war, Persia and Russia made peace, with Persia getting massive gains.
The Persian peace treaty:
Persia after the peace treaty:
Both Russia and Persia were still much stronger than me. I don’t know how Persia got that strong that fast, but I was definitely afraid of them now. Hopefully, luck would be on my side…
Oh crap.
But then thirty-six days later:
OH CRAP!!
OH CRAP!!!!!
Has Egypt finally run out of luck? Find out next time, in
The Pharaoh and the Prophet.
