On the banks of the great river Nile lies Egypt, ancient and mysterious. Seemingly since the beginning of time itself have some of the proudest cultures held this fertile region in the middle of the desert - from the ancient Pharaos to the Persians to Alexander to Rome to the Caliphate.



For the last few centuries, the Ottomans Turks of Constantinople have claimed Egypt as their own. And while the Mamluk state was felled in a swift strike in 1517, the Padishahs were never able to truly subjugate Cairo.



And since Naopelon's occupation of Egypt at the turn of century in the Levant, for lack of a better phrase, shit is hitting the fan.

The Egypt Eyalet has a population just numbering under ten million in early 1836, with the Nile Delta being the clear center of the state.

Egypt is undergoing a rapid modernization effort under its Wali Muhammad Ali.

Originally born in Albania, Muhammad Ali served as a commander in the Ottoman army during the Revolutionary Wars. After Napoleon withdrew from Egypt in 1802 to soon adopt total dominance of France, he more or less just moved into the now-leaderless Ottoman province and proclaimed himself ruler. Constantinople, being busy slowly becoming the sick man of Europe, kind of just went along.

In April, Muhammad Ali orders the Egyptian fleet dismantled. He argues that the "struggles ahead" would not be won at sea, and that the sailors would be much more useful holding a rifle.

The "struggles ahead" are of course nothing less than war with the Ottomans. Ali is a ambitious man, and being a mere stadtholder of the Sultan in Constantinople was never able to sate his hunger. But with the Turks allied to the nigh invincible Russians - an empire that can bring down Napoleon can bring down anybody - military action would at the moment nothing but suicide.

But it is known that the outbreak of the war is nothing but a matter of time. And to stand a chance against the Turks, and whoever might came with them, Egypt must reinvent itself. In Algeria and India the Europeans have demonstrated what happens to those states that cling to the "Old Ways". It shall never come to that in Egypt. Muhammad Ali will drag his realm into modernity if it has to, and even if the populace is kicking and screaming.

While Egypt is geairng up for war, in distant Britain young Victoria is crowned.



Will the young Queen bring Britian the "victory" she is named for, or will her inexperience bring the empire to fall?

In June of 1837, a British delegation arrives in Cairo to persuade the Wali to allow for a "trade post" in the city. Knowing that a British "trade post" really means "opium den", Muhammad Ali quickly denies.

In August, the news Egypt has been waiitng for arrive in Cairo: Russia have broken their alliance with the Ottomans. Overjoyed, Muhammad Ali does that what he wanted to do for so long ...

... declare war on the Ottomans. Egypt shall be free!