The Phoenix Programs

Even during the last days of Operation Revival, as Egyptian forces swept through Paris and Dijon, it was recognized by Egyptian strategists that tube artillery was becoming increasingly obsolete.  Given the need to rebuild France after the war, these artillery units were moved into French cities as engineers, and to a large degree, this early Phoenix Program was responsible for getting France back up and running, even while the war was still going on.
 
After the war, the Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) faced a daunting task.  The Egyptian military had over 100 surplus regiments to get rid of[1].  The solution was the second Phoenix Program.  While Egyptian engineer units rebuilt a land damaged by decades of war, excess Egyptian military units were disbanded in France, providing a nucleus of loyal Egyptians, as well as a large boost in industrial capacity.
 
The Phoenix Programs were brought to the northern colonies in 1780, after Iroquois Bremen, attracted by the quality of life in New Thebes, asked to become part of Egypt.  In that same year, the Egyptian army completed its demobilization, and the second Phoenix Program was declared complete.
[1] - 23 cavalry, 51 infantry, 44 motorized infantry, 32 armor, and 27 engineers, to be exact.  All the cavalry and infantry, and most of the armor is scheduled for destruction.

Peace and Trade

The year 1780 was the Year of the Great Peace.  India and the Iroquois signed a treaty, and England and Babylon did the same[1].  Egypt entered a state of semi-isolationism, maintaining trade but content to let the rest of the world kill itself while Egypt rebuilt the province of France and developed her technological lead.  In 1782, wireless communication was developed in Gutenberg, heralding the birth of the modern age.
 
By the 1790s, the new French territories were conquered, and in 1796 a civil government replaced the military occupation forces in Marseille[2].  Egypt's position on the world stage began to suffer, as the nations of the world began charging exorbitant rates for luxury goods.  Egyptian traders paid anyway, as wealth flowed through Egypt like water.
 
Egyptian technological supremacy continued, and Egyptian scientists at the Gutenberg Institute were the first to split the atom in 1796.  They envisioned great wonders possible with this new power, but alas, Egypt had no uranium.  The nearest sources were in England and the Iroquois Confederacy, and the Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) was reluctant to start another war for what might prove to be little gain.
 
The world at large settled down into a shifting web of alliances and treachery, with nations declaring war and peace at the drop of a hat.  Egypt, as she always had, sat out these petty conflicts, preferring to trade peacefully and secure in the knowledge that she possessed the power to crush the barbarians like gnats if required.  The world apparently knew this, and confined their aggression to uneven trade pacts[3].  Egypt's sole problem entering the 1800s was overcrowding in the cities, and high industrial pollution, which required a large number of cleanup crews.
 
In 1806, Egypt suddenly woke up to find the entire world at war.  The alliances involved were confusing to all.  The Iroquois were at war with both England and Rome, who were in turn at war with each other.  Rome was in turn at war with Babylon, who was at war with the Iroquois as well, and America.  England was at war with India, who was in turn at war with Rome.  India had at one point apparently been at war with America as well, and had taken a long strip of cities down the west coast of America.  Egypt reacted by sending observers to most of the armies, as well as refining their combat tactics from Operation Revival.
 
In 1808, a little-known company in Men-Nefer named Egyptian Business Machines[4] began marketing the first computers.  These machines quickly revolutionized Egyptian life, and EBM quickly became the richest company in Egypt.
 
In 1812, Egypt was once again shocked as India began work on an atomic bomb - the Manhattan Project.  The Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) once again did nothing, knowing that it was highly unlikely that any potential nuclear weapons would be used on Egypt.  Military budgeting did increase, and the review of Operation Revival brought the development of a new Joint High Command and a new command center, the Pentagon[5], equipped with the latest communications and computer equipment.  In addition, the secrets of fission were traded to the English in return for advanced aircraft designs and amphibious warfare training.
 
In 1822, the Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) signed the Egyptian Allied Free Trade Agreement (EAFTA[6]).  The trade sparked by EAFTA brought still more wealth into Egypt, and Egyptian freighters began shipping increasing tonnages of luxury goods and raw materials[7] to foreign countries.  Egypt became, if it wasn't already, the most loved nation in a world filled with enemies[8].
 
Also in 1822, EBM began testing large-scale computer networking.  These tests proved successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and within the year the "Internet[9]" connected all cities in Egypt, allowing unprecedented communication.  A competing Indian network never got off the ground.
 
1824 saw the first successful tests of anti-aircraft missiles in Avignon.  Why these missiles were under development in the first place is unclear, since Egypt had no real use for them, but an advanced battery of these new "SAMs" was set up near Avignon in any case[10].
 
Ten years after the invention of the Internet, EBM announced the opening of it's SETI Institute in Qefnu.  Soon after, they began promulgating[11] theories on global warming and the protection of the environment.  This ecological movement was popular in Egypt, which had long suffered from outbreaks of pollution.  Mass transit systems, the best way to deal with the pollution in Egypt's overcrowded cities, started popping up like flies.  Meanwhile a new National Parks campaign was started, and many areas in the former France were made into tourist attractions.
 
Meanwhile, on the world stage, Hammurabbi apparently suffered a mental breakdown, declaring war on India, America, and the Iroquois in short order.  Egyptian journalists were thus present for the surrender of Nippur to American troops later in the year[12].
 
In 1834, England announced that it had successfully detonated an atomic bomb near London.  Fortunately for the world, the delivery systems for this new weapon were a long time in the making[13].
 
Hammurabbi's War, as it came to be called, was a disaster for Babylon right from the beginning.  Within a short time of the declaration, Babylon's overseas colonies had fallen to India and America, and American troops were advancing on Babylon itself.

Babylon, 1836 AD:

In 1844, scientists at the SETI Institute announced the development of new materials they called "plastics[14]."  Egyptian military designers quickly seized on this development, and soon new armored fighting vehicles were rolling off the production lines to outfit Egyptian garrison troops.
 
By 1848, under pressure from American troops who were razing every city in their path, America declared peace with Babylon.  Concurrently, the Iroquois and Rome, having handed Brundisium back and forth for years, also declared peace.  Egyptians took little notice of these worldly developments, however, taking rather more interest in a development by the Center for Cancer Studies in Het Nekhen - A cure for cancer had been discovered!  The Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) ordered the doctors involved be given kingly rewards.  This pivotal advance soon allowed for other developments in medicine, greatly prolonging the life spans of all Egyptians[15].
 
In 1858, the marvels of Egyptian science astonished the world once more as a radio broadcast echoed through millions of homes: "Men-Nefer, the Falcon has landed."  Egyptian astronauts were the first to tread the surface of the moon.  Egyptian scientists immediately began dreaming up plans for great colony ships to bring the surplus populace of Egypt to new homes in the stars.  Science fiction novels, previously almost unknown, became instant bestsellers overnight.
 
By 1874, the dreamed of spaceship was well underway, with parts of it being built all over Egypt.  Other nations inadvertently helped Egypt's effort by "providing" Egypt with the secrets of jet propulsion needed for advanced aircraft design[16].
 
Two years later, Egyptian scientists provided America with fission technology and a large aid package in return for shipments of uranium.  Officially this uranium was to be used to produce fuel cells for the Egyptian spaceship.  Unofficially, large parts of this supply were being diverted into the Egyptian nuclear weapons program[17].  By 1880 the first tactical nuclear weapons were being mass produced to provide Egypt's nuclear deterrent.  As a side effect from the nuclear weapons program, nuclear power was also discovered, but went unused, due to the lack of need for new power sources.  By 1882, the first Egyptian satellites were launched, and advanced rocket technology allowed for the construction of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting anywhere in the world.  It was unlikely that Egypt would ever be involved in a nuclear war, however.
 
1886 saw the fall of the last Babylonian stronghold in Samarra to the Americans.   As American troops entered the city, it soon became rumored, Hammurabbi fled to his secret command bunker and took poison.  Other rumors place him in exile everywhere from Rome to Egypt's colony in New Thebes.  In either case, Babylon lay crushed beneath the American boot heel, and would never rise again.

Babylon at the Fall, 1886 AD:

In 1892, the Egyptian Intelligence Service began a large-scale recruitment of foreign spies.  Roman and English secret police quickly arrested the spy rings started in those countries, but other rings were more successful, quickly revealing the military strengths of the rest of the world.  America was a good age behind, with infantry and armor the mainstay of their forces.  India had a more modern military, although everything but the Indian navy was at least fifty years behind Egyptian standards.  The Iroquois military was truly pathetic, even farther behind the American military.
 
A strange occurrence in 1898 is worth notice.  An American diplomat appeared before the Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) in Sebti, demanding the secrets of computers.  The subsequent laughter spread quickly from the Immortal Hapshetsut (may she be praised!) throughout the palace, then the city, then the country.  Egypt would never give into barbarians, especially technologically backwards, militarily weak barbarians[18]!
 
As it happens, the year 1900 saw the supreme triumph of Egyptian science, engineering, technology, and imagination.  The ES Horus-Ra was launched that year from Men-Nefer, carrying with it 10,000 of the best and brightest of Egypt, bound for Alpha Centauri.
 
Thus ends the chronicle of Egyptian civilization as is known in the Immortal Hapshetsut's (may she be praised!) colony of Alpha Centauri.

[1] - In case it isn't clear, most of the world is having giant wars for no reason right now.
[2] - In other words, I built a colonial administration there, which is like having a second Forbidden Palace.  I effectively have three capitols now, which is GREAT for corruption.
[3] - 3 luxuries, 30 gold per turn in return for a single luxury.  Ow.
[4] - Yes, I know.  I needed a name.
[5] - This is maybe the 5th time ever that I've built this.
[6] - <grin>
[7] - Elizabeth decided she needed horses for some reason.  Do her tanks suck that bad?  I'm also bankrolling Caesar's brand new rail network.
[8] - Pity I turned off diplomatic victory, eh?
[9] - One of the wonders from my mod.  Modern age version of the Great Library, never goes obsolete.
[10] - I was building a SAM battery?  <shrug>
[11] - Wonder how bad I misspelled that. [edit]As it happens, I didn't.[/edit]
[12] - Let's attack EVERYONE on our continent!  Yeah!
[13] - Although some sort of nuclear-capable bomber would be a cool idea for a later revision of my mod.  Things are gonna get scary when people start getting Space Flight.
[14] - New tech in my mod, comes after Ecology, required for Synth Fibers and Space Flight, as well as Recycling.  And it allows Mech Inf as opposed to Computers.
[15] - Longevity?  I never build Longevity...
[16] - New mod tech, available with rocketry, needed for stealth.  Gives jet fighters, jet bombers (yes, another new unit), and the American F-15.
[17] - Onlookers are invited to ponder the irony of America providing a Middle Eastern nation uranium for use in nuclear weapons. ;)
[18] - Technically, he's got a bigger military than I do, but I'm vastly superior in technology, I can crank a modern armor in 40+ cities every 2 turns, and, of course, I have 7 ICBMs and 6 tac nukes.