Mare Nostrum is part of "The Second World War Series" from Diffraction Entertainment. MN depicts the struggle for North Africa, East Africa and the Middle East. It starts with the ill-prepared Italian offensive into Egypt and ends with the surrender of all Axis units in Tunisia. Unlike most other games about the African Campaign does Mare Nostrum include the battles for British and Italian Somaliland, the Iraqi coup d'etat from 1941 with the subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War and the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. The mapped Area covers Northern Africa from the Western Desert to Egypt, East Africa, the Iberian peninsula, most of the Middle East including Iran and parts of Italy.