Chapter Summaries

Ernst persuaded King Wilhelm I to let Hechingen enter the war against France in exchange for the French island of Mayotte and command under Leopold. He kept East Africa officially separate from the conflict while securing battlefield experience for Hechingen Military Academy’s students.

• Ernst told King Wilhelm I that Hechingen would join Prussia’s war against France, and Wilhelm recalled that the academy’s students were not Prussian citizens.
• Ernst explained that Hechingen would participate instead of East Africa so East Africa could avoid provoking France while still gaining benefits.
• Ernst asked for Mayotte to be transferred to the Hechingen Royal Family if Prussia defeated France, and King Wilhelm I agreed.
• Ernst requested that Leopold command Hechingen’s force, and King Wilhelm I accepted.
• Ernst planned to use the war to test and train Hechingen Military Academy’s students for East Africa’s future army.

Ernst considered why Mayotte Island was the most attainable French possession for East Africa to acquire, weighing its strategic location against France’s other colonies and Madagascar’s stronger states. He concluded that Mayotte could serve as a stepping stone toward the Comoros and southern Madagascar, while direct expansion elsewhere remained beyond East Africa’s reach.

• Ernst reviewed France’s six key colonial regions and identified Mayotte as the one closest to East Africa.
• He judged Mayotte’s location in the Mozambique Channel and its agricultural capacity valuable for East African expansion.
• Ernst ruled out taking French Madagascar or the Kingdom of Imerina, citing their strength and East Africa’s limited military capacity.
• He considered southern Madagascar a possible future target and the Comoros a useful relay station.
• Ernst concluded that France might cede sparsely populated Mayotte more readily than its larger, more important colonies.

East Africa prepared to replace Prussian uniforms with its new Type 70 military uniform while expanding its army. Ernst arranged for Leopold to command 2,247 Hechingen Military Academy cadets in the coming war, and Leopold approved their abilities after inspecting their training.

• Jiaozhou Textile Factory produced cloth for East Africa and East Asian markets, while its connected clothing factory made the new Type 70 uniforms in grassland and desert colors.
• East Africa began producing Type 70 uniforms for its 100,000-man army expansion and planned to replace existing Prussian uniforms over time.
• Ernst asked Leopold to command 2,247 third-year Hechingen Military Academy cadets, explaining that he wanted them treated like ordinary troops rather than exposed to unfair risks.
• Leopold assembled the cadets and arranged to judge their abilities in a military exercise.
• After the exercise, Leopold praised the cadets' organization, firearms skills, and fitness, and agreed to lead them.

Constantin’s officials discussed the Portuguese campaign in Malawi, unaware that it had stalled against local resistance. Facing failure and dwindling ammunition, Burled and Captain Charles devised a false report blaming a mountain flood and considered killing their native auxiliaries to conceal the truth.

• Constantin ordered the new army reorganization completed before July and dismissed concerns about the Portuguese advance into Malawi.
• In Chipoka, Anthony’s Portuguese squad was tricked by a native fighter and struggled to control the unfamiliar battlefield.
• Burled berated Captain Charles after the Portuguese expedition had spent three months advancing only to Chipoka with ammunition nearly exhausted.
• Captain Charles proposed claiming that a mountain flood had destroyed the expedition’s main force and that the surviving Portuguese had stood firm.
• Burled and Captain Charles discussed killing the remaining native auxiliaries so they could not expose their fabricated account.

Burled returned to the Governor of Mozambique after his failed campaign in Malawi and blamed the losses on a flash flood. His uncle backed his story and praised him, while Major Chakov resigned in disgust.

• Burled ordered the Portuguese soldiers to disband the auxiliary army, drive the indigenous troops into Malawi, and claim a flash flood caused their losses.
• Burled told the Governor of Mozambique that a flash flood and an auxiliary revolt had ruined his campaign, and the Governor accepted his account.
• Major Chakov argued that Burled should be punished for failing to conquer Malawi and for recklessly marching into dangerous weather.
• The Governor dismissed Chakov’s criticism, declared Burled’s mission a success, and won support from the other officials.
• Chakov resigned from his post and left Mozambique, vowing to remember how its officials had treated him.

The Kingdom of East Africa began its Third Conquest War, sending armies across central and southern Africa to seize surrounding plateaus. At the Kivite Royal Palace, Felix outlined the campaign’s objectives and limits as the East African Army engaged the Luba Kingdom.

• On July 10, the expanded East African army crossed the chain bridge in three directions, while Msiri promised Merke that the Yeke Kingdom would help East Africa fight the Luba Kingdom.
• The first shot of the Third Conquest War was fired as the northbound East African Army encountered Luba forces in the Kasongo region.
• At the Kivite Royal Palace, Felix explained that four armies would advance toward the Azande, Lunda, Kwango, Matabele, and northern Kalahari regions.
• Felix said the campaign would extend East Africa’s borders to neighboring powers but would be its last operation of this scale for a long time.
• Felix described the logistical challenges of the Kalahari Basin, where scarce clean water and the lack of agriculture limited the Southwestern Army to a little over one thousand men.

As the Franco-Prussian War began, Leopold led the newly formed Hechingen Brigade to join Prussia’s Third Army Corps. Frederick III inspected the assembled forces and was impressed by the brigade’s order and training, while the two commanders discussed its prospects against France.

• France declared war on Prussia, and Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and Hesse backed Prussia.
• Leopold led the 4,372-man Hechingen Brigade west to the border region, where it assembled with the forces of the Third Army Corps.
• Frederick III inspected the assembled state forces and found their organization and equipment disappointing.
• Frederick III noticed the orderly Hechingen Brigade and asked Leopold about its formation and Ernst’s role in it.
• Leopold predicted that the brigade would become an elite force if it survived its first battles.
• The French First Army Corps faced Prussia’s Third Army Corps along the border from Saarbrücken to Strasbourg as patriotic crowds sent French troops off to war.

At a parade ground as war with France loomed, Baden officers discussed the Prussian Army and uncovered the Hechingen Brigade’s ties to the Hohenzollern family and East Africa. Ernst arrived to oversee the brigade’s students and assigned Heinrich to serve under Leopold, giving him a chance to earn military distinction.

• Baden officers compared their troops with the Prussians and discussed the Hechingen Brigade’s unusual status and its connection to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate and East Africa.
• Blair explained that the Hechingen Royal Family had rebuilt its military force through the Hechingen Military Academy, with the brigade serving East African interests while operating separately from Prussia.
• Ernst arrived at the front to raise morale among the Hechingen Military Academy students before their early graduation.
• Ernst introduced Heinrich to Leopold as his new subordinate, citing Heinrich’s Berlin Military Academy record and his suitability for the assignment.
• Ernst intended Heinrich’s service in the war to build his military reputation and strengthen East African influence in the German territories.

Jaime Medina warned Napoleon III that France was unprepared for war with Prussia, but the emperor and his generals dismissed him and sent him back to Marseille. Medina used a staged press scandal to raise his family’s profile, leaving the Medina Family famous across France.

• Jaime Medina told Napoleon III that France needed to reform its army before fighting Prussia, but Napoleon and Marshal MacMahon rebuked him and ordered him back to Marseille.
• Medina told reporters that France was unprepared for war, and Paris newspapers portrayed him as a coward and a supporter of surrender.
• Medina fled Paris by overnight train as public anger against Prussia and his supposed opposition to war grew.
• Medina revealed that he had hired the reporters himself and used Hechingen-backed Marseille newspapers to attack the Paris press and defend his reputation.
• The French government stopped the escalating media feud, but the Medina Family had become widely known across France.

Prussia prepared to meet the French along the Rhine while Moltke explained why the German forces would wait for France to attack. In Paris, Napoleon III discovered that France was unprepared, with supply failures and poor intelligence leaving him furious and politically vulnerable.

• Moltke presented King Wilhelm I with a plan to defend along the Rhine, explaining that the Vosges would hinder a Prussian attack and that French forces would be divided between Metz and Strasbourg.
• Moltke and Wilhelm discussed the slow arrival of southern German forces and the uncertain intentions of Austria, while Moltke argued that Austria could not safely intervene against Prussia.
• Napoleon III learned that colonial deployments and slow mobilization had left France struggling to assemble its army and deliver supplies to the front.
• Napoleon III threatened the logistics department with dismissal unless it delivered supplies within ten days, then berated the Intelligence Department for lacking information about French forces abroad and the Prussian army.
• Napoleon III recognized that his political rivals in Paris posed a danger as his government’s failures became clear.

Napoleon III and Moltke prepared for the expected Franco-Prussian War as France faced a major numerical disadvantage. Meanwhile, East Africa’s campaign advanced slowly, and Austria prepared a covert plan to intervene in Italy after French troops left Rome.

• Napoleon III outlined a plan to take Frankfurt with the Rhine Army while MacMahon’s Châlons Army supported the advance.
• Bazaine warned Napoleon III that the German Allied Forces greatly outnumbered the French, but Napoleon rallied his generals to fight.
• Moltke anticipated a French move toward Frankfurt and ordered Prussian forces to withdraw to advantageous positions and avoid a direct clash.
• East Africa’s forces advanced ten to twenty kilometers a day as poor transport and supply routes slowed their campaign.
• An Austro-Hungarian envoy learned that French troops had left Rome and planned to persuade the Pope to accept Austrian protection.
• The envoy directed General Karl to keep his hidden force in Rome until Italy acted against the Papal States, giving Austria a pretext to intervene.

Napoleon III ordered France to invade Prussian territory after learning that Prussia could mobilize troops by rail far faster than France. As French and Prussian forces clashed near Saarbrücken, Wilhelm I and Moltke directed German armies to concentrate against the French and isolate MacMahon’s forces south of the Vosges Mountains.

• Lebeuf warned Napoleon III that Prussia’s superior railway network was rapidly increasing its forces at the front, and Napoleon III ordered an attack into Prussian territory.
• Lieutenant Camille LeRoux’s platoon repelled a Prussian company near Saarbrücken, killed its flag-waving officer, and pursued the retreating troops.
• Wilhelm I ordered the Prussian counterattack, while Moltke summoned the Second Army Corps toward Saarbrücken and directed the Third Army Corps to block French forces south of the Vosges Mountains.
• Frederick III ordered the Third Army Corps to advance toward the Vosges Mountains, sent cavalry toward Wissembourg, and assigned forces to guard against the Châlons Army.
• The Bavarian Kingdom General demanded that Bavaria’s two corps lead the advance into Wissembourg, and Frederick III allowed them to go ahead.

After the French army withdrew into defensive positions, German forces launched a broad counterattack, and Bavarian and Prussian troops attacked Wissembourg. General Abel Douay’s small French force resisted fiercely, but Krupp artillery silenced the French guns as the battle continued against overwhelming odds.

• After taking Saarbrücken, Napoleon III and Lebeuf rejected Bazaine’s plan to pursue the Prussian troops and ordered French forces to withdraw to defensive positions, while reserves moved forward.
• Moltke ordered German forces to counterattack along the front and directed the Third Army Corps to take Wissembourg on August 4.
• General Abel Douay arrived at Wissembourg on August 3 and learned that its neglected fortifications needed repairs, but German forces crossed the Lauter before he could prepare.
• Bavarian troops surprised Douay’s garrison on August 4, and his infantry, rifles, and machine guns inflicted heavy losses on the first attackers.
• Prussian and Bavarian infantry continued fighting from cover, while Krupp guns outmatched French artillery and then targeted French troops in their trenches.
• Twenty-nine German battalions pressed the eight French battalions, but the French resistance caused German casualties to exceed French losses.

Leopold and Kirchbach clashed over where the Hechingen Brigade should deploy, with Leopold choosing Daveluy despite Kirchbach’s doubts about the unit. Leopold returned to camp convinced the brigade could prove its worth in battle.

• Kirchbach assigned Leopold’s Hechingen Brigade to Waldwiesen while the Fifth Army Corps held Saverne, but Leopold rejected the post as too far from the front.
• Leopold chose Daveluy on Saverne’s flank and warned Kirchbach that his hastily assembled troops might struggle against French veterans.
• Kirchbach privately ordered Robert to station the Third Brigade at Wielversan and support the Hechingen Brigade if it came under threat.
• Leopold returned to camp angry at Kirchbach’s arrogance and told Heinrich that the Hechingen Brigade was better than Kirchbach’s recruits.
• Heinrich urged Leopold to prove the brigade’s strength through victory, and Leopold agreed that the unit could match elite forces apart from its lack of battlefield experience.

The Hechingen Brigade fortified Daveluy while French General de Failly planned a surprise attack to capture Saverne and support the Châlons Army. His feint at Stanley drew away Kirchbach’s reinforcements, leaving Saverne exposed as the French advance began.

• The Hechingen Brigade built and improved extensive defenses around Daveluy, and Heinrich explained to Leopold that fortifications protected soldiers against the French rifles’ longer range.
• French scouts reported the positions of Prussia’s Fifth Army Corps, and de Failly planned for the Twelfth Infantry Division to feint at Stanley while the Fourteenth Infantry Division and cavalry attacked Saverne.
• De Failly ordered a brigade of the Twelfth Infantry Division to block the Prussian troops at Daveluy and said the attack on Saverne would help relieve Marshal MacMahon’s forces.
• The French Fifth Army Corps advanced under cover of darkness and engaged the Prussian troops at Stanley, whose commander urgently requested reinforcements.
• Kirchbach sent two infantry brigades from Saverne to Stanley, while the French cavalry approached Saverne from the southeast and the main force advanced from the west.

Ernst arranged additional ships to transport German, Austrian, and Italian immigrants to East Africa, while preparing Zambia for their settlement. He also instructed Tom to keep Hechingen’s Marseille business out of politics and let the Medina Family handle local affairs.

• Tom reported that the Hechingen fleet had freed 64 ships for the planned migration, and Ernst ordered him to hire Dutch, Italian, Greek, and Spanish vessels as needed.
• Ernst planned to resettle Italian immigrants in Zambia alongside Far Eastern and German settlers, using established East African communities to guide their farming and labor.
• The chapter explained that East Africa had already received many southern German migrants and that its culture and ties leaned toward the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• Ernst told Tom to supply goods in Marseille while leaving political activity to the Medina Family, which could build support in southern France during the war.

After the German forces captured Wissembourg, the Hechingen Brigade and the French Fifty-Fourth Brigade prepared for a clash near Daveluy. Leopold and Heinrich learned that French troops had entered a nearby forest and planned a midnight surprise attack, leaving the battle about to begin.

• Wissembourg residents lowered the drawbridge for the Prussian Army, and the German forces defeated the French after fierce street fighting.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm and the German generals observed a moment of silence over General Douay’s body in Wissembourg.
• The commander of the French Fifty-Fourth Brigade planned to seize Daveluy at daybreak, believing the Hechingen Brigade was weak and isolated.
• Heinrich reported that a French force had entered the forest west of Daveluy, and Leopold concluded it might threaten the Hechingen Brigade.
• Heinrich persuaded Leopold to prepare a midnight surprise attack, using the forest and darkness to reduce the French Chassepot rifles’ advantage.

Heinrich persuaded Leopold to launch a night attack on the French Fifty-Fourth Brigade, and the Hechingen Brigade caught the unprepared French forces in a chaotic assault. After the French scattered, fled, or surrendered, Robert’s Third Brigade arrived as the Hechingen Brigade began clearing the battlefield.

• Leopold and Heinrich gathered the Hechingen Brigade’s officers, agreed on a night attack, and settled the units’ assignments after discussion.
• The Hechingen Brigade prepared for battle as Otto warned his recruits and gave them cigarettes and beer.
• At midnight, Heinrich observed the disordered French positions and fired the first shot at 12:57, sending the Hechingen Brigade into the camp.
• The French Fifty-Fourth Brigade struggled to organize in the darkness, and Hechingen soldiers overwhelmed them as French troops fled or surrendered.
• Robert’s Third Brigade arrived after the fighting, while the Hechingen Brigade cleared the battlefield and captured French soldiers who later wandered out of the forest.

As Prussia and France became locked in war, Italy prepared to seize Rome, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire placed the Papal States under its protection. Victor Emmanuel II nevertheless ordered an invasion while reinforcing Venice against possible Austro-Hungarian interference.

• The Hechingen Brigade counted 256 casualties after defeating the French Fifty-Fourth Brigade, whose commander Allied had been killed.
• Garibaldi and Italy’s Foreign Minister urged Emmanuel II to take Rome while France and Prussia were occupied, but a telegram revealed that the Pope had placed the Papal States under Austro-Hungarian protection.
• The chapter flashed back to Pius IX accepting Austro-Hungarian protection and signing agreements that granted the empire garrison rights.
• Garibaldi and the Foreign Minister argued that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not stop Italy from taking Rome, and Victor Emmanuel II agreed to march on the city while sending elite troops to defend Venice.

Pius IX feared the Kingdom of Italy would overwhelm the Papal States and demanded to know how the Austro-Hungarian Empire would protect Rome. Floyd assured him Italy would never enter Rome, and Pius IX mistakenly concluded Austria planned to stir up separatists across Italy.

• Pius IX panicked over the Papal States’ weak army after France withdrew its troops and summoned Floyd.
• Pius IX asked Floyd whether Austria would provide more than verbal support against Italy.
• Floyd said Austria had contingency plans and promised Italy would never enter Rome.
• Pius IX guessed that Austria had spies ready to incite former Italian states to rebel.
• The narration revealed that Pius IX was mistaken and Austria’s intervention relied on brute force, while its supposed spies were actually Ernst.