Chapter Summaries

Ernst planned East Africa’s future economic geography, deciding that Nacala and Pemba should develop as twin cities within a larger coastal and inland network. He also explained why he intended to limit industrial development in the dry southern region to avoid worsening desertification and water shortages.

• Roald told his subordinates how Port of Mozambique got its name and described the island’s defenses and its new role as an East African naval base.
• Ernst compared the potential of Nacala and Pemba and decided to develop them together rather than choose one as northern Mozambique’s leading port.
• Ernst outlined a plan for four coastal urban clusters, two lakeside economic clusters, and two inland clusters across East Africa.
• Ernst explained that he would use southern Africa’s mineral resources as an industrial raw-material base while avoiding excessive local industry because of limited water and desertification risks.

Ernst held off developing southern Angola because East Africa could not safely defend its Atlantic presence, while East Africa absorbed the Lanfang Republic into a new overseas province. The chapter left Daiyan incorporated into the province, with its residents slated for relocation and assimilation.

• Ernst decided not to develop southern Angola, citing its poor conditions and the danger of spreading East Africa’s limited navy into the Atlantic.
• After securing Dutch recognition of their respective spheres on Borneo, East Africa sent troops to Pontianak Port and declared the Lanfang Republic an East African colony.
• Willert took office as the first governor of Lanfang Overseas Province as the East African flag rose beside the former republic’s flag.
• East Africa incorporated Daiyan, formerly a tributary state of Lanfang, into the new province.
• Ernst planned to relocate Daiyan’s mainly Malay residents to East Africa and assimilate them.

East Africa took control of Pontianak and began preparing to extend its rule over the former Lanfang Republic, while Liu Asheng considered how to preserve his family’s position. Governor Willert delayed reforms until East African troops secured the rest of Lanfang and ordered investigations into local forces and businesses.

• Liu Aman told Liu Asheng that German forces had seized Pontianak with help from a detachment already stationed there, while the Dutch manager had left alongside them.
• Liu Asheng ordered an envoy to meet the German official and learn East Africa’s intentions, prioritizing the Liu family’s interests if their position could not be saved.
• Willert reviewed reports of brothels, opium dens, and other illegal organizations in Pontianak and decided not to act until East African troops controlled the wider region.
• Willert ordered officials to investigate forces outside Pontianak to prepare for the military’s expansion across the former Lanfang Province.

After severe flooding damaged crops across the Great Lakes Region, Ernst decided to accelerate nationwide water conservancy construction. Germany and Austria lent East Africa more than two hundred technical experts to guide a twenty-year building campaign.

• Najin ordered disaster assessments, grain relief preparations, river dredging, and disease-prevention measures in Western Great Lakes Province.
• Ernst discussed the flood’s threat to grain production with Constantin and proposed expanding the coastal plains’ water conservancy model across East Africa.
• Constantin approved Ernst’s plan for large-scale water conservancy projects throughout the country.
• Ernst asked Germany and Austria for specialists, and their governments agreed to lend East Africa more than two hundred water conservancy experts.
• Ernst planned to use twenty years of intensive construction to advance East African agriculture.

Ernst organized East Africa’s nationwide water conservancy works and planned to send its trained Black soldiers and other laborers to the Americas. He ordered more ships diverted to American transport routes to increase the Black population there and, ironically, “speed up” America’s development.

• Ernst reassured German water conservancy experts that abundant Black labor would support East Africa’s construction projects.
• After learning that more than ninety thousand Black soldiers had received military training and some German, Ernst ordered them taught English before being sent to the United States.
• Ernst instructed his subordinate to teach the soldiers the phrase “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” and discussed sending more East African laborers to American and South American markets.
• Ernst set a goal of raising the Black share of the United States population to twenty percent, requiring at least three million additional people.
• Ernst ordered twenty percent of the ships serving the Far Eastern immigrant trade redirected to American transport routes.

After Portugal’s defeat in the East Portugal War, Benjamin’s government planned to contain East Africa through diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions while preparing for a future war. Britain then tried to draw Portugal back into its plans by promising support and weapons, leaving Verus wary of being pushed into another conflict.

• Benjamin concluded that Britain could not defeat or weaken East Africa by force in the short term and agreed to pursue political isolation and economic sanctions.
• Benjamin ordered the Foreign Ministry to contact East Africa’s neighbors and form an anti-East African alliance.
• Ambassador Williams argued with Grand Duke Verus over Britain’s responsibility for Portugal’s losses in the war.
• Verus refused to let Portugal face East Africa alone, and Williams promised Britain would fight alongside Portugal in the future.
• Williams offered Portugal advanced weapons, including artillery and machine guns, as Britain prepared for another confrontation with East Africa.

Britain tried to recruit Portugal and Belgium into a coalition to contain East Africa’s expansion. Portugal agreed to act behind Britain in a future war, while Leopold II pretended to cooperate and secretly informed East Africa of Britain’s approach.

• Grand Duke Verus warned Williams that Portugal could not endure another conflict, and Williams offered an alliance promising British support in a future war.
• Williams explained that Britain wanted to prevent East Africa from becoming a powerful rival like the United States or Brazil.
• Britain approached Belgium, whose position in Congo made it a potential obstacle to East Africa’s expansion.
• Ambassador Claire urged Leopold II to block East Africa and offered favorable weapons deals if Belgium pursued the Congo Basin.
• Leopold II feigned agreement with Claire, then sent East Africa word that Britain had tried to recruit Belgium.

Britain imposed economic sanctions on East Africa, targeting its agricultural exports and restricting trade in goods and technology. Ernst dismissed the sanctions as manageable, considered ways to evade them through British colonies and third countries, and decided East Africa should appear less threatening without making military concessions.

• Britain passed a sanctions bill against East Africa in July 1879 and targeted its agricultural exports, imports of technology and machinery, and purchases of East African products.
• Ernst learned that Britain justified the sanctions by accusing East Africa of violating free-trade principles, and he rejected the charge.
• Ernst proposed using Britain's colonial trade channels, especially India and Australia, to find openings for East African agricultural exports.
• Ernst concluded that East Africa could withstand the sanctions through self-sufficiency, German and Austrian support, and purchases routed through third countries.
• Ernst decided to consider portraying East Africa as harmless and shifting some of Britain's attention toward other countries, while refusing military concessions.

Constantin declined Germany’s offer of assistance after Britain sanctioned East Africa, while East Africa resumed industrial expansion as transport recovered after the war. The government planned to grow the domestic electricity market, and Dar es Salaam Cable Factory No. 2 prepared to restart production.

• Ambassador Klein offered Germany’s assistance to Constantin, who thanked him but said East Africa would ask for help if necessary.
• With the Central Railway back in civilian service after the East Portugal War, copper ore and other materials reached Dar es Salaam in greater quantities.
• Stephen welcomed the arrival of copper ore and said Dar es Salaam Cable Factory No. 2 could expand production.
• East Africa’s four cable factories continued supplying domestic and Far Eastern markets, though their products were not yet good enough for wider overseas exports.
• The government planned to expand telegraph networks and electrical lighting, prioritizing offices, factories, post offices, Soga, and First Town.

Ernst instructed Gero to divert Britain’s attention from East Africa by stirring public debate about the Afghan and South Pacific wars. He ordered a covert weapons operation to intensify unrest in Afghanistan while concealing East Africa’s involvement.

• Ernst summoned National Security Bureau director Gero and explained that East Africa needed to distract Britain without openly confronting it.
• Ernst told Gero to recruit British parliamentarians to speak about Afghanistan and South America, then use newspapers to amplify their statements.
• Ernst identified Afghanistan as the main target and ordered Gero to provoke unrest there while exploiting news of the South Pacific War as a secondary distraction.
• Ernst directed Gero to arrange a covert transfer of surplus weapons to Afghan resistance forces and disguise their origin by using Arab merchants and Russian-language operatives.
• Gero proposed routing the weapons through Zanzibar and blaming countries near Afghanistan, while Ernst stressed that the operation must leave no trace of East African involvement.

Disguised East African agent Andrei traveled with Faruq’s caravan to Shindand to supply Afghan resistance forces and hinder Britain. The caravan reached Yazdān before continuing toward Andrei’s destination, where a local merchant welcomed him.

• Andrei reassured Faruq that the weapons delivery through Afghanistan was a secret operation and explained his Saint Petersburg accent.
• Faruq’s observation about Andrei’s speech prompted him to recognize that agents should learn regional dialects.
• After two days of travel, Andrei and the caravan arrived at Yazdān on Afghanistan’s western border.
• Andrei continued toward Shindand, where he planned to support local armed forces resisting Britain.
• A merchant with ties to Zanzibar traders received Andrei after he entered Shindand.

Ilya, a Russian military instructor in Afghanistan, investigated a shipment of mixed-origin weapons delivered to the Afghan resistance and wondered who had supplied it. The shipment was secretly arranged by East African intelligence, and Murat was satisfied that the resistance now had arms to fight Britain.

• Ilya asked Murat where the Afghan resistance had obtained its new weapons, and Murat said an Arab merchant had delivered them through an unidentified intermediary.
• Murat said the intermediary was supposedly Russian, but Ilya doubted Russia had sent the shipment without informing him.
• Ilya examined the weapons and found arms from Britain, France, Germany, and other countries, with very few Russian weapons.
• Ilya concluded the shipment was more likely a collection of secondhand arms than covert Russian support, while the narration revealed East African intelligence had arranged it.
• Ilya questioned the weapons' age and reliability, but Murat said the resistance would use them to strike the British.

Ilya and Murat debated how Afghanistan’s newly armed resistance should fight the British, ultimately agreeing to make Kabul their primary target. Murat aimed to drive Britain out while guarding against Russian self-interest, while Ilya supported the attack because it would advance his own career.

• East Africa supplied Afghanistan with enough weapons to equip thirty thousand men, but the resistance lacked ammunition.
• Ilya worried about ammunition supplies, and Murat proposed capturing British supplies and making gunpowder locally.
• Murat rejected focusing on supply-line ambushes and argued that the resistance should attack Kabul to rally Afghan patriots.
• Murat agreed that southern fighters could also harass British supply lines while the main force advanced on Kabul.
• Ilya endorsed Murat’s plan because an attack on Kabul would attract attention and improve his prospects for promotion.

Abraham’s assassination attempt on the British Governor of Kabul triggered the Great Kabul Uprising, but the governor survived and British forces suppressed the revolt in the city. Ilya and Murat withdrew the surviving resistance forces before British reinforcements could arrive.

• Abraham shot at the British Governor of Kabul during a gathering, but the governor used the Mayor of Kabul as a shield, and Abraham was captured.
• Afghan resistance organizations launched the Great Kabul Uprising, battling British troops and puppet forces inside Kabul and attacking the city walls from outside.
• The British Governor of Kabul rallied his troops, who defeated the rebels inside the city and turned their strength against the resistance outside.
• Ilya urged Murat to retreat before British reinforcements arrived, and Murat agreed to withdraw.
• The resistance force left Kabul with a little over one thousand men remaining from the more than three thousand who had set out.

After the Kabul uprising inflicted heavy losses on British troops, unrest spread across Afghanistan and Britain sought reinforcements. Britain blamed Russia for aiding the rebels and moved to keep Russia occupied, while Russia ordered Ilya to intensify the resistance.

• The British Governor of Kabul ordered a three-day martial law, investigations, stronger regional defenses, and the capture of Murat after reviewing the uprising’s casualties.
• Riots erupted across southern Afghanistan, forcing the Governor to request reinforcements from Britain.
• Benjamin’s government suspected Russia of secretly supporting the Afghan rebels and decided to help the Ottoman Empire prolong its war with Russia.
• Benjamin ordered more Indian troops and part of the Cape Town army sent to Afghanistan to suppress the unrest.
• Ilya reported on the Kabul uprising, and the Tsarist Russian government urged him to intensify resistance and supplied him with weapons.

Ernst rewarded the agents who stirred conflict between Britain and Afghanistan, then returned to overseeing East Africa’s water conservancy project. In Mbeya, students at Second Middle School visited a state-run farm, where Kade used the conditions of Black laborers to teach them patriotism and warn them that East Africa must not decline.

• Ernst praised and rewarded the agents behind the Afghanistan operation, then focused again on East Africa’s nationwide water conservancy construction.
• Yark brought Class Four, Year Three of Mbeya city’s Second Middle School to the Third State-run Farm for a week of practical lessons led by manager Kade.
• When Roald objected that the students already knew how to farm, Yark and Kade explained the activity’s aims of practical experience and exposure to advanced production.
• Kade toured the students around the farm and pointed to its Black laborers, urging the young people to devote themselves to East Africa so it would not fall into decline.
• The students saw the Black laborers’ hardship as a warning that backwardness could leave East Africans vulnerable to exploitation, while the laborers continued their work unaware of the lesson’s purpose.

Kade showed students at Mbeya city's Third State-run Farm a steam tractor and urged them to study so East Africa could eventually manufacture its own. The chapter explained how East Africa's widespread middle-school education produced more graduates than its universities and developing industry could absorb, while Ernst expected that surplus to become valuable as industry grew and abroad.

• Kade explained the importance of agricultural mechanization as a steam tractor demonstrated plowing at the Third State-run Farm.
• The students marveled at the tractor, and Kade told them East Africa owned only twenty-three imported tractors and lacked the industrial capacity to build its own.
• Kade encouraged the students to study and help make East African tractors cheaper and smaller, but the Second Middle School students complained about studying.
• The chapter described the academic gap between East Africa's middle schools and the limited opportunities for practical-school students to enter university.
• Ernst considered how East Africa's surplus middle-school graduates might find work in Germany and Austria and support future industrial growth.

Kade led the Second Middle School students through their first day of farm labor, using their plain meal to teach them about hardship and their parents’ immigrant pasts. The chapter then turned to Ernst’s reflections on East Africa’s centralized rule, its reliance on the army, and the need to delay political reforms until the country was ready.

• Kade assigned the students to weed a large plot using only hoes, and they worked enthusiastically until the labor wore them down.
• The students complained about a lunch of flatbread and pickles, and Kade explained that the wheat they had worked to harvest would become such food.
• Kade reminded the students that many immigrants had faced hunger and hardship before coming to East Africa, leaving them thoughtful about their good fortune.
• Ernst reflected that East Africa remained immature and centrally governed by the Hechingen Royal Family, with the army helping maintain order and build the state.
• Ernst decided East Africa should not yet loosen its controls or introduce elections, while recognizing that future development would require him to follow the changing times.

Second Middle School students studied agricultural labor and technology while East Africa mobilized hundreds of thousands of Black slaves to build irrigation canals. German experts Stephen and Richard discussed the country’s oppressive slave system and vast construction plans as the water project continued around Mbeya.

• Second Middle School teachers explained how manual labor, animal-powered equipment, and mechanized agriculture represented stages in productive development.
• Stephen and Richard watched Black laborers dig canals near Mbeya and debated the scale of East Africa’s projects and the risk of an uprising.
• Richard estimated East Africa had at least eight million white immigrants and argued they could suppress the enslaved Black population.
• Stephen criticized East Africa’s autocratic society, while Richard compared its treatment of slaves with the history of emancipation in the United States.
• East Africa had mobilized more than seven hundred thousand Black slaves nationwide to build canals and irrigation works drawing water from the Great Lakes.
• Water conservancy experts proposed extending deepening canals inland from the low-lying lakes, a project Ernst expected to sustain through immigrant support and repression.

Constantin inspected First Town’s new power plant and learned how it would supply the railway station and nearby light industries. The chapter ended with plans for food-processing plants and a paper mill, whose wastewater would be piped into the Indian Ocean.

• Constantin asked whether First Town’s Second Power Plant was modeled on Berlin’s railway station power plant, and its manager explained the new technology and plans to serve nearby areas.
• Constantin questioned the plant’s limited output and likely losses, while the manager defended Ernst’s support for the power industry and its future potential.
• The manager said Ernst planned to develop low-pollution light industries near First Town’s railway, and that the plant could provide lighting for several factories.
• The manager identified two food-processing plants and a paper mill preparing to build nearby to serve First Town’s needs.
• Constantin raised concerns about pollution from papermaking, and the manager said separate drainage pipes would carry wastewater to the sea.