Recaps

In 1925, Xindai City mayor Li Sen urged local aluminum enterprises to raise output above fifty thousand tons and strengthen downstream production and overseas sales. Xindai faced growing competition from Soyu and Maputo, but its industrial chain and economic advantages supported its continued growth.

• The chapter described East Africa’s rise as the world’s leading aluminum producer, with Xindai City producing over forty thousand tons in 1924.
• Mayor Li Sen called on Xindai’s aluminum plants to push annual output above fifty thousand tons in the final year of the Fifth Five-Year Plan.
• Li Sen warned that Soyu and Maputo were closing the production gap and urged local firms to defend their markets and seek overseas customers.
• Li Sen called for downstream industries to expand aluminum processing and end-product manufacturing, building on Xindai’s completed aluminum industrial chain.
• The chapter contrasted Xindai’s fertile, well-connected Zambezi hinterland with Soyu’s lower Congo constraints, while noting that Soyu still had long-term hydropower potential.

In 1925, Finance Minister Logens presented East Africa’s Fifth Five-Year Plan results, describing an economy that had recovered from crises and made major advances in industry, energy, and infrastructure. The report left East Africa with a broadly satisfactory record, though its growth had slowed compared with earlier plans.

• The East African government planned to extend navigation along the lower Zambezi but deferred larger river projects until technology and assessments matured.
• Logens told officials at Rhine Palace that the Fifth Five-Year Plan had faced global depression, European flu, and economic restructuring, while several industries still achieved breakthroughs.
• Logens explained that East African shipbuilding and textiles had grown slowly because of postwar naval cutbacks and intensified international competition.
• Logens reported that East Africa’s 1925 steel output exceeded forty-two million tons, oil output exceeded six hundred million barrels, and electricity generation surpassed 120 billion kilowatt-hours.
• Logens said railway operating mileage had increased by more than 3,000 kilometers as the government addressed flawed routes, safety problems, and reconstruction needs.
• East Africa’s Fifth Five-Year Plan was judged satisfactory overall, although its economic growth had lagged behind earlier plans.

Ernst reviewed the Fifth Five-Year Plan and urged East Africa to pursue more careful development as it reached an economic bottleneck. He outlined the Sixth Five-Year Plan’s goal of strengthening the financial industry and making Mombasa a major international financial center, while leaving the task of catching up with Europe and the United States ahead.

• Ernst said the Fifth Five-Year Plan had produced barely passable results and warned that East Africa’s rough-and-ready development had reached its limits.
• Ernst called for the Sixth Five-Year Plan to prioritize technological innovation, financial development, military strength, and expansion of East Africa’s international economic influence.
• Ernst identified the United States and East Africa as the leading contenders to become the next global financial center after London’s wartime decline.
• Ernst explained how East Africa’s industrial base, trade network, colonies, and naval power could support the Rheinland Shield and Mombasa’s financial growth.
• Ernst urged the government to improve financial institutions, the Rheinland Shield’s credibility, and market fairness, aiming to narrow East Africa’s financial gap with Europe and the United States within ten years.

Ernst warned East African officials that an unprecedented global economic crisis could arrive during the Sixth Five-Year Plan and urged them to strengthen domestic resilience through social protections, consumption, industrial upgrading, and a broader service sector. He left them preparing the plan around that risk, while acknowledging that the crisis could not be avoided.

• Ernst argued that industrial competition and unequal distribution had destabilized the world economy, and that East Africa needed to improve labor rights and social security.
• Ernst warned that a global economic crisis might strike during the Sixth Five-Year Plan with greater force than the crisis he remembered, potentially reshuffling the world order.
• An official asked whether the Sixth Five-Year Plan should be more conservative, and Ernst said East Africa should instead invest proactively in industrial upgrading, domestic markets, and technological innovation.
• Ernst said the plan should place greater emphasis on distributing national wealth, raising wages, ensuring employment, and developing the tertiary sector.
• Ernst explained that services such as finance, dining, tourism, entertainment, film, and television could create jobs as industrial productivity reduced factory labor needs.

In Budapest, Tomo and his comrades received orders from the Hungarian party to launch an uprising on February 1, 1926, and seize key sites across the city. They prepared for the revolt as Hungary’s political and social tensions continued to intensify.

• Tomo spoke with café owner Middleton about fair business, the Hungarian government, and the possibility of a government that served the people.
• Heins told Tomo that the organization had an important mission and asked him to meet the others at Heins’s home that evening.
• Heins informed the assembled comrades that the Hungarian party had ordered a Budapest-wide uprising on February 1, 1926.
• Heins assigned Tomo, Bled, and the other members tasks to organize workers and seize important sites, including the National Assembly, police stations, city hall, and radio stations.
• The comrades confirmed their assignments and left Heins’s home to prepare for the uprising.

The Hungarian Labor Party launched a coordinated uprising in Budapest and established a regime after seizing key strategic locations. As uprisings spread across Hungary, Habsburg began assembling troops to suppress the revolt.

• Kun and Gergely discussed the uprising planned for eleven that night, with Gergely responsible for organizing military operations in Budapest.
• At the Vihor Machinery Manufacturing Plant, Bled briefed armed workers on their assignments, including seizing Balint Armory.
• Three gunshots signaled the uprising, and Labor Party units seized Budapest's City Hall, Police Departments, and military camps.
• The Hungarian Labor Party announced the establishment of its regime over the radio and urged people to overthrow Habsburg rule.
• Uprisings spread through Hungary and other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Habsburg began sending troops to suppress them.

Franz and Crown Prince Rudolf discussed the Hungarian Labor Party’s seizure of Budapest and the danger it posed to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They prepared to suppress the revolt with German support and tighten control across the Empire, while Franz warned that unrest could spread and leave the state near collapse.

• Rudolf turned off a Budapest Radio broadcast denouncing the Habsburgs, but Franz demanded to hear it and warned that the Labor Party threatened the Empire’s stability.
• Rudolf told Franz he had sent troops into Hungary and ordered local governments to assist in suppressing the Labor Party.
• Franz worried that unrest could spread to Bosnia, Galicia, Croatia, and other regions, and that Poland might exploit the crisis by stirring separatism in Galicia.
• Rudolf reported that Wilhelm II had promised German support, while Franz cautioned that the Empire must remain vigilant and impose martial law elsewhere.
• Franz called for the Labor Party to be crushed and purged from the army; Rudolf said the crisis could also help the central government reclaim authority and reorganize the military.

Wilhelm II and German officials agreed to prepare military intervention to help the Habsburgs suppress the Hungarian Labor Party and preserve the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany stood ready to act if the rebellion worsened, but it would wait for the empire to request help.

• Wilhelm II ordered German troops in Bavaria to prepare for combat in case the Hungarian crisis required intervention.
• Wilhelm II and Hermann described the Austro-Hungarian Empire as Germany’s indispensable ally and approved plans to support the Habsburgs.
• German officials debated whether the Hungarian Labor Party’s rebellion could weaken Hungary’s elite and help the empire address its national divisions.
• Hermann warned that the Austro-Hungarian Empire might fail to contain the rebellion and said German forces should enter if the situation crossed a threshold.
• The German government approved contingency plans and made military preparations, but waited for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to formally request assistance.

Ernst and Friedrich discussed East Africa’s response to the Hungarian Labor Party rebellion and the importance of preserving the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They agreed to offer limited economic assistance, while Ernst warned that a large-scale conflict could destroy the weakened empire.

• Ernst told Friedrich that East Africa should support the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Hungarian Labor Party and asked him to contact the Habsburgs.
• Friedrich explained that Crown Prince Rudolf viewed the rebellion as a crisis comparable to 1848 and feared nationalist unrest, Soviet intervention, and neighboring countries’ moves.
• Ernst argued that preserving the empire would protect German’s influence and strengthen East Africa’s proposed German-Speaking Countries Organization.
• Friedrich noted that East Africa could offer economic help but could not send troops as Germany could.
• Ernst authorized forgiving or extending non-critical Austro-Hungarian debts and warned that an extensive civil war might bring about the empire’s disintegration.

Crown Prince Friedrich and Ambassador Poinzhausen argued over whether East Africa or Germany should lead the German-Speaking Countries Organization. They agreed to establish dual headquarters, dividing responsibility for promoting German across different regions of the world.

• Ambassador Poinzhausen argued that Germany should host the organization’s headquarters and first summit because Europe had the largest concentration of German-speaking countries.
• Crown Prince Friedrich argued that East Africa’s global reach and rise in Africa made it better suited to promote German worldwide.
• Poinzhausen defended Germany’s industrial development and history of overcoming adversity as reasons it should lead the organization.
• Friedrich proposed two headquarters, with Germany and East Africa handling German promotion in different regions according to their influence.
• Friedrich and Poinzhausen agreed that the two headquarters would share information, consult regularly, and divide their regional responsibilities.

Croatian nationalists carried out a suicide bombing in Zadar amid rising unrest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Dalmatian government responded with martial law and restrictions on Croatia, worsening tensions between the neighboring kingdoms.

• Horovich gave Olov a crude explosive pack and urged him to attack Germans in Zadar.
• Olov charged into a crowded street with the bomb strapped to his chest, killing himself and six pedestrians and injuring fifteen others.
• Horovich scattered anti-German flyers and escaped while police rushed to secure the blast site.
• Kurt identified the attack as the work of Croatian extremist nationalists and ordered a citywide hunt for the perpetrators.
• The Dalmatian government imposed martial law in northern Dalmatia, closed the border with Croatia, and tightened inspections of Croatian merchant ships.

Ploče met the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s conscription quota, and its newly recruited soldiers were sent through Mostar to Bosnia to guard the Serbian border. The chapter revealed that Serbia was also facing a Labor Party uprising backed by the Soviet Union, while the Empire struggled with unrest in Hungary.

• Second Lieutenant Hull told Ploče’s reservists that Dalmatia had to recruit about twenty thousand soldiers, including a minimum of two thousand from Ploče, for stability duties in Bosnia.
• Fred asked Hull about the Hungarian rebellion and said he hoped to return to military service for a stable job and a chance to earn money.
• Hull discussed the Empire’s economic weakness and argued that its divided government and many languages hindered industry and the army.
• Ploče completed its quota in less than half a month, and the recruits were sent to Mostar for reorganization before deployment to Bosnia and the Serbian border.
• The Serbian Labor Party began an uprising against the Kingdom of Serbia, and the Soviet Union supported it more openly than it supported Hungary’s Labor Party.

East Africa hosted the first German-Speaking Countries Organization conference in Luanda, using the gathering to promote German and showcase its development. The conference concluded with East Africa and Germany leading discussions on expanding German education and cultural influence.

• Rodner praised Luanda’s urban design and compared it favorably with Rio de Janeiro while traveling to the conference center with Last.
• Friedrich opened the conference and argued that learning German would help countries access technology, trade, and international affairs.
• Representatives from Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland addressed the gathering.
• Delegates proposed expanding German-language schools and producing films, radio, books, music, and other cultural materials.
• East Africa and Germany led the conference, which also gave East Africa a chance to display its recent development to foreign guests.

Kun and the Hungarian Labor Party leadership planned how to defend their new regime against Austro-Hungarian forces while suppressing domestic opponents and restoring the economy. The chapter ended with Hungary facing severe shortages of weapons and industrial supplies as its army expanded.

• Kun and Varga agreed to seize Komárno, destroy its railway bridge if necessary, and prepare troops to defend the northwestern front.
• Kun identified the northwest and Romania as the main external threats, while ordering forces to crush noble and bourgeois resistance and redistribute land.
• Varga proposed encouraging uprisings in Bosnia and Croatia, and Kun urged the Soviet Union to support labor movements elsewhere in the empire.
• Kun told his colleagues that Hungary had to rely on itself, then directed the government and Red Guard to carry out their strategy.
• Kun turned to restoring production, including at Hungarian armories, as the expanding army faced severe shortages of weapons and supplies.

In April 1926, Hungarian forces fought to delay the Austro-Hungarian advance at Komárno, destroying key transport infrastructure before the city fell. Meanwhile, Soviet experts arrived in Dar es Salaam to study East Africa’s economic rise and its former planned economy.

• Frablay reported that Hungarian defenses outside Komárno had collapsed, and Šurányi ordered him to destroy the shipyards and railway bridge while evacuating troops and equipment to Komárom Fortress.
• Frablay’s forces blew up the shipyards and railway bridge, while Šurányi and several hundred Labor Party members stayed behind to defend Komárno.
• After three days of street fighting, Austro-Hungarian forces wiped out Šurányi’s remaining defenders and captured the city, but the destroyed infrastructure hindered their next operations.
• A group of Soviet experts arrived in Dar es Salaam aboard a Greek passenger liner to investigate East Africa’s rapid economic development.
• The Soviet visitors discussed how Yosef had sent them to study East Africa, particularly its planned economy before 1910.

Soviet urban designers Belogorye and Shapovalov assessed Dar es Salaam’s urban planning and transportation infrastructure, debating the value of its public spaces while agreeing that East Africa’s transport network had helped drive its rapid rise. The chapter left Shapovalov arguing that the Soviet Union needed far more railways and highways, especially to develop West Siberia and strengthen the country.

• Belogorye praised Dar es Salaam’s spacious planning and public facilities, while criticizing East Africa’s weak enforcement of its eight-hour workday.
• Shapovalov dismissed some public facilities as wasteful but praised East Africa’s railways, highways, and renovated ports as models for the Soviet Union.
• Shapovalov compared East Africa’s rise with Imperial Russia’s history, and Belogorye redirected him to focus on East Africa’s development.
• Shapovalov attributed East Africa’s economic growth to its extensive transportation network, well-planned roads, and unified traffic rules.
• Shapovalov argued that Soviet transport lagged far behind East Africa’s and urged expanded railways and highways to develop West Siberia and other regions.

The Soviet delegation debated whether the USSR should prioritize transportation or national defense industry, then continued studying East Africa’s development for guidance on Soviet industrial planning. In Dar es Salaam, Belogorye interviewed retired worker Hertas about his time at a state-owned machinery factory, but misread Hertas’s nostalgia for youth as evidence that East Africa’s planned economy had been better.

• Troitsa argued that the USSR had to put national defense industry first because its weak industrial base and hostile external environment left it vulnerable.
• Belogorye and Shapovalov encouraged the delegation to keep faith in Soviet industrialization, citing the USSR’s resources and the advantages of planned development.
• The Soviet delegation resumed its study of East Africa’s development experience, including how both East Africa and the USSR had prioritized defense industry in their early development.
• In a Dar es Salaam park, Belogorye introduced himself to retired machinery-factory worker Hertas and asked about East Africa’s economic history.
• Hertas recalled his immigration, education, and work at No. 8 Machinery Factory, and praised his time in the state-owned enterprise.
• Belogorye concluded that Hertas’s fond memories showed East Africa’s planned economy had been superior, though Hertas had mainly been remembering his youth.

Belogorye questioned Hertas about East Africa’s planned economy and learned about its strengths and bureaucratic failures, while East African officials investigated a Soviet inspection delegation. The delegation’s research tour continued across the country, giving the Soviet Union information for its industrial plans.

• Belogorye asked Hertas to compare East Africa’s past planned economy with its present system, and Hertas described its rapid development and social warmth alongside bureaucracy, unequal treatment, and rural hardship.
• Belogorye took notes on Hertas’s account and explained that he wanted East African experience to help the Soviet Union avoid similar problems.
• Hertas asked Belogorye about Greece, and Belogorye answered with an account of Greek history and its place in East African textbooks.
• An East African agent suspected the visiting Greek commercial inspection group was a Soviet delegation, but Kade ordered surveillance rather than immediate arrests.
• After three days, Kade’s team identified many of the visitors as Soviet experts, scholars, and officials studying East African industry and state-owned enterprises.
• The Soviet delegation left Dar es Salaam and spent nearly half a year inspecting regions across East Africa, gathering information on transportation, industry, agriculture, and economic organization for Soviet development plans.

The Soviet inspection delegation changed trains in Mombasa and marveled at the city’s futuristic skyscrapers and distinctive urban design. Karimov and Kalyagin discussed the dangers and benefits of high-rise construction, while Mombasa’s rise as a financial center was described as giving East Africa a strong position in the Indian Ocean.

• Members of the Soviet inspection delegation arrived in Mombasa and were astonished by its prosperity and skyscrapers.
• Karimov compared Mombasa Island favorably with Manhattan, praising its greenery, architecture, and careful design.
• Kalyagin criticized the human cost of skyscraper construction in Manhattan and questioned whether Mombasa’s buildings had also caused worker deaths.
• Karimov argued that the Soviet Union could build high-rises safely and provide apartment buildings for ordinary people.
• Mombasa’s growth as a financial hub and its strategic location were described as strengthening its reach across the Indian Ocean and Pacific.

Soviet officials visiting Mombasa compared East Africa’s advanced automobile industry with the Soviet Union’s severe industrial weakness. In Istanbul, after the Ottoman Empire sold its Persian Gulf coast territory to East Africa to repay debt, Kemal and his supporters began planning to overthrow the government.

• Karimov and Sheldar discussed the Soviet Union’s low vehicle production and its wide industrial gap with East Africa.
• Karimov and Sheldar worried that the Soviet Union lagged behind imperialist countries in automobiles, aircraft, and railway development, while Kalyagin argued that their rivalries could be exploited.
• On October 4, 1926, the Ottoman government sold its eastern Persian Gulf territory to East Africa to reduce its debt and fiscal pressure.
• Kemal and Ataturk condemned the government for surrendering Ottoman territory and called for its overthrow.
• Kemal’s supporters pledged their loyalty, and Mustafa argued that European powers were unlikely to intervene if they carefully managed relations with them.

After General Kemal seized power in the Ottoman Empire while retaining the monarchy, Ernst and Friedrich assessed how his government might affect East Africa’s interests. Ernst ordered the Persian Gulf territories formally incorporated as North Bay Province, leaving East Africa with forty-five provinces in 1927.

• Friedrich reported that Kemal’s coup had made the future of Ottoman–East African trade uncertain, though Kemal himself did not seem hostile to East Africa.
• Ernst explained that East Africa’s bloody expansion around the Indian Ocean had made it feared in the region and said Kemal would likely pursue pragmatic reforms rather than provoke East Africa.
• Ernst predicted that Kemal might restore Ottoman independence and eventually challenge foreign control over territories including Lebanon and Kuwait.
• Ernst ordered Friedrich to strengthen East Africa’s military presence along the eastern Persian Gulf coast and incorporate nearly 300,000 square kilometers into the Empire’s homeland administration.
• Ernst named the new imperial province North Bay Province and ordered East Africans to call the Persian Gulf North Bay.

Arabian tribal chiefs gathered in Hasa to decide how to respond after the Ottoman Empire abandoned their land to East Africa. Imam Faisal proposed protecting some of their people, negotiating with East Africa, and seeking outside support while preparing to resist.

• Chieftain Bani and the other chiefs discussed the Ottoman Empire’s withdrawal and considered whether to seek help from the House of Saud or Britain.
• Abdullah argued that the tribes should appeal to Britain, but Bani warned that Britain would not risk a conflict with East Africa for their sake.
• Bani presented the chiefs with the choice of defending their homeland or becoming exiles, and the gathered chiefs asked Imam Faisal to decide their course.
• Imam Faisal proposed sending some younger people and families to safety in the Ottoman Empire, the Internal Governance Kingdom, or overseas.
• Imam Faisal urged the tribes to negotiate with East Africa while also contacting the Internal Governance Kingdom, Britain, the Kingdom of Hejaz, and Persia for support.

East African intelligence officers intercepted the Hasa tribal chiefs’ plans to resist the Empire, negotiate for autonomy, and seek foreign support. Governor Solair and General Cleveland moved up the invasion timetable, and East African troops entered Hasa, surrounded the Khalid Tribe, and cut the tribes off from outside contact.

• Wenlai explained the Hasa chiefs’ three plans to Mars: move family members and wealth abroad, negotiate to retain local rule, and seek help from the Ottoman Empire, the Internal Governance Kingdom, and Britain.
• Mars reported the intercepted intelligence to Governor Solair, who shared it with General Cleveland at the Northern Bay Territory Governor’s Mansion.
• General Cleveland recommended taking control of Hasa before the tribes could contact foreign powers, and Solair approved the plan.
• In early 1927, Cleveland led Northern Bay Territory troops into Hasa and the surrounding northern oases, surrounding the Khalid Tribe and blocking the tribes’ outside communications.
• Some tribes fought the East African forces, but their limited weapons could not match the Empire’s heavy weapons and armored vehicles.

East African forces captured Hasa and its tribal leaders, while General Cleveland justified the takeover by claiming the territory had been legally transferred to East Africa. In Vienna, Austrian leaders used Hungary’s upheaval to end the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s dualist system and planned to eliminate the Hungarian Labor Party.

• Imam Faisal awoke to news that East African troops had entered Hasa, and the army surrounded and captured him at Ibrahim Palace.
• General Cleveland told Imam Faisal that Hasa belonged to East Africa through its transfer from the Ottoman Empire, and he ordered Faisal imprisoned.
• Three days later, Cleveland confronted the captured Hasa tribal leaders and revealed that their plan to seek help from the House of Saud and Britain had been uncovered.
• Bani and Imam Faisal suspected that absent tribal leaders had leaked their plans, unaware that East Africa had obtained the information through technology.
• Austrian Prime Minister Klavier persuaded Hungarian dignitaries in Vienna to accept the end of the dualist system in exchange for a role in Hungary’s future administration.
• Klavier planned to use the German army to help eradicate the Hungarian Labor Party and restore centralized imperial rule.

After Hungary’s former ruling class failed to resist Austria’s demands, Clavel proposed securing postwar control by changing Hungary’s demographics. The chapter ended with Rudolf considering Clavel’s plan to resettle Dalmatia’s Mixed-blood Germans in Hungary.

• Metz condemned the Hungarian representatives for accepting Clavel’s resolution, while Klar argued they had little power to resist Austria.
• Clavel told Emperor Franz and Rudolf that Austria should use the German Army to defeat the Hungarian Labor Party, and Franz entrusted Rudolf with Hungary’s recapture.
• Clavel urged Rudolf to plan Hungary’s postwar settlement so the region could not again escape imperial control.
• Clavel argued that Austria needed to increase the German population in Hungary, but Europe, the Americas, and East Africa offered few suitable immigrants.
• Clavel proposed moving Mixed-blood Germans from Dalmatia into Hungary, citing their growing population and high birth rate.