Recaps

Hans Bach stopped Akaram’s caravan from entering territory controlled by the Hechingen East African Royal Territory and redirected it to the new Laskampoli Trading Market. Akaram found the market stocked with useful goods and bought burlap, while the market opened a new trade route in southern Somalia.

• Hans Bach and his patrol encountered Akaram’s Arab caravan crossing toward Kenya and questioned its purpose.
• After learning that Akaram sought to trade with southern tribes, Hans Bach told him the area was under Hechingen control and directed him to the Lascampore trading market.
• Akaram agreed to travel east to Lascampore, and Hans Bach warned him to stay north of the desert to avoid other patrols.
• Four days later, Akaram arrived at the Laskampoli Trading Market and found Arab merchants and Hechingen guards there.
• Akaram inspected the market’s goods, bought a large quantity of Tanga burlap, and prepared to take it back to sell.

East Africa pursued new trade routes and dispatched its Inland Lake Force to scout Lake Victoria’s western shore. Werner Jori’s men discovered an abandoned village bearing signs of a massacre, burned it, and returned toward their boats.

• East Africa considered Laskampoli Trading Market and possible overland routes to Egypt as ways to broaden trade and guard against a blockade.
• Werner Jori led all five boats and the Inland Lake Force on a long-range reconnaissance mission to Lake Victoria’s western shore.
• Werner Jori landed in Buganda territory, led his men through the forest, and found a hard-packed path leading west.
• Werner Jori and his men reached an abandoned village, where they found a damaged totem, scattered belongings, and human bones.
• Werner Jori ordered his men to burn the village, then led them back along their route.

After Werner Jori’s survey confirmed that much of the Northwest Region had been weakened by war and disease, Ernst ordered East Africa to seize the southern kingdoms first and defer an attack on Buganda. The colonial government and military planned the first phase and began mobilizing troops, supplies, and immigrants, leaving the colony poised for a campaign advancing north.

• Werner Jori and his party surveyed the shores of Lake Victoria and the lands east of Kampala, finding ruined settlements in the south but less war damage in eastern Buganda and farther north.
• After receiving the survey, Ernst ordered East Africa to attack the southern kingdoms first, drive their inhabitants north, and leave Buganda and the other northern countries for a later campaign.
• At a government meeting on April 5, Yalman outlined a first phase targeting Rwanda, Igara, Karagwe, and Burundi with at least ten thousand troops.
• Von der Leyen and other officials prioritized immigrants for the Northwest Region and Western Kenya District, while the General Staff planned military training and the use of lake transport for supplies.
• Troops and militia began assembling in the Lake Tanganyika District and Great Lakes Region, immigration to Western Kenya District accelerated, and Werner Jori’s Inland Lake Force mapped the western shore of Lake Victoria.

Yalman launched an invasion of Burundi and Karagwe, where the East African Army advanced rapidly through sparsely populated territory with little resistance. Oruchi Reis’s force rested in Bujumbura and prepared to continue toward Rwanda as the campaign pressed north.

• Yalman divided the East African Army between Burundi and Karagwe, ordering the forces to converge near the border of Igara and Rwanda.
• On May 3, 1868, East African troops crossed into both kingdoms without declaring war and encountered almost no organized resistance.
• East African soldiers burned abandoned villages as they advanced, while Burundi’s inhabitants fled north after facing the army’s firearms.
• Haisheng Li and John Zhang discussed their easy march and their status as German soldiers in East Africa.
• Oruchi Reis’s force reached Bujumbura after advancing along Lake Tanganyika and rested there before its expected march toward Rwanda.

Yalman’s East African Army attacked Kayanza, Burundi’s temporary capital, with a cannon and shattered its gate. The Burundian army, king, nobles, and residents fled north toward Rwanda as the city collapsed into panic.

• Yalman studied Kayanza’s defenses and ordered Larry Antonio to bring six hundred additional soldiers from nearby forces.
• Uru and Mopu watched the East African Army prepare a cannon and speculated about the strangers and their weapons.
• Raulde fired the cannon, blasting a large hole through Kayanza’s gate and burying soldiers beneath the rubble.
• Yalman’s troops advanced on the breach and fired their rifles, driving Burundian soldiers from the walls.
• The people of Kayanza panicked and fled north, while the king and nobles abandoned the temporary royal palace.

Yalman’s army captured Kayanza without suffering casualties, pushing East African forces to the Burundi-Rwanda border as the campaign entered its final phase. On the Karagwe front, Ga Ocherbart discussed the fleeing population and looked ahead to competing with Felix in an advance on Buganda.

• Yalman’s troops secured Kayanza, where fleeing crowds had caused deaths, and captured forty-seven wounded people and children while suffering no casualties.
• East African forces drove Karagwe’s surviving population toward Buganda and Igara, adding tens of thousands of refugees to the burden facing the northern kingdoms.
• John Joe remarked that Ga Ocherbart had found no worthy opposition on the Karagwe battlefield and teased him about surpassing Felix.
• Ga Ocherbart said he expected to compete with Felix during a future advance on Buganda, hoping to test whether Felix’s past success had come from luck or skill.

Rwanda and Igara fled north after refugees from Burundi and Karagwe warned them about the East African army, while East Africa moved immigrants and supplies toward its advancing front. By June, more than 50,000 immigrants had been settled in Burundi and Karagwe as the army neared Rwanda and Igara.

• Refugees from Burundi and Karagwe spread terrifying stories about the East African army, prompting Rwanda and Igara to abandon their kingdoms and flee north toward the Congo and Central Africa.
• Werner Jori confirmed that his vessel was ready to carry immigrants and supplies, then ordered the East African Inland Lake Force to depart.
• The East African colony expanded water and overland transport routes, using ships, livestock, vehicles, and service stations to move immigrants and supplies northwest.
• The East African colony settled more than 50,000 immigrants in Burundi and Karagwe within nearly a month, while its army advanced toward Igara and Rwanda.

The East African Army completed the first phase of its campaign as Rwanda and Igara abandoned their lands and migrated north with their nobles and forces. East Africa settled the captured territory and prepared for a more difficult second phase against the four northern states.

• Rwanda and Igara sent envoys to arrange their withdrawal, and the East African Colonial Government accepted as their nobles gathered their property and followed the kingdoms toward Central and West Africa.
• On June 27, the East African Army reached Ruhengeri, and by June 30 the Kingdom of Igara had fallen and the army had advanced to the borders of Nkole and Buganda.
• On July 1, East Africa declared the first phase essentially complete, having taken all four southern states and incorporated roughly 83,000 square kilometers.
• The East African Colonial Government moved 80,000 settlers into the new territory and escorted natives who had not fled toward Rwanda and Igara.
• Nkole and Buganda strengthened their border forces as East Africa weighed the second phase, including a possible attack on Buganda's capital, Mengo, across Lake Victoria.

East Africa rested its army and put 170,000 new immigrants to work as its population rose to 1.2 million, strengthening its position among Africa’s local powers. Ernst relied on carefully selected immigrants and military growth to protect the colony while it expanded before foreign powers turned their attention to Africa.

• East Africa paused military operations, reorganized its army, and put new immigrants to work reclaiming land.
• The colony received 170,000 immigrants over two months and more than 500,000 in the first half of 1868, bringing its population to 1.2 million.
• Ernst expected East Africa to absorb Uganda and potentially reach 1.7 million people by year’s end.
• Ernst assessed Egypt, the Abyssinian Empire, and European colonial powers, recognizing that East Africa could not safely challenge Britain or France.
• Ernst concluded that East Africa had no dependable foreign ally and needed to rely on carefully selected immigrants and its own army.

During the lull in the war, the East African colony expanded its road network with native captives and immigrant specialists, strengthening supply routes for future campaigns. East Africa concealed its growing military and population from other powers while Ernst kept its mineral wealth undeveloped to avoid attracting attention.

• The East African Colonial Government put more than a hundred thousand native captives to work building roads, feeding them well enough to preserve their strength before selling retired laborers to Zanzibar slave merchants.
• Immigrants with construction experience handled skilled work, and together they connected towns and settlements while improving key routes such as Mbeya to Dar es Salaam.
• During the truce, East Africa reinforced roads from the coast to Mwanza and built a dirt road from the Great Lakes Region into newly occupied territories to prepare for further fighting.
• Ernst prepared East Africa carefully for war, confident it could raise a large force while foreign powers remained unaware of the colony’s true strength.
• East Africa stayed inconspicuous because outsiders knew little of its interior, and Ernst avoided developing its mineral resources on a large scale.

Ernst kept his attention on Europe because East Africa still depended on the Hohenzollern Conglomerate and was not ready to support industrial development or replace the family’s European base. The chapter left East Africa as a carefully controlled agricultural colony, with Ernst waiting for its infrastructure and industry to mature before shifting the conglomerate’s center of gravity there.

• Ernst retained control of East Africa through Hechingen employees, military academy deputies, and resident directors who monitored officials and spending.
• Von der Leyen, Yalman, and Svit formed East Africa’s leading three-part leadership, and major decisions required their groups to report to Ernst.
• East Africa avoided provoking Britain, Portugal, and nearby powers, and delayed expansion into Zambia until more immigrants arrived.
• Ernst stayed in Europe to care for Prince Constantin and oversee the Hohenzollern Conglomerate, which supplied East Africa with funds, ships, food, weapons, and salaries.
• Ernst postponed moving the conglomerate to East Africa because the colony lacked railways, industrial facilities, and enough agricultural output to sustain development.

Mutesa I led a four-state alliance against the East African colony, but its army crushed the allied forces at Lake Nakivale. Mutesa I and the allied nobles disappeared, and East African troops spent days disposing of the dead.

• Mutesa I rallied Buganda, Turu, Kitara, and Nkole into a thirty-thousand-man alliance and divided its forces between the southern and eastern fronts.
• On July 4, the East African Army resumed its advance under Yalman in the south and Felix in the east, while Mutesa I led the allied main force.
• Mutesa I rejected the East African colony's warning and challenged it to a battle between warriors.
• On July 6, Mutesa I led the allied army in an attack on the southern shore of Lake Nakivale, where East African rifle fire devastated the advancing troops.
• By three in the afternoon, Mutesa I and the allied nobles had disappeared, leaving more than ten thousand dead; East African troops spent two or three days cremating and burying the bodies.

Felix captured Buganda’s abandoned capital after the allied forces collapsed, while Mutesa I fled northwest to rebuild his kingdom. The East African Army then swept north and west, taking the Great Lakes shoreline and linking the region’s major lakes under colonial control.

• Felix received orders to join the southern forces and pursue the retreating natives northwest.
• Mutesa I evacuated the palace and fled northwest with his remaining elite forces, while the Buganda Crown Prince headed toward Egyptian Sudan.
• The East African Army spent several weeks driving kingdoms and tribes westward across the Great Lakes region.
• Omorart helped block native forces from escaping east or continuing north toward Egypt and Abyssinia.
• East Africa seized more than three hundred thousand square kilometers of territory and gained control of the Great Lakes and their connecting lands.

On July 12, 1868, Berlin Electric Company unveiled its telephone and demonstrated that it could transmit speech between two pavilions. The launch attracted nobles, dignitaries, and reporters, while the company’s future rested on technology originally invented by Antonio Meucci, who chose to return to Italy.

• Berlin Electric Company introduced the telephone at a public launch in central Berlin, drawing a large crowd of dignitaries, nobles, and reporters.
• The host explained that the telephone transmitted voices over a line and invited Baron Akela to test it.
• Baron Akela spoke a string of numbers into the telephone, heard them repeated from the distant pavilion, and declared himself convinced.
• Berlin’s nobles and reporters took turns trying the telephone, while the chapter noted that the Prussian and Austrian courts had begun installing systems and Wilhelm I planned to use it in the Prussian Army.
• Ernst had sent people to the United States to find Antonio Meucci, and Hohenzollern Conglomerate employees bought his telephone patent.
• Antonio Meucci declined Berlin Electric Company’s invitation and planned to return to Italy with his wife and leave inventing behind.

As immigration slowed after the war, Ernst shifted East Africa's shipping toward cargo and began expanding local industry by acquiring a German cement plant. The chapter leaves Dar es Salaam's first cement factory under construction, with several smaller plants planned across the colony.

• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate found immigration from Germany and the Far East declining, while recruiting in Paraguay and the Middle East continued.
• Zanzibar merchants expanded their trade in women, and Russian officials in Central Asia spurred horse bandit raids to obtain Turkic women for goods.
• Ernst redirected ships to cargo transport and focused on reducing colonial construction costs by developing industries in East Africa.
• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate bought a struggling cement plant in Hamburg and shipped its machinery and workers to Dar es Salaam.
• Dar es Salaam began building East Africa's first cement plant, while Ernst planned smaller plants in Mombasa, Dodoma, Mbeya, Kisumu, and Songea.

East Africa established three new administrative districts after acquiring territory around the Great Lakes and west of Lake Turkana, and renamed the original Great Lakes Region. The chapter ended with the Northern District, North Great Lakes District, and West Great Lakes District established, while the old Great Lakes Region became the East Great Lakes District.

• Ernst grouped Northern Kenya and the Omo River basin into the Northern District, with its capital at Omorate Town.
• East Africa expanded into the Omo River basin while the Abyssinian Empire was occupied by Britain and then embroiled in a political crisis.
• East Africa established the West Great Lakes District, with Bujumbura as its capital, and the North Great Lakes District, with Kampala as its capital.
• East Africa renamed the original Great Lakes Region the East Great Lakes District.

The East African colony relied on thousands of enslaved natives for coal mining, construction, and other strenuous work, while immigrants handled skilled tasks and military duties. Mbeya’s low-cost coal was stored for East Africa’s future needs, and the chapter left the colony continuing to use slaves on major projects while assigning settled farmland and other responsibilities to immigrants.

• East African overseers set native laborers fixed quotas and punished those who failed to meet them with whippings and reduced rations.
• More than three thousand enslaved natives worked in Mbeya’s coal mine, carrying coal and performing other rough labor while immigrants maintained the mine supports.
• The East African colony stored Mbeya’s coal across the region because local demand was limited and exporting it to Europe was not worthwhile.
• East Africa used enslaved natives for strenuous work on major projects, then left immigrants to manage developed farmland, serve in the military, and help expand the colony.

Abrag bought a group of enslaved natives at Dar es Salaam Port and prepared to ship them overseas with other cargo. The chapter explained how Zanzibar merchants adapted their slave-trading routes and methods as European abolitionist pressure increased, while relying on East African goods and impoverished colonial populations for profit.

• Abrag took delivery of a batch of slaves and ordered his men to chain them and lead them toward the docks.
• Zanzibar enforcers used beatings and curses to distract the slaves from their fear of leaving Africa and keep them obedient.
• Abrag instructed his men to separate the slaves from his goods and protect the cargo from damage and damp.
• As European powers seized slave ships, Zanzibar and Arab merchants repackaged slave voyages as labor-import trips and reduced the number of people carried aboard.
• Zanzibar merchants used their trade networks and bribes to obtain people from impoverished colonial regions, exchanging goods for women and other captives.

The Hohenzollern Conglomerate established a cigarette factory in Mbeya to process East African tobacco locally, reducing costs and opening markets around the Indian Ocean. The factory was nearing completion, while the company continued importing tobacco from other countries and avoided antagonizing foreign maritime powers.

• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate used East African timber and agricultural goods as raw materials and exports, though timber sales brought little profit.
• On August 11, 1868, immigrant workers and German engineers built a European-style factory workshop in Mbeya.
• Ernst's plans made Mbeya the site of East Africa's first industrial cigarette factory because nearby tobacco farms and coal could supply it.
• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate planned to sell locally made cigarettes to immigrants, Zanzibar merchants, Arab merchants, and markets around the Indian Ocean.
• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate continued buying tobacco from foreign merchants because East Africa could not yet meet Europe's demand and German ships could not challenge the naval powers.

Ernst secured German support for the East African Agricultural Research Institute and recruited Professor Anton Perutz to lead its tropical crop research. Perutz set off for East Africa, where Daniel Zhang explained the colony’s German-centered assimilation policy and its claimed population of nearly two million Germans.

• Ernst and Professor Anton Perutz celebrated the agreement establishing the East African Agricultural Research Institute, which the Hohenzollern Conglomerate funded with eight experimental sites.
• Ernst promised to support Perutz’s team and families and framed their work as preparation for Germany’s future overseas expansion.
• Several days later, Daniel Zhang met Perutz at the Port of Hamburg and escorted him aboard the Mary for the voyage to East Africa.
• Perutz questioned Daniel about the Germans traveling to the colony, and Daniel said East Africa had nearly two million Germans because residents who embraced German culture were classified as German.
• Daniel told Perutz that he was German and had graduated from Hechingen Military Academy, leaving Perutz uneasy but accepting the colony’s German-centered assimilation policy.

East African immigrants began planting Brazilian rubber saplings around the Great Lakes under the guidance of Albert Verga, while the colony planned a large plantation for future strategic use. Albert explained how rubber was grown and tapped, and preparations continued for compulsory education in the new districts.

• The East African Agricultural Research Institute began operating after Professor Anton Perutz's team arrived, and immigrants started planting rubber saplings in the North Great Lakes District.
• Albert Verga instructed the workers on spacing, drainage, and the warm, rainy conditions rubber trees needed.
• Albert explained that rubber was collected by cutting the trees and gathering their sap, and said the saplings would take six or seven years to mature.
• East Africa planned to establish a ten-thousand-mu rubber plantation and gradually expand it around the Great Lakes.
• The colony prepared German teachers and planned to begin adult education in the three newly established districts.

New immigrants attended German language lessons and common-knowledge classes in East Africa, where Lovos Ryan taught them practical phrases and rules for adapting to the colony. The lesson ended with the government’s strict expectations for hygiene, conduct, and religious belief.

• The immigrants arrived at the temporary school and practiced basic German phrases under Lovos Ryan’s instruction.
• The school assigned language classes by background, using some Austro-Hungarian immigrants as teachers and focusing adult lessons on spoken German.
• Lovos Ryan explained East Africa’s climate and warned the immigrants about disease, mosquitoes, sanitation, and unsafe food and water.
• Lovos Ryan defended the rules after a student questioned their necessity, explaining that cleanliness and precautions helped keep the colony safe.
• The lesson outlined the East African government’s goal of reshaping immigrants’ habits and limiting superstition and other practices that could disrupt its policies.

Ernst and Prince Constantin discussed Spain’s vacant throne and decided that Hechingen should avoid the risks of becoming involved. The Spanish offer passed to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who remained uncertain as France loomed over the decision.

• The East African Colonial Government continued building roads and drainage canals to improve transport and manage rainwater.
• Prince Constantin asked Ernst about the news of Elizabeth II of Spain fleeing to France and the vacant Spanish throne.
• Ernst argued that Spain’s political instability and French influence made its throne a dangerous prospect, while East Africa offered better prospects.
• Constantin and Ernst agreed that Hechingen had no interest in Spain and cited Maximilian I’s experience in East Africa as a warning.
• The Spanish government chose the House of Hohenzollern, and the matter passed to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who remained torn.

Tom visited Isabella II and Alfonso XII in Paris on behalf of the Hechingen Royal Family, offering sympathy, gifts, and support for their eventual return to Spain. He blamed the United States for Spain’s troubles and linked it to the Cuban uprising, leaving the former queen and her son convinced that America had helped their enemies.

• Tom offered Isabella II and Alfonso XII the Hechingen Royal Family’s condolences and a gift, and Isabella urged Alfonso to remember their friends.
• Tom claimed Spain’s decline stemmed from the loss of overseas interests and blamed the United States for weakening Spain.
• Tom told Isabella II and Alfonso XII that the Cuban uprising had begun days after the Spanish rebellion and suggested the two were connected.
• Isabella II and Alfonso XII accepted Tom’s suspicions and accused the United States of colluding with Spain’s rebels.

Ernst inspected the Hohenzollern Conglomerate’s French branch in Marseille and reviewed its business practices and expansion. Meanwhile, Tom traveled to Paris to approach Alfonso XII, and Ernst planned to continue his own French trip there after reconnecting with the Hechingen family’s old friends.

• Tom traveled to Paris after preparing to speak with Alfonso XII, whom Isabella II had brought from Spain.
• Ernst arrived in Marseille with a large security detail and went to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate’s French branch instead of resting.
• Ernst’s specialists examined the branch’s accounts and performance, found no major problems, and satisfied him with the results.
• Ernst praised Carlyle and reminded the staff that customer service and product quality were important to the company’s success.
• The chapter explained how the Hohenzollern Conglomerate used certified retail outlets, anti-counterfeiting measures, and locally named supermarkets to build its European business.