Chapter Summaries

Prince Constantin led East Africa’s first military conference, where officers proposed consolidating military regions and placing the army under stronger central control. Afterward, Constantin spoke with Ernst by telephone about army reform and cautiously establishing a navy.

• Svit reported that East Africa had a standing army of 98,000 men distributed across eight military regions, alongside a large potential militia.
• Constantin asked officers to address the army’s disorganization, and Svit proposed redrawing military regions around their functions and strategic importance.
• Yalman called for stronger defenses and a government guard force in First Town, while Felix urged internal reforms based on Prussian military regulations.
• East African officers backed tighter management and centralization of military authority under Constantin.
• A newly completed telephone line connected Constantin in First Town to Ernst, who was in Trieste inspecting a food factory.
• Ernst supported learning from both Prussian and Austrian military practice and advised Constantin to begin a navy with a small core unit drawn from the river-and-lake forces.

Ernst and Constantin discussed East Africa’s military and government reforms over a costly transoceanic telephone line. They agreed to keep the army’s size steady while professionalizing it, establish a police force, and transfer more authority to the Hechingen Royal Family and East African government.

• Ernst and Constantin discussed East Africa’s military, concluding that its standing army did not need to expand and should focus on professionalism and combat capability.
• Ernst proposed separating police duties from the army and placing East Africa’s military authority fully under the Hechingen Royal Family.
• Ernst outlined government reforms, including a Ministry of Defense led by Yalman, a police force, a Foreign Ministry, and Becker as a possible official.
• Constantin proposed a Ministry of Culture staffed by his former comrades, and Ernst warned him against ideological activity.
• Constantin agreed to promote German traditional culture and said he would guard against liberalism.

Ernst decided to acquire the struggling Roens Railway Company and move it to East Africa, where its equipment and skilled workers could support future railway construction. The workers faced a choice between relocating with their families for better wages or resigning with only part of their unpaid wages.

• Prince Constantin understood that East Africa was now the Hechingen Royal Family’s territory, distinct from Hechingen proper, which had become Prussian territory.
• Ernst reviewed Prince Karl’s information on Roens Railway Company and decided to acquire the struggling Baden firm at a reduced price.
• Ernst explained to Tom that railway speculation would bring a downturn, but East Africa would eventually need many railways.
• In Karlsruhe, Nodding told Roens Railway Company’s anxious employees that Hechingen Bank had acquired the company and would pay their wages if they relocated to East Africa.
• Nodding explained that the company would cover the workers’ travel and living costs, provide housing, and offer a ten-percent wage increase, while those who resigned would receive only one-third of their wages.

As East Africa’s reforms neared completion, Constantin urged Maximilian I to build the nearly nonexistent East African Navy despite its lack of ships and funds. Maximilian accepted the challenge and planned to train personnel in Austria and oversee the selection of gunboats, leaving the navy’s future dependent on his influence and resourcefulness.

• East Africa reestablished the Hechingen Royal Guard and created a navy consisting of Maximilian I, eight hundred inexperienced sailors, and two decrepit ships.
• Constantin praised Maximilian I’s Austrian naval experience and urged him to make a fresh start in East Africa.
• Maximilian objected that he lacked ships, experienced sailors, and government support to build a navy from nothing.
• Constantin provoked Maximilian by arguing that success in East Africa could restore his reputation and earn him recognition as a founder of a navy.
• Maximilian agreed to command the navy, train promising candidates at the Austrian Imperial Naval Academy, and help choose gunboats the following year.
• Constantin welcomed the plan, expecting Maximilian to use his Austrian connections to secure support for East Africa.

The chapter described Archduke Ferdinand’s reforms as Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy, which modernized the fleet and secured it greater public attention and funding. His efforts established the foundations for the navy’s later success at the Battle of Lissa.

• Archduke Ferdinand became Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy in 1854 at age twenty-two.
• Archduke Ferdinand advanced naval modernization, won support and funding, and established the Trieste Naval Base and a powerful battle fleet.
• Archduke Ferdinand supported the Trieste and Pola shipyards and sent talented people abroad to study shipbuilding.
• Archduke Ferdinand backed capable military officers, including the future Admiral Tegetthoff.
• Archduke Ferdinand launched large scientific expeditions, and the Austrian Navy completed its first circumnavigation of the globe.

Ernst inspected the Ruhr area to buy discarded industrial machinery for East Africa, focusing on equipment to build a basic industrial city in Mbeya. He planned to send Far Eastern immigrants to Ruhr factories for training before bringing them to East Africa, while his agents arranged machinery purchases and transport.

• Constantin failed to obtain money from Maximilian I and ended up committing some of his own resources.
• Ernst toured the Ruhr area and learned that booming factories were replacing old machines that could be bought cheaply in large quantities.
• Ernst ordered his agents to carefully inspect secondhand equipment and prioritize machinery for mining and iron-smelting in Mbeya.
• Ernst explained that he would train Far Eastern immigrants in Ruhr factories and later send them to East Africa as industrial workers.
• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate targeted the Ruhr’s factories, planning to ship dismantled equipment by river and rail to North German Federation ports for transport to East Africa.

In Jiaozhou, the Hohenzollern Conglomerate’s growing trade and immigration operations had helped transform the port, and Richard oversaw the German Commercial Liaison Office’s renaming as the Hechingen Far Eastern Commercial Liaison Office. He explained to Wang Enke that the new name reflected the Hechingen East African Royal Territory, while the office’s work remained unchanged.

• Richard observed Jiaozhou’s busy port and reflected on how much it had grown since his arrival three years earlier.
• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate’s trade and East African exports helped Jiaozhou expand, prompting the Qing government to separate it from Yantai’s customs administration.
• Richard and Wang Enke discussed why the German Commercial Liaison Office had changed its signboard to the Hechingen Far Eastern Commercial Liaison Office.
• Richard told Wang Enke that the Hechingen East African Royal Territory was a new country in Africa and that the office no longer represented only Germany.
• The office retained its commercial functions, while the new name signaled East Africa’s growing role in Far Eastern trade and future diplomacy.

Ernst proposed building an experimental railway between Dar es Salaam and First Town and discussed its construction and military role with Prince Constantin. Constantin favored broad gauge but left the exact standard for East African officials and railway experts to decide after the company arrived.

• Ernst told Prince Constantin he planned to build an experimental railway connecting Dar es Salaam and First Town.
• Ernst explained that the Roens Railway Company would plan the route and that East Africa could supply many construction materials, while importing rails, locomotives, and equipment.
• Ernst urged Prince Constantin to coordinate the railway with First Town’s planned defenses and proposed creating a Ministry of Railways.
• Ernst outlined several railway gauges and argued that East Africa’s resources and freight needs favored a broader gauge.
• Prince Constantin agreed to use broad gauge in principle and deferred the exact standard until East African officials and experts assessed local conditions.

East Africa’s government approved a 2,500-millimeter ultra-broad gauge for its first railway after officials and Engineer Nodding debated the country’s needs. Ernst planned a 59-kilometer experimental line and ordered more research into internal-combustion locomotives and automobiles.

• In September and October, the renamed East Africa Railway Company arrived, and Engineer Nodding joined a government conference on railway construction.
• Svit proposed a 1,500-millimeter gauge, while Yalman, Felix, and other officials argued for wider track and discussed capacity, terrain, and defense.
• Engineer Nodding explained that gauges above two meters would be ultra-broad gauge and advised staying below three meters.
• The East African government, with Nodding’s confirmation, chose a 2,500-millimeter gauge, and Ernst accepted the decision.
• East Africa approved the 59-kilometer First Railway between the areas near First Town and Dar es Salaam as an experimental project.
• Ernst ordered a new department at the Berlin Energy Power Company to research internal-combustion locomotives and automobiles.

Ernst reorganized his energy company into Berlin and Vienna branches, assigning Benz to automobiles and Lenoir and Roche to railway research. He secured Austrian cooperation for the railway project and left Franz joking about the Hechingen family’s ambitions to found a country.

• Ernst renamed Berlin Energy Power Company as Hechingen Energy Power Company and planned branches in Berlin and Vienna.
• Ernst put Benz in charge of the Berlin branch and assigned Lenoir and Roche to develop the Vienna branch and railway projects.
• Ernst planned to cooperate with Austria on steam locomotives and use Vienna’s position to support trade with East Africa.
• Ernst visited Franz, who gave him information about a royal-family-backed Austrian railway company.
• Franz asked when Ernst and Prince Constantin would found a country, and Ernst joked that it depended on Franz before leaving the palace.

Prince Constantin discussed East Africa’s expansion plans, including a negotiated boundary with Msiri along the Lualaba River and Felix’s proposed southward advance. Constantin approved Felix’s “Pocket” Plan to seize the land between the upper Congo and Zambezi rivers, leaving East Africa poised to expand south.

• Felix proposed expanding south, while Svit urged reaching an agreement with Msiri and taking the land east of the Lualaba River first.
• Constantin questioned why East Africa had not taken the Kingdom of Malawi, and Svit explained that its northern territory was already under East African control and the kingdom served as a buffer near Portuguese Mozambique.
• Svit described the proposed deal in which Msiri would move west across the Lualaba River and continue ruling there while East Africa took the land east of the river.
• Felix outlined his “Pocket” Plan to seize the territory between the upper Zambezi and Lualaba rivers, including the Kingdom of Kazembe.
• Constantin approved the plan and dismissed concerns that the advance would provoke Portugal.

The Suez Canal opened, giving East African ships a shorter and safer route between Europe and East Africa. On a ship carrying Austrian immigrants, Modo reassured La Soya and Blair about life in East Africa and advised them how to request assignment together.

• East Africa prepared to send ten thousand soldiers into East Katanga to secure land through treaties imposed on tribal chiefs.
• The Suez Canal opened on November 17, 1869, and Hechingen ships prepared to use the new route to East Africa.
• Modo and Fermon discussed how the canal would shorten voyages and improve safety for ships bound for East Africa.
• La Soya and Blair asked Modo about East Africa and whether they might be separated when the government assigned them to settlements.
• Modo advised La Soya to write an application after arriving if he and Blair wanted to be placed together.

East Africa planned a southwestward expansion and ordered the Kingdom of Kazembe to surrender gains taken from the Yeke Kingdom. When Kazembe refused, an East African cavalry battalion prepared to seize its leaders, while Santos and his Portuguese-backed followers remained confident in Kazembe.

• East Africa counted the laborers it intended to take from the southwest and weighed further expansion toward the Congo and Zambia.
• East African leaders considered the Portuguese presence in Mozambique and the ivory trade routes through southern Africa as they pursued expansion.
• The Kingdom of Kazembe refused East Africa's demand to return territory and benefits taken from the Yeke Kingdom.
• An East African cavalry battalion assembled and received orders to charge into Kazembe and capture its upper ranks alive.
• Santos reconnected with Portuguese partners in Kazembe and boasted that Afonso and the East Africans would eventually suffer.

The East African First Cavalry Battalion surprised the Kingdom of Kazembe’s capital and captured its king, but Santos’s Portuguese-led force mistook the attack for a betrayal and fought the cavalry. Andrew’s men defeated them and captured Santos, who had gone mad by dawn.

• Andrew ordered the East African First Cavalry Battalion to rest, then advance on Kazembe’s capital and attack before dawn.
• The cavalry reached the capital, stormed the royal city, and captured the King of Kazembe.
• Santos heard that Portuguese forces were blamed for the revolt and led more than eighty armed men toward the capital to claim a share of the spoils.
• Santos’s men exchanged fire with the East African cavalry, who believed them to be enemy reinforcements and attacked them.
• The cavalry defeated Santos’s force, captured Santos, and brought him before Andrew, but Santos babbled incoherently and had gone mad.

East African officer Rolls justified the invasion of the Kingdom of Kazembe to Portuguese Kazembe Chamber of Commerce president Yalish, while refusing to reveal East Africa’s plans or withdraw its troops. Yalish disavowed the captured Santos, leaving him in East African hands as the occupation continued.

• Yalish arrived and demanded to know why East Africa had attacked the Kingdom of Kazembe, and Rolls explained that Kazembe had invaded East African territory after East Africa acquired the Yeke Kingdom.
• Rolls rejected Yalish’s objections to the invasion and said only the Central Government could decide Kazembe’s fate or when East African forces would leave.
• Rolls assured Yalish that the Portuguese Kazembe Chamber of Commerce could continue trading, then pointed out Santos and asked whether he belonged to the chamber.
• Yalish found Santos disoriented and, after Rolls accused him of leading an armed attack, denied knowing him and refused to take him away.

Yalish’s Kazembe Chamber of Commerce accepted that it could not resist East Africa’s growing military power and reported the German advance to Mozambique. By the end of 1869, East Africa had expanded its territory and population, and Ernst prepared to establish an independent state next year by securing recognition from other powers.

• Yalish warned his subordinates that East Africa’s forces could overwhelm Portugal’s African colonies, and the Kazembe Chamber of Commerce chose to endure while notifying Mozambique’s government.
• East African forces advanced into areas targeted by the “Pocket” plan as arsenals issued weapons to immigrants and construction began on a telegraph line from Mbeya to East Katanga District.
• East Africa’s 1869 statistics recorded 2.453 million immigrants, expanding territory, more than 25.5 million mu of farmland, and food output exceeding 2.5 billion jin.
• Ernst planned to recruit immigrants from impoverished regions of Italy, including Sicily, while using dispersed settlements and German as a common language to integrate them.
• Ernst planned to declare East Africa an independent state next year and seek recognition by strengthening ties with Austria and winning support from Prussia, Romania, and other German states.

Ernst persuaded Prince Constantin to annex the Geleidi Sultanate, arguing that East Africa should secure its northern population and territory. He then outlined how East Africa could become a kingdom and win European recognition, leaving Constantin excited by the prospect.

• Ernst told Prince Constantin that East Africa should accelerate its plans to take the Geleidi Sultanate, and Constantin agreed to the annexation.
• Ernst said East Africa would replace the Sultanate's black inhabitants with immigrants, while Constantin dismissed his concern but allowed the plan.
• Ernst declared that East Africa would become a kingdom before the following May, and Constantin eagerly asked how he would achieve it.
• Ernst proposed establishing the kingdom on East African territory and securing recognition from Austria-Hungary and other European states, leaving Britain and France little room to object.

Portuguese officials in Maputo debated the German advance into Kazembe and the threats posed by East Africa and Britain. The Governor prioritized guarding against Britain and proposed negotiations with East Africa, but the meeting ended with officials discussing how to divide the Kingdom of Malawi.

• The Governor of Mozambique reported that Germans had stationed troops in the Kingdom of Kazembe, prompting officials to debate how to contain their expansion.
• Mr. Kelton argued that German gains threatened Mozambique, while other councilmen dismissed the danger and favored focusing on Britain’s recent actions.
• The Governor concluded that Britain posed the greater immediate threat and proposed negotiating with East Africa to assess its strength while avoiding conflict.
• Officials suggested securing Portuguese interests in Kazembe and bringing the Kingdom of Malawi into negotiations.
• The meeting shifted from discussing threats to proposing that Portugal and East Africa divide the Kingdom of Malawi.

Ferdinand received two retired Austro-Hungarian warships at Port Bagamoyo and discussed the prospects of East Africa’s navy with Colonel Blair. The navy gained ships and advisers through Franz’s support, but Ferdinand recognized that its development depended on stronger backing and resources.

• Colonel Blair handed over two retired Austro-Hungarian warships to Ferdinand at Port Bagamoyo.
• Ferdinand gave Blair a letter of thanks for Franz and discussed the East African Navy’s future with him.
• Blair explained that the Austro-Hungarian Navy had supplied the ships and would send young officers as advisers because the emperor wanted to help Ferdinand.
• Ferdinand said that East Africa’s naval potential would be wasted without support from a powerful country.
• Blair judged East Africa to be far behind Egypt, while Ferdinand’s navy had gained a base at Bagamoyo to guard the Little Rhine River’s outlet.

Ferdinand welcomed Austrian Navy officers who would lead East Africa’s sailors, while Prince Constantin considered Portuguese cooperation in Malawi and the strain an expected baby boom could place on East Africa. The chapter ended with Constantin ordering a regional birth and population survey so he could discuss the issue with Ernst.

• Ferdinand welcomed the Austrian Navy officers assigned to East Africa and urged them to make the colony their home.
• Von der Leyen told Prince Constantin that a Portuguese delegation had arrived in Dar es Salaam to discuss cooperation in the Kingdom of Malawi.
• Constantin agreed to negotiate through Dar es Salaam and use Portugal’s campaign to help East Africa consolidate its own territory while avoiding a new front.
• Von der Leyen warned Constantin that East Africa expected a baby boom as immigrant families grew and began having more children.
• Constantin ordered officials to collect birth and population data from every region before he discussed the pressure on East Africa with Ernst.