Chapter Summaries

At Hechingen Military Academy, Ernst imposed strict military discipline and taught students about the House of Hohenzollern. He told the Eastern youths that they were now Germans and that Germany’s emperor was their ruler, leaving them under his effort to reshape their identities.

• Army veteran instructors drilled the academy students and punished anyone who moved or slacked off.
• Ernst began class by having the one hundred students count in German and turn to their textbooks.
• Ernst explained that Hohenzollern meant the noble House of Zollern and compared its royal family to the Emperor and princes of the students’ homeland.
• When Number Seven asked for a clearer comparison, Ernst explained that the Prussian king held the highest status in the House of Hohenzollern and that Ernst was a royal family member.
• Ernst told the students that their Eastern Emperor was no longer their ruler and that they were Germans whose emperor was Germany’s emperor.
• Ernst used the lesson to instill a unified German identity in the students he intended to support his rule in East Africa.

The Hohenzollern Conglomerate expanded agriculture and settlements around First Town while organizing Chinese and native laborers to develop East Africa. With the colony’s foundations taking shape, Ernst turned his attention to industrial development and the changing situation in Europe.

• Chinese and native workers planted sisal and wheat, dug drainage ditches, and built irrigation canals under German supervision and Spanish agricultural guidance.
• The colonial team planned Second Town (Ruvu) beside the Little Rhine River and Third Town (Kitonga) north of First Town, extending the colony across roughly 150,000 mu.
• A Spanish sisal farmer hired by Ernst provided cultivation data and explained why East Africa’s climate and terrain suited the crop.
• The colony assigned Chinese immigrants to work groups, inspected their output, and distributed food according to work, while Chinese laborers supplied much of the colony’s agricultural workforce.
• Colonial expansion brought widespread hunting, and workers shared the meat; the colony also encouraged small-family immigration and provided separate housing to married workers.
• Ernst focused on industrial development and changes in the European situation.

Ernst inspected Berlin Energy Power Company’s first four-stroke engine and ordered further improvements while delaying its production until around 1870. He revealed his plan to use the engine for automobiles and made the staff keep the strategy secret.

• Ernst watched the prototype four-stroke engine run and praised the staff for their breakthrough.
• Ernst doubled the staff’s bonuses, promised them a share of technical equity, and told them to make the engine smaller and more precise.
• Lenoir questioned Ernst’s plan to postpone production, and Ernst explained that the company would wait while preparing its broader market strategy.
• Ernst told Lenoir and the staff that the engine could power automobiles and required them to keep the plan confidential.
• On July 13, 1865, the world’s first four-stroke engine was invented, though later generations criticized Ernst for delaying its public debut.

Ernst signed an agreement with the Prussian Royal Family to fund Prussia’s war preparations by buying railway shares in return for guarantees of the Hechingen Royal Family’s interests in East Africa. He also secured the admission ticket he had long sought.

• A representative of the Prussian Royal Family asked Ernst to help raise funds as Prussia prepared for war against Austria.
• Ernst reviewed the agreement and offered several million thalers to purchase 40 percent of the government-held shares in the Cologne-Minden Railway.
• Ernst required Prussia to recognize the Hechingen Royal Family’s ownership of its East African colony and support the Hohenzollern Conglomerate’s expansion in Africa.
• Ernst and representatives of the Prussian Government and Royal Family signed the agreement, including terms allowing Prussia to repurchase his railway shares later at above-market prices.
• Ernst used the agreement to obtain the admission ticket he had long dreamed of.

Ernst secured Prussian small-arms and ammunition production lines to arm the East African colony, while planning its expansion and defense. He intended to build a Chinese force of 50,000 within three years, with German officers and outdated flintlocks, leaving the force to work in production and construction when not needed for military service.

• Ernst obtained permission from Prussia to establish an arms industry for East Africa and received small-arms, flintlock, and ammunition production lines.
• Ernst prioritized immigration and food production in East Africa while postponing industrial development until he had greater control of the territory.
• Ernst planned to recruit Chinese immigrants into a 50,000-man force within three years, with Germans serving as officers and Hechingen Military Academy students assisting with management.
• Ernst intended the Chinese force to use obsolete flintlocks and participate in production and construction rather than serve as a standing army.

Ernst oversaw the rapid development of Second Town, where Chinese immigrants began cultivating Indica rice near the Little Rhine River. As newcomer Li Tiezhu learned from Uncle Jiaxiang that hard work could earn the workers meat, the immigrants grew more eager to work.

• Ernst considered Chinese immigrants unlikely to rebel and regarded the captured natives as the greater security concern.
• Second Town developed quickly, and its settlers planted Indica rice using water drawn from the Little Rhine River.
• Li Tiezhu asked Uncle Jiaxiang whether the Kielman masters could be trusted.
• Uncle Jiaxiang reassured Li Tiezhu by comparing their new life favorably with their hardship as tenant farmers in Great Qing.
• After hearing that diligent workers could earn meat, Li Tiezhu and the nearby immigrants worked harder on the irrigation channel.

Ernst used a map of the East African interior to plan an expansion centered on major lakes and inland strongholds. He ordered Tom to send the plan and weapons to the colony and organize settlers and troops to establish control.

• Ernst renamed several lakes on the map, including Lake Victoria as Great Lake, Lake Albert as Lake Frederick, Lake Edward as Lake Constantin, Lake Tanganyika as Lake Solen, and Lake Nyasa as Lake Malawi.
• Ernst marked six strongholds near Mwanza, Kigoma, Karonga, Dodoma, Tabora, and Mbeya, planning to expand across the region between Great Lake, Lake Solen, and Lake Malawi.
• Ernst told Tom to send copies of the plans to the East African colony and organize six hundred Chinese immigrants into six musket groups to secure the strongholds.
• Ernst ordered five hundred early immigrants to be relocated to each stronghold and instructed Germans to manage the weapons' ammunition.
• Ernst directed Tom to appoint trusted company employees, preferably Berlin locals with families, to share administrative authority and maintain public order.

Under Ernst’s orders, the East African colony organized its first Chinese army to secure routes and establish new outposts. Zhou Wei and Andre prepared the Fourth Squad for its mission to the Kigoma region, and five days later six teams set out to conquer East Africa.

• First Town registered recruits, including Wang Tiegen, and issued them uniforms, muskets, and numbered cards.
• Andre introduced the East Africa Vanguard Fourth Squad and announced its mission to open land in the Kigoma region.
• Zhou Wei addressed the recruits, imposed military discipline, and ordered them to assemble for three days of training.
• Zhou Wei discussed the colony and the students’ prospects with Wang Mingdong and Gao Youming in their dormitory.
• Five days later, six equipped colonial teams swore their oaths and set out across East Africa.

Heavy rains halted the East African advance party’s march inland, forcing Andre and Zhou Wei to rest and protect their supplies. After a pause, the party resumed its difficult journey toward Lake Tanganyika.

• Torrential rains flooded the land and forced the advance party to stop on high ground.
• Zhou Wei supervised the men as they stored food and ammunition above the wet ground, and Andre agreed to rest for a day.
• Andre recalled serving in the European war against Napoleon and praised Zhou Wei and the Chinese settlers for their discipline and diligence.
• Zhou Wei said he was a German citizen and shared Lord Ernst’s belief that anyone devoted to Germany could be a true German.
• Zhou Wei inspected the sentries through the rainy night while the rest of the party slept.
• On the third day, the advance party resumed its muddy march toward Lake Tanganyika.

The First Team of the East African Advance Corps reached Dodoma and began clearing land and preparing a camp, while Ernst considered the region’s sparse population and his plans for East Africa. The immigrants settled in for the night under strict sanitation rules as construction continued.

• The First Team began building its camp near Dodoma while the other teams were still traveling.
• The soldiers set fires across the land, and more than five hundred immigrants turned the ash-covered soil.
• Nearby tribes watched the unfamiliar newcomers cautiously, while the First Team avoided confrontation and focused on camp construction.
• Ernst reflected on Dodoma’s strategic value, East Africa’s population, and his long-term plans to relocate natives and integrate immigrants.
• The commander enforced Ernst’s sanitation rules, and the immigrants rested on crude beds after a day of labor.

The Sixth Company defeated the Leta tribe after its chief, Haru, led a direct charge against their firearms. The company occupied the tribe’s village, while the scattered Leta fled toward Zimbabwe.

• Haru rallied the Leta warriors and marched to confront the Sixth Company, mistaking their muskets for spears.
• Yuri arranged his men in firing ranks as the Leta charged, and volleys wounded Haru and brought down dozens of warriors.
• The Leta force panicked under continued fire, and Yuri led the Sixth Company in pursuit.
• By dusk, the Leta had suffered more than three hundred dead and wounded, and the Sixth Company had captured sixty-two people, including Haru.
• Yuri drove the leaderless Leta away toward Zimbabwe and occupied their village for the night.

Prince Constantin celebrated the early completion of Hohenzollern Castle, where members of the Hohenzollern family gathered amid Prussia’s preparations for war. Ernst discussed his East African colony with Leopold and Crown Prince Frederick, who affirmed Prussia’s mission to unify the German territories.

• Ernst accelerated Hohenzollern Castle’s reconstruction and bought ownership rights from Prussia, raising the Hechingen branch’s share to fifty percent.
• Prince Constantin, Crown Prince Frederick, Prince Karl Anton, Leopold, and other Hohenzollern relatives attended the castle’s completion ceremony.
• Ernst reassured Leopold that Karl could handle the unstable situation in Romania and described his East African colony as a small agricultural venture.
• Frederick lamented that European powers had claimed most overseas colonies, and Ernst argued that Germany first needed to unify its territories.
• Frederick declared that the House of Hohenzollern had a duty to unify Germany, signaling Prussia’s resolve to confront Austria.

Ernst visited Berlin Electric Company and saw that Carl von Linde had developed a working electric lamp, though its short lifespan and inadequate vacuum technology remained obstacles. Ernst brought Linde to Lenoir and his researchers, who devised a promising improvement and agreed to collaborate on testing it.

• Ernst returned to Berlin and found Carl von Linde working in the laboratory at Berlin Electric Company.
• Carl von Linde showed Ernst a handmade electric lamp that produced light but could remain lit for only about six hours.
• Carl von Linde explained that inadequate vacuum technology was limiting the lamp, so Ernst proposed asking the machinery specialists at Berlin Energy Power Company for help.
• Ernst and Carl von Linde met Lenoir, who reviewed Linde's blueprints and identified materials research as the key to improving the vacuum technology.
• Lenoir, Linde, Benz, and the other researchers discussed and refined a solution, then agreed to collaborate on at least three months of experiments and jointly file a patent owned by Hechingen Bank.

In May 1866, Ernst attended a class reunion and caught up with Garrett, who had joined the army. Meanwhile, Wilhelm I ordered Prussia’s final preparations for war against Austria, and Prussian mobilization accelerated ahead of Austria’s and Italy’s.

• Ernst attended his class reunion at a grand Berlin hotel and met Garrett, now a staff officer in the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
• Garrett asked Ernst for military information and joked that Ernst had built a successful business while he remained a poor student.
• Wilhelm I, Bismarck, and Moltke reviewed Prussia’s preparations and agreed to focus first on Austria and keep the southern German states neutral.
• Wilhelm I appointed Moltke Commander-in-Chief, ordered Prussia into a state of war, and demanded the early training of reservists and expanded military transport.
• Prussia sent its new corps west, summoned reservists, increased railway traffic, and expanded telegraph lines as Austria and Italy also prepared for war.

Immigrants at Dar es Salaam Port unloaded horses from Russia and cattle from the Netherlands and herded them to a new livestock farm near First Town. As they settled the animals, they discussed their improved lives in Africa and hoped to choose their futures after completing their twenty-year contracts.

• Immigrants and colonial officials gathered at Dar es Salaam Port, where Dutch ships arrived carrying horses and cattle.
• The immigrants unloaded the livestock and drove them toward First Town while Dehr tested a Russian horse in the open grounds.
• Ernst’s plans for animal husbandry were explained, including his purchase of Russian horses and Dutch cattle to provide animal power for the colony.
• The immigrants built a camp and fenced pasture between First Town and Third Town, where officials assigned people to care for the animals.
• The immigrants recalled the hardship they had escaped in Qing China and discussed Pierce Lee’s explanation that they could decide whether to stay or return after twenty years of work.

The East African colony established Binhai District and sent a 2,321-man force to drive indigenous tribes from its territory. As the operation proceeded, Ernst worried about the influence of Chinese-speaking military academy students and planned to add European orphans to the academy to supervise and balance them.

• The colony established Binhai District around six towns and organized a two-thousand-man army to clear indigenous tribes from the area.
• Luo Xia led 2,321 soldiers in the district operation, and troops at Manda drove fleeing indigenous people north.
• Ernst recognized that Hechingen Military Academy students had considerable influence over the Chinese soldiers and worried they might form a separate faction.
• Ernst planned to recruit European orphans, teach them German and Chinese, and educate them alongside Chinese students to monitor the colonial army.

The chapter recounts the opening of the 1866 Prussian-Austrian War, focusing on Prussia’s rapid mobilization, railway advantages, and victory over Austria at Königgrätz. Austria also fought Italy, while the war ended with mixed results across the other German states.

• On June 14, Prussia declared war on Austria and swiftly occupied the governments and railway hubs of small northern German states that supported Austria.
• Prussia used universal conscription, nearby military districts, and an extensive railway network to mobilize and concentrate its forces faster than Austria.
• On June 23, Prussian forces advanced to the Zawidów–Zittau line, and the armies fought at the Battle of Traun on June 26.
• On July 3, Moltke’s Prussian forces defeated Ludwig von Benedek’s Austrian army at Königgrätz, inflicting far heavier casualties despite Austria’s numerical advantage.
• Hanover defeated Prussia at Langensalza before surrendering, while Prussia fought Bavaria along the Main and besieged Würzburg.
• Austria defeated Italy at Custoza on June 24 and at the naval Battle of Lissa on July 20.

The East African colony expanded cultivation in the Binhai District, relying on horses, rivers, and a stable agricultural calendar while new immigrants arrived. Manda’s farms and sisal hills were taking shape as the colony continued to grow in relative peace.

• The East African Colony Coastal District drove out most natives, freed some with their weapons, and expected their displacement to spark conflicts with neighboring tribes.
• The colony prioritized rice near the humid coast, wheat and millet in drier western regions, and expanded sisal and clove cultivation.
• Ernst chose horse plowing for the colony, using horses for farming, transport, communications, and exploration.
• Immigrants settled around Manda as fields were plowed and planted, river water was diverted into rice paddies, and sisal covered nearby hills.
• Northern immigration to East Africa increased amid unrest in East Asia, while Ernst preferred immigrants who did not organize into rival groups.
• The peaceful colony expanded house construction, farmland, canals, roads, and livestock raising while Prussia and Austria fought in Europe.

The Italian fleet’s attack on Lissa was broken by Tegetthoff’s Austro-Hungarian fleet, which relieved the island and sank the ironclad Italy. The chapter ends by describing the battle’s influence on naval tactics and ironclad warfare.

• Persano led the Italian fleet in repeated attacks on Lissa, but Austrian defenders repelled the landings and damaged Italian ships.
• Tegetthoff sailed from Pola to relieve Lissa and arranged his fleet in three V-shaped columns.
• Persano moved his flag to Affondatore, creating a gap in the Italian formation that Tegetthoff exploited by charging through it.
• Ferdinand Max rammed Italy, which lost control, capsized, and sank; the Italian fleet then withdrew.
• Tegetthoff returned as a national hero, while Persano was relieved of command after the war.

Ernst sent East African immigrants back to Jiaozhou Bay as an armed recruitment force, and their confident arrival alarmed Qing officials. After the local authorities chose not to resist them, the group traveled inland to recruit workers with official assistance.

• Ernst ordered the East African colony to accelerate immigration from the Far East and Europe, using whatever means necessary to bring in more people.
• On July 4, 1866, Anthony and more than a hundred Chinese immigrants from East Africa arrived at Jiaozhou Bay armed and dressed in Prussian-style uniforms.
• Wang Qiangui questioned Anthony about the armed group, and Anthony warned that the company would prepare for war if its recruitment demands were rejected.
• Wang Qiangui's superior concluded that Qing officials could not defeat the foreigners and ordered his deputy to let them proceed while avoiding trouble.
• The immigrant army and Hohenzollern Conglomerate staff traveled inland, while local yamen officials refrained from obstructing them and helped with recruitment.