Chapter Summaries

Adolf and the German National Party secretly staged a bombing in the Imperial Parliament to crush the Labor Party and Social Democratic Party. After blaming the explosion on them, Adolf declared both parties terrorist organizations and ordered mass arrests, leaving Germany’s opposition imprisoned or facing execution.

• Heinrich reported that Germany’s economy had recovered and that support for the National Party had risen as the Labor Party and Social Democratic Party declined.
• Adolf ordered Heinrich to arrange a deadly Imperial Parliament bombing and plant evidence against the Labor Party.
• On February 23, a bomb exploded beneath the Labor Party seats, killing two members and injuring others as guards arrested those present.
• Police and security officials blamed the bombing on Labor Party members Marinus and Dehr, then accused Thälmann and other party leaders of involvement.
• Adolf declared the Labor Party and Social Democratic Party terrorist organizations and ordered nationwide arrests, imprisoning more than ten thousand members.

Emperor Rudolf signed an agreement leasing Dubrovnik to East Africa, giving its navy a foothold in the Mediterranean as Habsburg rule weakened. Rudolf and Alfred discussed the port’s strategic value and the growing cooperation between East Africa and the House of Habsburg.

• Britain and France praised Adolf and backed German expansion so long as Germany opposed the Soviet Union.
• Emperor Rudolf signed the Dubrovnik Port Lease Agreement with East Africa in Vienna.
• Rudolf explained that the agreement gave East Africa the right to operate Dubrovnik and build naval facilities there.
• Alfred thanked Rudolf and said the port would help East Africa protect its interests in the Adriatic and Mediterranean.
• Rudolf lamented that Austria had not expanded toward the Mediterranean and said East Africa was more trustworthy than Germany.

Colonel Yars inspected Dubrovnik and proposed turning its neglected harbor into a fortified East African-Austrian military port. In Vienna, Emperor Rudolf accelerated plans to sell the Habsburg family’s assets and transfer the empire’s common inheritance before the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated.

• Colonel Yars and Strolin surveyed Dubrovnik’s harbor and discussed its defensive advantages and neglected facilities.
• Colonel Yars proposed renovating Dubrovnik’s harbors, strengthening Rovere Fortress, and building surveillance stations, with Dalmatia contributing to a jointly used military port.
• The chapter described East Africa’s naval focus and its preparations to keep its army ready for future wars.
• Crown Prince Karl told Emperor Rudolf that the family’s businesses were being sold and another batch of valuables had been moved to East Africa.
• Emperor Rudolf described the empire’s spreading uprisings and concluded that its collapse was near, then argued that its common assets should be sold rather than left to nationalist successor states.

Crown Prince Friedrich investigated the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s industrial strengths as the Habsburgs sought to sell assets to East Africa, producing a list of forty-seven technologies and industries they could transfer. The Habsburgs then offered East Africa warships and naval personnel, but Ernst rejected a large-scale warship deal and favored technology transfers and recruiting skilled workers.

• Crown Prince Friedrich asked Schmitz to identify fields where the Austro-Hungarian Empire surpassed East Africa, and Schmitz cited optics, metallurgy, and traditional heavy steam engines as limited advantages.
• Friedrich worked with East African Customs and the Ministry of Commerce to identify more than three hundred Austro-Hungarian technologies and industries, which the Habsburg Royal Family narrowed to forty-seven transferable entries.
• Crown Prince Karl proposed selling Austro-Hungarian warships to East Africa at low prices and sending experienced naval officers and sailors there for employment.
• Friedrich reported the proposal to Ernst, who concluded that the Habsburgs had lost confidence in their rule and refused to buy large warships.
• Ernst approved cooperation on technology transfers and recruiting talent from Austro-Hungarian naval shipyards, while suggesting that Germany might buy the warships instead.

Hoffmann arrived in Dihua to negotiate with the local government and clear the way for East Africa’s Northwest Air Route to the Far East Empire. The route would connect Gwadar, Dihua, and Xi’an, avoiding the dangerous southwestern plateau, though Soviet influence remained a concern.

• Hoffmann and his assistant Bronnie completed a two-and-a-half-day flight from Xi’an to Dihua aboard a German Junkers Ju52.
• Bronnie explained that Eurasia Aviation Company was the only airline operating in the northwest and that its German-backed route linked Xi’an with Dihua.
• Hoffmann said the Nanjing government had approved East Africa’s Northwest Air Route plan and that he had come to negotiate with Dihua’s local government.
• Hoffmann outlined a route from Gwadar through Dihua to Xi’an, describing it as safer and more practical than East Africa’s failed southwestern routes.
• Hoffmann warned that Soviet infiltration in the northwest could complicate the route, while East Africa’s influence in Afghanistan could help counter it.

Hoffmann negotiated with Supervisor Sheng in Dihua to establish the Northwest International Air Route and expand East African cooperation with Western Regions Province. The route opened a year later, giving East Africa direct access to the Far East Empire and reducing Soviet influence in the region.

• Hoffmann arrived in Dihua and found Soviet personnel and a military aircraft at the crude airport, raising concern that the Soviets might interfere with negotiations.
• Supervisor Sheng welcomed Hoffmann and agreed to cooperate on the Northwest International Air Route, while seeking direct ties with East Africa beyond the Nanjing government.
• Supervisor Sheng asked to import East African weapons to balance his dependence on Soviet support, and Hoffmann agreed to consult his government about arms and other trade.
• Hoffmann and Supervisor Sheng discussed the route and broader economic and military cooperation, and construction proceeded with the provincial government's support.
• A year later, the route connected Bosaso and Gwadar through Dihua to Xi'an and the Mountain City, enabling direct trade and faster travel between East Africa and the Far East Empire.

The Austrian Labor Party chose to preserve the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a united republic, then launched a rebellion against Habsburg rule. As its forces advanced through Vienna, Emperor Rudolf evacuated the royal family to East Africa and fled to Budapest, while the Great Austrian United Government declared its founding.

• Horner argued that Austria should unite with Hungary, the Czech lands, and other regions in an equal federal government, while Friedrich opposed preserving the empire as a continuation of oppression.
• Koplenich called a vote, and most party members chose the united path and planned a Great Austrian United Labor Party government.
• On May 4, the Austrian Labor Party began rebellions in Vienna and elsewhere, and by May 6 its forces had occupied most of Vienna while royalists resisted at Schönbrunn Palace.
• Emperor Rudolf sent Crown Prince Karl, the Queen, and other royal family members to East Africa aboard a K-20 aircraft, but chose to remain and defend the empire.
• On May 14, Rudolf and government officials fled to Budapest as Labor Party troops approached Schönbrunn Palace; the Great Austrian United Government proclaimed its establishment and called on other regional Labor Parties to join the Great Austrian United Republic.

The Great Austrian United Government gained support from the Czech and Hungarian Labor Parties, while Italy used its creation as a pretext to declare war and reclaim Lombardy and Venice. Italy retook East Lombardy, but Marshal Borojević’s Austro-Hungarian forces consolidated near Venice and held off the advance as Italy prepared attacks from three directions.

• Gottwald and János supported joining the Great Austrian United Government, bringing the Czech and Hungarian Labor Parties into a Vienna-centered unified organization.
• Benito declared war on the Great Austrian United Republic on May 15, and more than 200,000 Italian troops crossed the border to attack Austro-Hungarian forces.
• Marshal Borojević ordered his troops to resist Italy, then withdrew from East Lombardy after Italy captured Cremona and threatened the defenders’ rear.
• Italy recovered East Lombardy and advanced across the Po River Plain, while Borojević pulled his forces toward the Alpine region and Venice.
• Borojević established a defensive line using the Brenta River, Padua, Alpine high ground, and naval support, stalling Italy’s advance.
• Italy divided its forces between frontal assaults, a northern Alpine campaign, and naval reinforcements in the Adriatic Sea.

Adolf blamed Germany’s intelligence failures for losing influence in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and ordered preparations to annex it by force. German troops invaded Bohemia and Austria, while Adolf pushed for a faster campaign to secure the empire’s territory and coastline before Italy could take them.

• Adolf reprimanded Heinrich for failing to prevent the Labor Party from taking Vienna, then ordered him to reorganize the Austrian National Party and recruit former Austro-Hungarian officials and generals.
• At the end of May 1934, Germany’s General Staff planned a two-pronged invasion, sending one force into Bohemia and another south into Austria.
• In early June, German troops entered the Sudetenland and advanced south as local Alpine governments welcomed them, while the Great Austrian United Government organized resistance.
• On June 13, German forces reached the outskirts of Prague as former government supporters formed armed groups, attacked Labor Party forces, and supplied the Germans with intelligence and provisions.
• Adolf urged Germany’s senior officers to accelerate the invasion, secure the Adriatic coastline before Italy, and contact Austro-Hungarian officers in Venice to bring them over to Germany.

The United Government faced a worsening food crisis in Vienna as German forces advanced and Hungary blocked supplies, forcing leaders to consider mobilization and rationing. Meanwhile, East African employee Kyasov offered Austrian Academy of Sciences academician Krast a route out of the city to East Africa.

• Koplenich warned that Vienna’s population and Hungary’s blockade had created severe food shortages, making an eastern campaign necessary.
• Horner cautioned that German offensives and Rudolf’s forces in Hungary left the army too stretched to spare troops for an eastern campaign.
• Koplenich proposed mobilizing Vienna, forming new units, and imposing strict food rations while keeping forces on the western and northern fronts.
• As shortages worsened, Kyasov visited Krast and offered him the chance to leave Vienna for East Africa.
• Kyasov explained that East African aircraft could still operate from Vienna, and Krast considered the safe route offered to him.

Krast accepted Kyasov’s offer to leave Vienna for East Africa, where his research and belongings would be transferred and he would settle in Bella City. The chapter described East Africa’s wider effort to recruit Austro-Hungarian immigrants and distribute scientists and skilled workers across its homeland and colonies.

• Krast told Kyasov that Vienna’s worsening conditions and uncertainty over the Austro-Hungarian Empire had changed his mind about moving to East Africa.
• Kyasov gave Krast a prepared East African passport and identification document, and Krast supplied photographs so the documents could be completed.
• Krast asked the embassy to transport the books, research materials, and possessions filling a room, and Kyasov agreed to send staff to pack them.
• Three days later, an East African Embassy truck collected Krast’s research materials, and Krast prepared to depart for Bella City.
• East Africa continued recruiting Austro-Hungarian scientists, ordinary immigrants, and skilled workers, distributing scientists among research centers and expanding immigration to its overseas colonies.

The chapter described the completion of Tete City’s new cross-river bridge and its role in East Africa’s infrastructure renewal and industrial development. It left Tete City poised to become the central hub of the Central-East Industrial Cluster and a leading industrial city, while facing competition from other major cities.

• East Africa completed the 892-meter Tete City Cross-River Bridge, while engineers continued addressing wind and soil challenges for the planned Xindai city bridge.
• Mayor O'Connell said the new bridge and a forthcoming railway bridge would improve transport, support riverbank development, and allow the old Tete City bridge to be demolished.
• O'Connell described Tete City as a vital link between East Africa’s Bohemia, Lake Malawi, and Lower Zambezi industrial zones.
• The chapter explained that the Central-East Industrial Cluster would connect those zones with the Central Industrial Zone and make Tete City a major transportation and industrial hub.
• O'Connell declared that Tete City would become East Africa’s leading industrial city, though cities such as Mombasa, Cabinda, Luanda, and Xindai city remained strong competitors.

Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich assessed the worsening international situation and agreed that East Africa should prepare quietly for an approaching world war. They set a long-term course for military expansion, with military development becoming a priority during the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

• Ernst explained that East Africa had to review its national assets early and prepare for international upheaval.
• Ernst predicted that a new world war would break out within five years and said Japan's war in Asia had already begun.
• Friedrich and Ernst discussed a likely Germany-Japan alliance and the conflict's potential to engulf Eurasia.
• Ernst argued that East Africa should favor a weakened Soviet Union over a dominant Germany and prepare for a three-power world order.
• Ernst and Friedrich agreed to begin weapons production, stockpiling, training, and other military preparations to reduce the disruption of future war.
• Ernst and Friedrich quietly made military expansion a priority for East Africa's Eighth Five-Year Plan, potentially delaying some civilian and infrastructure projects.

In October 1934, Ernst reviewed East Africa’s steady economic performance as Crown Prince Friedrich assessed the recovery and weaknesses of the world’s major powers. He outlined East Africa’s expanding overseas markets and warned that the Soviet Union and Japan required close attention.

• Ernst reviewed the Seventh Five-Year Plan and judged that keeping East Africa’s economy stable amid the global crisis was a victory.
• Crown Prince Friedrich reported that most major powers were recovering, while France’s population shortage, political instability, and weakening competitiveness constrained its economy.
• Crown Prince Friedrich compared the United States’ New Deal, Adolf’s economic policies in Germany, and Britain’s monetary reform and Imperial Preference as drivers of recovery.
• Crown Prince Friedrich described East Africa’s overseas markets, including its growth in South America and the Southern Hemisphere and its retreat from the Huaihai Region.
• Crown Prince Friedrich warned that the Soviet Union’s industrial growth could threaten Germany’s position, while Japan’s military-focused economy and powerful navy posed a danger.

Crown Prince Friedrich and Ernst outlined East Africa’s strategic priorities and argued that war could create an opportunity to take control of the Indian Ocean from Britain. The chapter ended with East Africa’s core interests ranked across Africa, the oceans, Nanyang, the Far East, and Europe, while noting the limits of its influence in the latter two regions.

• Crown Prince Friedrich said that unstable economic recovery and a dangerous international order meant East Africa had to prepare for war.
• Ernst identified the Indian Ocean as the core of East Africa’s future interests and described how controlling key chokepoints could secure regional dominance.
• Ernst argued that World War II would draw Britain back toward Europe and give East Africa a chance to take over the Indian Ocean at low cost.
• Ernst assessed how East Africa had weakened Britain’s interests across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Atlantic.
• Ernst ranked East Africa’s core interests and explained that geography and competition limited its influence in Europe and the Far East.

Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich discussed East Africa’s strategy to control the Indian Ocean by strengthening Japan’s navy and steering it toward Nanyang. The chapter surveyed the world’s naval powers and ended with the Far East Empire’s navy too weak to challenge Japan, leaving Japan free to focus beyond East Asia.

• Ernst argued that Nanyang was essential to controlling the Indian Ocean and that East Africa needed to make rival powers fight one another.
• Crown Prince Friedrich said East Africa had strengthened and encouraged the Imperial Japanese Navy to promote Japan’s southward advance.
• The chapter compared the major navies, noting Japan’s rapid expansion and East Africa’s focus on naval technology and aircraft carriers rather than simply increasing fleet size.
• The chapter ranked countries’ naval industries and described the Far East Empire’s shipbuilding sector as having declined until it could only maintain and refit ships.
• Ernst dismissed the Far East Empire Navy as too weak to restrain Japan and considered its weakness advantageous because Japan could turn its attention toward Nanyang and the Pacific.

Ernst laid out East Africa’s plans to prepare for future war by stockpiling strategic resources, developing forces suited to Europe and Nanyang, and quietly expanding naval support capacity. He proposed reorganizing and supporting the shipbuilding industry during the Eighth Five-Year Plan, leaving East Africa poised to revive its shipyards.

• Ernst ordered East Africa to begin stockpiling tungsten ore, rubber, and petroleum while assessing how war could threaten its overseas oil supplies.
• Ernst identified Japan and Germany as future military threats and directed the Defense Force to study mechanized warfare in Europe and island and jungle warfare in Nanyang.
• Ernst argued that East Africa should expand auxiliary vessels rather than openly build restricted capital ships, using support for a three-million-ton navy as a planning benchmark.
• Friedrich warned that East Africa’s exposed coastline and limited port concealment would make a secret naval buildup difficult.
• Ernst called for an overhaul of the shipbuilding industry and proposed large-scale auxiliary-ship construction to restore orders and support shipyards during the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

After capturing Prague, Germany placed the city under military trusteeship and prepared a German-backed New Bohemian Government, while recruiting former local officials to help restore order. Germany’s advance weakened the Austro-Hungarian Labor Party, but its plans to absorb the empire remained complicated by the Habsburgs, the great powers, and the need to keep Italy from joining Germany’s rivals.

• Bitzker announced that Prague would remain under martial law and German trusteeship, and asked former officials to help restore local administration.
• O'Connell praised Germany, denounced the Labor Party, and promised Bitzker that Prague’s former officials would cooperate.
• Bitzker told the Prague delegation that a German-backed New Bohemian Government had been formed in Teplice and would eventually move its seat to Prague.
• Germany offered to return some property confiscated by the Labor Party, while reserving the largest share of Prague’s assets for itself.
• Germany’s capture of Prague and advances in Austria left the Austro-Hungarian Labor Party increasingly disadvantaged, while Hungary remained a Habsburg stronghold.
• Adolf sought to avoid conflict with Italy and hoped to win it as a future ally while Germany continued its advance through the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

East African leaders assessed Germany’s advances and Italy’s stalled campaign against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, concluding that Italy’s choices and the fate of Venice could reshape the European conflict. Benito visited the front, ordered Italy to capture Venice and Trieste on strict deadlines, and promised heavy artillery to help break the Austro-Hungarian defenses.

• Schwaiger briefed Crown Prince Friedrich on Germany’s advance, the Labor Party’s threat to Budapest, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s precarious position.
• Schwaiger explained that Italy’s disputes with Germany, Britain, and France left Benito’s eventual alignment uncertain, while Italy struggled to break through at Venice.
• Benito arrived at the front on September 30 and rebuked Hurst for failing to advance beyond the Brenta River.
• Benito ordered Hurst to cross the Brenta River and capture Venice within a month, then recover Trieste within three months.
• Hurst requested more artillery and shells, and Benito promised to procure heavy artillery abroad while warning against further excuses.

Italy’s offensive breached the Brenta River defensive line as Germany committed more troops to the collapsing Austro-Hungarian Empire. By mid-November 1934, battles for Budapest, Vienna, and Venice had begun, leaving the empire’s fate and the balance of power in its former territories undecided.

• Benito ordered Italy’s heavy weapons concentrated at the front, and Italian commanders promised to advance to Venice within a month.
• Adolf sent another two hundred thousand German troops into the Austro-Hungarian Empire to defeat the Austrian United Government and secure German control before Italy took Venice.
• German forces advanced through Bohemia, Slovakia, and Galicia as Yugoslav forces declared independence and Britain, France, and Italy supported their expansion.
• The United Government Army surrounded Budapest, Italy captured Padua and broke the Brenta River line, and German forces closed in on Vienna.
• The United Government Army attacked Budapest on November 9, Germany launched its offensive against Vienna four days later, and Italy advanced toward Venice as Austro-Hungarian forces withdrew into the mountains.