Chapter Summaries

East Africa offered the displaced Habsburg Royal Family land in northern Togoland as the basis for founding a new state in West Africa. After weighing expansion toward British or French colonies, Emperor Rudolf advised Crown Prince Karl to choose an eastern base and exploit a future war between Germany and France.

• Ambassador Klee told Wilhelm II that Southern Germany should develop its economy and wait for Britain to become distracted before seeking more Nigerian territory.
• Wilhelm II discussed Southern Germany’s economic limits, military history, and strategic reasons for moving its capital to Beno City.
• Crown Prince Friedrich offered the Habsburg Royal Family land in either northeastern or northwestern Togoland as the foundation for a new state.
• Crown Prince Karl weighed the advantages and risks of expanding east toward French territory or west toward British territory.
• Emperor Rudolf advised Karl to establish the Habsburg state in eastern Togoland, predicting Germany would soon go to war with France and warning that Britain’s naval power made its colonies a greater risk.

The Habsburg Royal Family negotiated with East Africa over purchasing land in Togoland to establish a German colonial state, with Dahomey as a possible target for later expansion. Emperor Rudolf proposed creating two states instead, and the chapter ended with the names Habsburg Monarchy and New Austria and Karl and Ferdinand proposed as their monarchs.

• Crown Prince Friedrich explained that France’s Kingdom of Dahomey would be easy to seize with a small force but would require an army of at least ten thousand soldiers to occupy and hold against France.
• Crown Prince Karl argued that Habsburg should first buy land, develop its economy, and recruit immigrants before building a large army.
• Crown Prince Friedrich offered retired East African military equipment, existing facilities, agricultural expertise, and help recruiting immigrants from the Far East Empire and Togoland.
• Crown Prince Friedrich said the future Habsburg Monarchy must be German and resist the spread of the Arab religion in West Africa.
• Emperor Rudolf proposed that Habsburg buy a second tract of land and establish two states, naming the eastern one the Habsburg Monarchy and the western one New Austria, with Karl and Ferdinand as monarchs.

Mayor Blatter told Dapang Town’s residents that their home would leave East African rule and become part of New Austria, explaining the Habsburg royal family’s background and urging them to see the change as an opportunity. He left them considering whether they could help build the new country and gain positions in its government or army.

• East Africa transferred northwestern Togoland, including Dapang Town, to New Austria, and Mayor Blatter announced that the town would become its capital.
• Luohanshan and Zhou Tiechui questioned what the change meant for residents, and Blatter explained Austria’s history and its ties to East Africa.
• Blatter reassured the residents that the Habsburg royal family would not drastically change their lives and promised that investment could bring Dapang infrastructure and prosperity.
• Blatter argued that New Austria would need local workers to establish its government and army, giving German-speaking residents a chance to become officials, officers, and even nobles.
• Blatter said he also intended to leave East African service and pursue a higher position in New Austria.

Mayor Blatt and Principal Covens urged Dapang Town’s residents to prepare for opportunities under the New Austria Kingdom, while Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Ferdinand arrived in Lomé and discussed how to develop their new territories. The chapter left the Habsburg rulers focused on agricultural machinery, immigration, and securing their foothold despite severe labor shortages.

• Mayor Blatt told Dapang Town’s residents that education and preparation could help them advance under the Habsburg Royal Family, and Principal Covens urged them to study German and other subjects.
• The chapter established Natitingou as the Habsburg Monarchy’s likely capital and described its greater population, trade, and agricultural development compared with Dapang Town.
• On November 6, 1935, Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Ferdinand arrived by freighter at Lomé Port and admired the city’s development and scenery.
• Archduke Ferdinand said he planned to make Dapang Town a military fortress, while Crown Prince Karl argued that agriculture and population growth should take priority.
• Crown Prince Karl advised Archduke Ferdinand to invest in agricultural machinery, rely on immigration rather than slaves to solve labor shortages, and limit military spending to what security required.

Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Ferdinand arrived in East African Togoland to prepare their territories, receiving Governor Yotal’s guidance on administration, crops, and safety. Ferdinand reached the remote Dapang Town and confronted the harsh conditions of the territory he would govern.

• The chapter explained that Togoland’s native population had largely fled into neighboring British and French colonies rather than being exterminated by East Africa.
• Governor Yotal welcomed Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Ferdinand at Lomé Port and advised them on health precautions and Togoland’s governance model.
• Yotal recommended cotton as a cash crop, maize and millet for food security, and crop rotation to protect soil fertility.
• Karl and Ferdinand spent about a month in Lomé arranging personnel and supplies, while Togoland deployed a company of soldiers to protect their territories.
• Archduke Ferdinand arrived in Dapang Town with Platoon Commander Alte and remarked on its severe remoteness and difficult conditions.

East African officials organized recruitment for a quota of fifty thousand immigrants from the Far East Empire to support the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austria Kingdom. Applications surged, but Emperor Rudolf and Ernst agreed that the two countries could not yet accommodate a much larger influx.

• Will instructed East African offices to recruit fifty thousand healthy immigrants during 1936, prioritizing designated areas and families.
• Carmel and Bolet discussed their regional recruitment prospects and the changing importance of Kaifeng and Xuzhou.
• More than two thousand people applied at the Xuzhou Consulate in one week after recruitment began.
• Emperor Rudolf marveled at the strong response, and Ernst explained that poverty, turmoil, and the Far East Empire’s huge population drove emigration.
• Emperor Rudolf and Ernst agreed that the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austria Kingdom should cap recruitment at fifty thousand because they lacked room and resources for more immigrants.

Ernst persuaded Emperor Rudolf that the Habsburg Monarchy and New Austria Kingdom had a limited window to attract immigrants, especially from the Far East, and the House of Habsburg raised its target to 50,000 immigrants for each nation in 1936. The resulting East African shipping activity near Togoland alarmed French officials in West Africa, who began investigating and warning their colonial governments.

• Ernst explained to Emperor Rudolf that Europe and South Asia were poor immigration prospects and that the Far East’s future stabilization could soon restrict emigration.
• Ernst argued that Spain’s turmoil offered only limited prospects because Spaniards had more attractive destinations, including South America, France, Britain, and East Africa.
• The House of Habsburg decided to raise immigration to the Habsburg Monarchy and New Austria Kingdom to 50,000 people each in 1936, with immigrants and supplies arriving through Togoland.
• Louis questioned Éloi and other officials about East African ships operating unusually often along the West African coast and heading to Togoland.
• Éloi urged France to investigate East Africa’s activity, alert the colonial governments in Upper Volta and Niger, and report the situation to the homeland.
• Louis warned that French colonies near Togoland were vulnerable because they had few French residents and depended heavily on local populations.

Governor Louis warned that East Africa’s heavily settled Togoland functioned like a mainland province and threatened French interests in Dahomey. French intelligence officer Rubirola entered Natitingou with a caravan to investigate, where its organizer described Togoland’s prosperity and the reopening of trade routes.

• Governor Louis argued that France should treat Togoland as an East African province because its population, army, and strategic position threatened French Dahomey.
• Louis explained that East Africa’s naval dominance in the Gulf of Guinea left French and British colonies vulnerable, prompting France to investigate Togoland.
• French authorities sent spies and other agents into Togoland, where open trade routes made entry relatively easy.
• Rubirola questioned caravan organizer Sakuma in Natitingou about recent changes and rumors in Togoland.
• Sakuma said East Africa had once restricted merchants and displaced local communities, but later reopened Togoland to caravans.
• Sakuma praised Togoland’s security, transport, services, and commercial opportunities, leaving Rubirola troubled by the contrast with French colonies.

Rubirola and Sakuma traveled to Natitingou, where they discovered that the town had become the capital of a newly established Habsburg Monarchy. Rubirola suspected East Africa was using the monarchy to expand its influence in West Africa and resolved to report the development to Porto-Novo.

• Sakuma explained that southern Togoland was far more developed than its northern districts, and Rubirola recalled how Aneho surpassed the cities of Dahomey.
• Rubirola noticed a double-headed eagle flag flying over Natitingou, which Sakuma said had replaced East Africa’s usual Lion Flag.
• After arriving in Natitingou, Rubirola saw construction, crowds, and unusually many cars, then sent Sakuma to gather information.
• Sakuma reported that Natitingou no longer belonged to Togoland and had become the capital of the Habsburg Monarchy, ruled by Karl I.
• Rubirola identified Karl I as likely Crown Prince Karl of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and said France needed to hear about the monarchy’s potential threat.

Rubirola toured Natitingou and learned that the Habsburg Monarchy was a new state supported by East Africa, while France began monitoring it and the New Austria Kingdom. In Darfur, the opening of the North African Railway brought hopes of economic growth as the Eastern Europe Express stopped in Niara City.

• Rubirola visited a Natitingou tavern, where the owner explained the town’s transition from Togoland to the Habsburg Monarchy and described planned development.
• Rubirola concluded that the Habsburg Monarchy was a client state backed by East Africa, then left Natitingou with Sakuma’s bodyguards as Sakuma continued north.
• France learned about the Habsburg Monarchy and the New Austria Kingdom and ordered its colonial governments to monitor them while considering closer integration of its West African colonies.
• The North African Railway opened along its full length, and its first freight train from Port of Benghazi to the East African mainland stopped in Niara City for water and maintenance.
• Niara residents welcomed the railway, expecting it to connect Darfur to regional trade and help overcome the territory’s economic isolation.

At a government conference, Crown Prince Friedrich and Minister Cher Laid discussed how Darfur could use the North African Railway to develop trade, agriculture, and mining. Friedrich concluded that Darfur should become North Africa’s free trade zone, centered on the railway.

• Crown Prince Friedrich asked about preparations to develop Darfur and the mainland provinces after the North African Railway opened.
• Cher Laid described Darfur’s location and the railway as advantages for trade with Southern Germany, Egypt, Italy, and other regions, while noting political obstacles to cooperation with Sudan.
• Cher Laid identified agriculture, especially gum arabic and potential cash crops, as a second avenue for Darfur’s economic growth.
• Cher Laid reported discoveries of oil and natural gas, gold, uranium, iron, copper, and kaolin, and recommended developing gold mines first.
• Crown Prince Friedrich directed that Darfur be built into North Africa’s free trade zone and that trade be developed around the North African Railway.

Crown Prince Friedrich outlined a trade-centered development plan for Darfur, while East African leaders reassessed the country’s military regions and overseas naval theaters. The General Staff proposed five homeland military regions and five theaters, with the Indian Ocean receiving the greatest attention.

• Crown Prince Friedrich proposed linking Darfur to the North African Railway and a future highway, increasing its population, and attracting domestic mining enterprises through low taxes and flexible policies.
• The chapter contrasted East Africa’s secure maritime position and Darfur railway with the Far East Empire’s need for overland routes and a restored Silk Road to protect trade and extend its influence.
• Taulfeis proposed moving Gabon and Cameroon into the Western Military Region, restoring the Northern Military Region, and merging the Southwestern Military Region into the Western Military Region.
• Ernst approved five homeland military regions: Central, Western, Northern, Northeastern, and Southern, with the Northern Military Region focused on North African threats.
• Taulfeis proposed five overseas theaters: Atlantic, Northwest Indian Ocean, East Indian Ocean, South Indian Ocean, and Pacific, assigning them roles in protecting sea routes and coordinating naval forces.

Taulfeis and Ernst argued that a unified Arab world could threaten East Africa, especially if rival powers supported it, and explained how East Africa’s military regions and theaters were positioned to contain that danger. Ernst concluded that East Africa should strengthen its Atlantic deployments to protect its South American interests as competition from Britain, the United States, and Germany grew.

• Taulfeis warned that Arab religious forces could unite into a powerful state and threaten East Africa’s northern security, particularly with outside support.
• Taulfeis cited Britain’s military support for Egypt as an example of a rival power using Arab forces to contain East Africa.
• Ernst agreed that East Africa must remain alert, noting that North Africa posed a greater security threat than West Africa because its religious forces could unite.
• The chapter explained how the Northern and Northeastern Military Regions and the Indian Ocean and Pacific theaters were positioned to pressure Arab forces across North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Nanyang region.
• Ernst said East Africa should avoid war and let rival powers intensify their conflicts, while using its military deployments to protect its sphere of influence.
• Ernst called for stronger Atlantic military deployments to defend East Africa’s South American interests against possible competition from the United States, Britain, and Germany.

East Africa reviewed the achievements of its Seventh Five-Year Plan, reporting strong growth despite the Great Depression and expanding its industrial and urban lead. Crown Prince Friedrich warned that the Eighth Five-Year Plan could bring harsher challenges and called for stronger investment in overseas markets.

• Ernst and Taulfeis discussed East Africa’s limits in controlling the South Atlantic and its plans to monitor South America and secure the Indian Ocean’s strategic routes.
• The National Macroeconomic Survey Bureau reported that East Africa maintained growth during the Great Depression and ranked among the world’s fastest-growing major economies.
• The bureau summarized East Africa’s rising urbanization, industrial output, light industry, and infrastructure development during the Seventh Five-Year Plan.
• Crown Prince Friedrich said East Africa had faced lost overseas markets and the economic crisis but had sustained growth through market expansion and domestic development.
• Crown Prince Friedrich urged East Africa to protect existing overseas markets and expand in North America, Europe, and the Far East during the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

Ernst discussed how East Africa could overcome its economic bottleneck and lead the Third Technological Revolution by combining government research with market innovation. He identified materials and semiconductor research, along with long-range aviation, as priorities for the Eighth Five-Year Plan.

• Ernst told Crown Prince Friedrich that East Africa had outgrown the development models it once followed and needed to advance electrification and scientific research.
• Ernst argued that government investment should guide major research projects while private markets tested applications and helped correct mistaken priorities.
• Ernst named materials science and semiconductor research as key fields, saying semiconductor breakthroughs could move East Africa from the electrical age into the electronic age.
• Ernst identified large transport aircraft with ranges beyond seven thousand kilometers as a priority for opening profitable international routes and strengthening Rhine City's air hub.
• Ernst connected semiconductor advances to aviation and air freight, arguing that electronic goods could make long-distance air transport more commercially viable.

East Africa’s Eighth Five-Year Plan prioritized scientific research and emerging technologies, while naval officials debated whether the Empire’s capital-ship strength could keep pace with other major powers. The chapter leaves the navy weighing faster carrier construction and delayed battleship retirements against budget limits and the demands of building complete carrier groups.

• East Africa released its Eighth Five-Year Plan, emphasizing research and development in fields including nuclear energy, aviation, computers, and semiconductors.
• Schaller showed Commodore Bordeaux the more than fifty-thousand-ton aircraft carrier under construction at Maputo First Shipyard and said it would likely take three more years to finish.
• Bordeaux argued that East Africa’s naval numbers lagged behind Britain, Japan, and the United States and that its widely dispersed fleets left the Atlantic exposed.
• Schaller countered that East Africa’s Indian Ocean Fleet could reinforce the Atlantic and that the Empire’s carriers were larger and more advanced than rival ships.
• Bordeaux warned that technology could not guarantee victory and urged the navy to build more carriers or delay battleship retirements.
• The discussion noted that each new carrier required a full complement of supporting vessels to form a carrier battle group.

Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich discussed expanding East Africa’s navy and concealing its military development. The Empire planned to build three more carriers and train additional naval personnel while continuing to develop its army and air force discreetly.

• Ernst proposed building three more carriers, which would bring East Africa’s carrier formations to ten, and argued that peacetime construction would cost less than wartime expansion.
• Crown Prince Friedrich agreed that the navy needed more ships and personnel, and Ernst said naval training should begin immediately.
• Ernst explained that East Africa could conceal army and air force expansion in inland military zones, while ships and naval exercises were easier for foreign powers to observe.
• Crown Prince Friedrich compared the military secrecy of the Soviet Union, Japan, and East Africa, noting the Soviet Union’s isolation and Japan’s concealed military development.
• Ernst observed that East Africa was applying lessons from Germany and Japan by using civil aviation to support air force development and preparing its army for rapid wartime expansion.

Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich discussed how East African colonies and spheres of influence surrounded Japan, shaping Japan’s strategy toward the Empire. They concluded that Japan would likely pursue a defensive denial strategy focused on the Pacific Fleet and key waterways, while Alaska stood out as East Africa’s most self-governing Pacific colony.

• Ernst explained that East African positions in Alaska, the Far East, the Southern Ryukyu Islands, and Northern Hawaii formed a rough encirclement of Japan and pressured its strategic freedom.
• Ernst compared Japan’s sense of pressure from East Africa with the fear that the Soviet Union inspired in its neighbors, and argued that Japan would avoid an all-out confrontation with the Empire.
• Ernst and Crown Prince Friedrich reasoned that Japan’s main wartime goal would be to destroy or drive off the Pacific Fleet and seize strategic straits such as Malacca and Sunda.
• Crown Prince Friedrich noted that East Africa’s Pacific colonies had substantial populations but could not change the outcome if the mainland abandoned them.
• Ernst identified Alaska as East Africa’s most independent Pacific colony because it alone possessed self-government, though the mainland still controlled or influenced its finances, military, and diplomacy.

Alaskan guide Ma XueSen showed mainland tourists around Anchorage and described Alaska’s history, climate, architecture, and growing role in East African sports. The chapter ended with the tourists anticipating the Berlin Summer Olympics, where Richard expected East Africa to contend for a top-three medal finish.

• Ma XueSen explained why Alaska depended on East Africa for defense against the Soviet Union, Japan, the United States, and Canada.
• Ma XueSen guided Richard and other tourists through snowy Anchorage and described the city’s climate, population, agriculture, and Russian-influenced architecture.
• Ma XueSen recounted how Alaska’s architectural styles developed from Russian, Canadian, and other influences while German culture remained dominant.
• Ma XueSen told the tourists that Alaskan athletes had won East Africa one silver and one bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics.
• Richard predicted that East Africa would rank among the top three at the Berlin Summer Olympics, while Ma XueSen said Alaska might also contribute athletes.

Japanese agents Fujino and Kuroshita Anji discussed East Africa’s growing sports presence before discovering a report about a planned airport in Anchorage. They recognized its strategic importance and decided the Empire needed to be warned.

• Ma XueSen said Alaska’s athletes hoped to improve on their Winter Olympics results at the Berlin Olympics.
• Fujino returned late to Kuroshita Anji’s apartment after listening to East African tourists discuss sports and mocked the laxity of their intelligence work in Alaska.
• Fujino and Kuroshita Anji criticized Japan’s exclusion from the Winter Olympics and argued that Japanese athletes would excel at the Berlin Olympics.
• Kuroshita Anji and Fujino searched the newspapers for intelligence, and Fujino found a report that Anchorage would build a large airport as a North Pacific hub.
• Kuroshita Anji warned that Anchorage Airport could threaten Japan if East Africa used it for military operations and said they must report the plan to the Empire.