Chapter Summaries

Daimler Company launched an aggressive advertising campaign for its two motorcycle models, and all 20,000 units in its first batch sold out in one day. Paul Daimler reported the success to Oscar, who questioned whether the company’s planned monthly production of 40,000 motorcycles could meet demand.

• Daimler Company advertised its men's and women's motorcycles across Germany and announced that they would go on sale on July 18.
• Daimler Company opened shops in major cities to sell motorcycles and future automobiles and provide repairs.
• Buyers snapped up all 20,000 motorcycles on the first day of sales, surprising rival manufacturers and leaving hesitant customers regretting their missed chance.
• Paul Daimler traveled to Berlin and told Oscar that Daimler Company had 20,000 motorcycles in stock and could produce 40,000 per month after expanding capacity.
• Oscar said that 40,000 motorcycles a month might not be enough to meet demand across Europe.

Oscar demonstrated Daimler’s new heavy military motorcycles to senior German military leaders, hoping to secure army orders. The demonstration showed their speed and carrying capacity, but Moltke the Younger questioned their battlefield usefulness while von Falkenhayn suggested using them for reconnaissance.

• Daimler’s civilian motorcycles continued selling rapidly in Germany and abroad, prompting Oscar to reserve monthly production for Britain, France, and the United States.
• Oscar’s research department developed two heavy military motorcycle models, and the first batch arrived in Berlin at the end of August.
• On September 2, Oscar invited senior military leaders to a Berlin-area camp to watch the motorcycles and consider ordering them.
• Ten two-wheeled motorcycles carried armed soldiers around the drill ground, demonstrating their speed and ability to handle heavy loads.
• Oscar argued that motorcycles could speed troop advances, but Moltke the Younger doubted they would be useful on battlefields.
• von Falkenhayn proposed equipping reconnaissance units with the motorcycles so they could scout and report enemy movements more quickly.

Oscar demonstrated three-wheeled motorcycles armed with MG08 heavy machine guns to German Army officers, who praised their battlefield usefulness. Falkenhayn endorsed purchasing them, and the chapter ended with the generals awaiting Moltke the Younger's decision.

• Deputy Chief of Staff General von Waldow urged Oscar and Moltke the Younger to wait for the other motorcycles before deciding.
• Oscar introduced the three-wheeled motorcycles, which fired their mounted MG08 heavy machine guns while driving.
• Falkenhayn and other officers praised the vehicles as mobile firepower for pursuing enemies and defending supply lines.
• Oscar acknowledged that the MG08's weight strained the sidecar and affected the motorcycle's performance.
• Falkenhayn said the Army needed the motorcycle, and the officers turned to Moltke the Younger for approval.

Moltke the Younger tried to block Oscar’s effort to supply the German Army, citing its lack of funds and contrasting Oscar’s naval support with the army’s needs. Oscar offered the army twenty thousand motorcycles worth more than fifty million Mark, winning the generals’ approval and leaving his standing with them stronger.

• Moltke the Younger told Oscar that the army could not afford to buy motorcycles and urged him to donate them as he had supported the navy.
• Oscar recognized Moltke the Younger's attempt to stir resentment among the army generals and offered ten thousand two-wheeled and ten thousand three-wheeled military motorcycles, on condition that the donation remain confidential.
• The army generals applauded Oscar's offer, and Falkenhayn thanked him for supporting the army.
• Oscar praised both the army and navy and called the German Army the best in the world, further winning the generals' goodwill.

Oscar donated fifty million marks’ worth of motorcycles to the Army, winning goodwill from its senior officers despite Moltke the Younger’s hostility. As Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz explained that Moltke felt threatened by Oscar’s growing influence, Oscar suspected the Crown Prince had put him up to it.

• Oscar agreed to donate motorcycles worth fifty million marks to the Army, and Moltke the Younger left with his hostility undiminished.
• Moltke the Younger privately concluded that Oscar’s ambitions threatened Crown Prince Wilhelm’s position, which Wilhelm II already viewed as unstable.
• Falkenhayn and the Army generals thanked Oscar, while privately regretting that he was not the Emperor’s eldest son.
• Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz invited Oscar to share his automobile and praised his support for both the Army and the Navy.
• Tirpitz told Oscar that Moltke the Younger felt threatened by his talent and was trying to restrain him, prompting Oscar to ask whether Crown Prince Wilhelm had instigated it.

Oscar learned that Tirpitz would support him if Wilhelm II replaced Crown Prince Wilhelm, while Moltke the Younger warned the Crown Prince that Oscar was winning over the Army and Navy. The chapter ended with Crown Prince Wilhelm vowing to retaliate against Oscar.

• Tirpitz told Oscar that Wilhelm II had serious doubts about Crown Prince Wilhelm’s ability to rule and pledged the Navy’s support for Oscar if the Emperor replaced the heir.
• Oscar admitted he wanted to become Crown Prince but said he would focus on his duties and seize the opportunity if it arose.
• Moltke the Younger met Crown Prince Wilhelm at Cecilia’s farm and warned him that Oscar’s motorcycle donation was winning the Army’s favor.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm flew into a rage, smashed his wine bottle, and vowed that Oscar would regret forcing his hand.

Crown Prince Wilhelm persuaded Friedrich Franz III to arrange Oscar’s assassination, and an attacker approached Oscar and Karl in Berlin. The chapter ended as they spotted the pistol hidden beneath the attacker’s map.

• Crown Prince Wilhelm decided to have Oscar killed so he could secure the throne and claim Oscar’s wealth.
• Friedrich Franz III hesitated over Wilhelm’s request but chose to send someone to assassinate Oscar.
• On October 24, Oscar and Karl left the German Welfare Lottery Company building and waited for their car.
• A young man approached Oscar with a map and asked for directions to Brandenburg Gate.
• Oscar sensed danger, and he and Karl noticed the young man was hiding a pistol beneath the map.

Oscar was shot in an assassination attempt in Berlin and underwent emergency surgery while Wilhelm II ordered an investigation. After two days unconscious, Oscar woke and was confirmed to be out of immediate danger.

• Karl von Jonath rushed to Oscar after an assassin shot him and arranged for him to be taken to the hospital.
• Essen von Jonath informed Wilhelm II that Prince Oskar had been shot, prompting the Emperor to order the police and royal forces to find the assassin and mastermind.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm privately welcomed the attack, while Moltke the Younger suspected his involvement and disapproved of his actions.
• Doctors removed the bullet and treated Oscar, who remained unconscious for two days before waking and passing the immediate danger.

Oscar recovered in the hospital after an assassination attempt and realized Wilhelm II was concealing the culprit’s identity. Wilhelm II learned that Friedrich Franz III had arranged the attack and ordered evidence gathered against him, while summoning Crown Prince Wilhelm.

• Empress Victoria and Wilhelm II visited Oscar, who said he would rather have been wounded on the battlefield than by an assassin.
• Oscar inferred from Wilhelm II’s response that the Emperor knew who was responsible and was protecting Crown Prince Wilhelm.
• Essen von Jonath told Wilhelm II that the assassin had confessed that Friedrich Franz III sent him to kill Oscar.
• Wilhelm II ordered Essen von Jonath to gather evidence of Friedrich Franz III’s illegal activities so he could replace the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
• Wilhelm II summoned Crown Prince Wilhelm to see him.

Wilhelm II confronted Crown Prince Wilhelm over the attempt on Oscar’s life, then confined him to the Potsdam palace while keeping his succession rights and the scandal hidden. Oscar welcomed the news but vowed not to show mercy if anyone threatened him again.

• Wilhelm II accused Crown Prince Wilhelm of ordering Friedrich Franz III to arrange the attack on Oscar, but the prince denied it.
• Wilhelm II chose not to pursue the accusation publicly to protect the imperial family and Germany, but ordered Crown Prince Wilhelm to live under confinement in Potsdam.
• Essen von Jonath and palace guards escorted the protesting Crown Prince Wilhelm away.
• Oscar heard of the confinement in the hospital and reflected on the violence of the succession struggle.
• Oscar resolved that he would never again let anyone threaten his life without responding ruthlessly.

While recovering in the hospital, Oscar pushed to bring aviation pioneers Gustav Lilienthal and the Wright Brothers into German research projects. He ordered Karl von Jonath to secure their work by any means necessary, leaving Germany poised to pursue aircraft development and its military uses.

• Karl von Jonath told Oscar that Gustav Lilienthal would visit and that the Wright Brothers were interested in funding but hesitant to leave the United States.
• Oscar urged Karl to persuade the Wright Brothers to come to Germany, emphasizing that their invention could help the Empire surpass other nations.
• Oscar authorized Karl to use force, even killing the Wright Brothers, if they refused to come to Germany.
• Oscar ordered Karl to support Gustav Lilienthal's research and to place the Wright Brothers' work under his project if they came.
• Oscar recalled Otto Lilienthal's aviation work and fatal glider accident, and planned to support Gustav's continuing research and develop aircraft for military use.

Oscar met Gustav Lilienthal in the hospital and offered to fund his airplane research in exchange for directing it toward military needs. Gustav accepted, and Oscar set ambitious performance goals for an aircraft to be developed within three years.

• Oscar praised Gustav Lilienthal and his late brother Otto, then asked what he thought of the Wright Brothers’ airplane.
• Oscar urged Germany to lead in military aviation and described future air battles and bombing attacks.
• Oscar offered to provide Gustav’s research with funding, equipment, and support in exchange for following his demands, and Gustav accepted for the strength of the German Empire.
• Oscar said the German Engine Manufacturing Company would cooperate with Gustav on aero engines.
• Oscar challenged Gustav to develop within three years an airplane capable of exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, reaching above 2,000 meters, carrying a pilot and machine gun, and flying more than 200 kilometers.

While recovering in the hospital, Oscar weighed Germany’s aviation ambitions and his options against Crown Prince Wilhelm, but decided he could not act without risking Wilhelm II’s wrath. Meanwhile, Wilhelm’s confinement and fury worsened until a drunken ride across a snowy farm ended in a serious fall.

• Oscar hoped to strengthen Germany’s military aviation with his backing and Gustav Lilienthal’s expertise, and considered forcing the Wright Brothers to cooperate.
• Oscar considered retaliating against Crown Prince Wilhelm for the assassination attempt, then rejected the idea because Wilhelm II could strip him of his title and wealth.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm raged on the farm where Wilhelm II had confined him and grew more resentful when Wilhelm II refused Empress Victoria’s request to let him attend the Christmas gathering.
• After drinking heavily, Crown Prince Wilhelm galloped across the snowy farm, and his horse fell into a hidden pit, throwing him onto a stone that struck the back of his head.

Crown Prince Wilhelm fell from his horse and was left unconscious, prompting speculation about whether the incident was an accident or a plot. Oscar saw a possible path to becoming Crown Prince but remained wary, while Wilhelm II learned that Wilhelm had been drunk and riding against his guards’ advice.

• Farm guards rushed the unconscious Crown Prince Wilhelm to the hospital and reported the fall to Wilhelm II.
• Tirpitz and Moltke the Younger reacted to the news, each fearing the consequences for their own political position and plans.
• Karl von Jonath told Oscar that Crown Prince Wilhelm might be near death, but Oscar suspected he had staged the fall to win Wilhelm II’s sympathy.
• Oscar considered how Wilhelm’s fall could improve his own chances of becoming Crown Prince and recognized that events were diverging from the history he knew.
• A royal secret-force leader told Wilhelm II that Wilhelm had fallen while drunk and riding despite his guards’ objections, and Wilhelm II furiously blamed the guards.

After Crown Prince Wilhelm was critically injured in a riding accident, Wilhelm II ordered an investigation and considered who might succeed him. Oscar declined to press his claim, leaving the decision to the Emperor.

• Wilhelm II ordered Essen von Jonath to investigate whether anyone had plotted Crown Prince Wilhelm's fall and told the Royal Hospital to do everything possible to save him.
• Wilhelm II considered replacing Crown Prince Wilhelm if he could no longer serve, weighing his sons and recognizing Oscar as the strongest candidate.
• Wilhelm II worried that Oscar might have caused the accident in revenge for Crown Prince Wilhelm's earlier assassination attempt, and vowed he would not entrust the Empire to Oscar if that were true.
• Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz told Oscar that Crown Prince Wilhelm's condition was dire and urged him to prepare to become Crown Prince.
• Oscar said he had already done what he could and would leave the choice to Wilhelm II.

Oscar gained the German Navy’s support for his possible appointment as Imperial Crown Prince. After investigators ruled Crown Prince Wilhelm’s fall an accident, Wilhelm II learned that Wilhelm might never wake and called an Imperial Council to choose a successor.

• Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz pledged the navy’s support for Oscar becoming Crown Prince, and Oscar promised to serve the Empire.
• Essen von Jonath reported that Crown Prince Wilhelm’s fall was an accident caused by his drunken riding and a horse’s broken leg.
• Essen von Jonath told Wilhelm II that Crown Prince Wilhelm was out of mortal danger but had very little chance of waking from his coma.
• Wilhelm II ordered Essen von Jonath to summon the Empire’s senior officials for an Imperial Council that night.
• Wilhelm II considered whether to make Oscar Crown Prince and worried that Wilhelm might awaken later and complicate the succession.

Wilhelm II convened an Imperial Council to decide who would replace the incapacitated Crown Prince Wilhelm. Tirpitz advocated for Oskar, while Moltke the Younger defended the succession law and backed Eitel Friedrich, leaving Wilhelm II uncertain.

• Wilhelm II told the council that Crown Prince Wilhelm was unlikely to awaken and said the Empire needed a new heir.
• Wilhelm II asked whether Prince Eitel Friedrich should succeed according to the Imperial Succession Law.
• Tirpitz proposed Prince Oskar as the most capable candidate for Crown Prince.
• Moltke the Younger opposed Oskar's succession, arguing that bypassing the princes ahead of him would violate the law, and supported Eitel Friedrich.
• Tirpitz accused Moltke the Younger of opposing Oskar to protect his own position, and Moltke denied the accusation.
• Wilhelm II stopped their argument and expressed displeasure as the council's disagreement left him doubtful.

Wilhelm II weighed the ministers’ views on making Prince Oskar Crown Prince, with concerns over succession law and foreign interference complicating the decision. Von Falkenhayn’s support weakened Moltke the Younger’s opposition, and Wilhelm II resolved that changes were necessary for the Empire’s interests.

• Bülow praised Prince Oskar’s abilities but warned that his distant place in the succession could provoke opposition, while Von Kiderlen-Wächter cautioned that a succession dispute could invite foreign interference.
• Wilhelm II rejected foreign involvement and struggled to decide whether to appoint Oskar despite the Imperial Succession Law or choose a less capable Prince.
• Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz urged Wilhelm II to choose Oskar for the sake of the coming war, while Moltke the Younger prepared to oppose the appointment.
• Von Falkenhayn declared his support for Oskar, arguing that the Empire needed a capable Crown Prince even if the appointment violated succession law.
• Moltke the Younger glared at Von Falkenhayn as his army’s opposition fractured, and Wilhelm II swiftly decided that changes were needed for the Empire’s interests.

Wilhelm II decided to appoint Oscar as the Empire’s acting Crown Prince after weighing the ministers’ support, while questioning Oscar about his sudden change in character. Oscar accepted the decision, though Wilhelm II made clear that he would have to give the position back if Prince awakened while Wilhelm II was still alive.

• Wilhelm II concluded the Imperial Council and summoned Oscar after noting the ministers’ support for him.
• Oscar arrived at the palace knowing Tirpitz and Falkenhayn had supported him and that Moltke the Younger had opposed him.
• Wilhelm II asked Oscar about his transformation, and Oscar explained that he had grown up and learned to shoulder responsibility.
• Wilhelm II appointed Oscar acting Crown Prince and said he must return the position to Prince if Prince awakened before Wilhelm II died.

Oscar accepted Wilhelm II’s appointment of him as acting Crown Prince, though he recognized that Wilhelm still preferred Crown Prince Wilhelm and might replace him if his eldest son recovered. After leaving the palace, Oscar resolved to hold on to his chance at the German throne and never retreat again.

• Oscar accepted the acting Crown Prince position rather than risk offending Wilhelm II.
• Wilhelm II promised to handle the Imperial Succession Law and dismissed Oscar’s other brothers as unqualified for the position.
• Wilhelm II lectured Oscar about his own experience as Crown Prince, and Oscar listened while privately considering that he might one day strike back.
• Oscar left the palace at midnight and resolved that no one would take the throne from him.