Chapter Summaries

Queen Victoria rejected Prince Albert’s plan to criticize John Russell’s government, warning that Parliament would turn it into a constitutional crisis, and arranged to confront the prime minister privately. In Saint Petersburg, George Villiers and Tsar Nicholas I faced their own frustrations as the Holy Alliance’s advance stalled in North Bulgaria.

• Victoria complained to Prince Albert about Britain’s crises, including the Irish uprising, political turmoil, military defeats, and the danger of supporting the Ottomans.
• Prince Albert advised Victoria to leave the issue to John Russell’s government and publicly side with the people, but Victoria warned that politicians would portray her actions as an attack on Parliament’s authority.
• Victoria decided to invite John Russell and the cabinet to view the works of art, and the next day John Russell was cursed until he was bloodied.
• George Villiers reflected on Saint Petersburg’s poor conditions and admitted that the city and Tsar Nicholas I gave him headaches.
• Nicholas I faced a stalled Holy Alliance campaign after Russia’s army had shrunk from three hundred thousand to one hundred thousand, while the Austrians refused to advance beyond the Russian forces.

George Villiers tried to negotiate peace with Nicholas I, offering Russia North Bulgaria in exchange for a ten-year armistice. Nicholas rejected the long truce and sent Villiers to negotiate with Nesselrode, who countered with a five-year limit and a demand for one billion Rubles in compensation.

• George Villiers assured Nicholas I that Russia needed peace, and the Tsar demanded all of North Thrace.
• Villiers agreed that Bulgaria could be ceded to Russia but required a ten-year armistice, which Nicholas immediately rejected.
• Villiers warned that Greece might attack Istanbul if the war continued and showed Nicholas evidence of Austrian support for Greece.
• Nicholas refused to let Villiers undermine his alliance with Franz and ordered him to negotiate with Nesselrode instead.
• Nesselrode rejected a ten-year armistice, offered five years at most, and demanded one billion Rubles for Russia's military losses.

The nations gathered in Constanza to negotiate an end to the war, while Nicholas I strengthened Russia’s position in Bulgaria. The Treaty of Constanza was signed on June 17, 1850, dividing Ottoman territories among the victors and establishing a five-year armistice.

• Nicholas I chose Constanza for the peace conference and reinforced Russian forces in Bulgaria as diplomats from all sides arrived.
• Count Pillersdorff became gravely ill in Constanza and died after the conference, leaving behind a remark that was later used against Russia.
• Britain, Russia, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, and Greece pursued peace as their domestic pressures and military goals made continuing the war difficult.
• On June 17, 1850, the Treaty of Constanza transferred the Danubian Principalities to Franz Joseph I and recognized Russia’s annexations and Greece’s gains in Thrace and Macedonia.
• The Ottoman Empire agreed to pay the Holy Alliance an indemnity of one billion Rubles, and the opposing alliances agreed to cease hostilities for five years.

The Austrian Empire negotiated the release of its Ottoman prisoners while Franz rejected using them as cheap labor, after Hungarian prisoners had sparked widespread worker protests. The Ottomans agreed to pay 1.3 million Pound Sterling to ransom their prisoners, with transportation and meals included in the charges.

• The Austrian Empire agreed to release 2,713 British prisoners without ransom but required Britain to pay thirty-five thousand Pound Sterling for their upkeep.
• Franz vetoed officials’ plan to use Ottoman prisoners as labor, wary of the unrest caused by Hungarian prisoners taking workers’ jobs.
• Bohemian workers marched in Prague against Hungarian prisoners, and Governor Alfred Karl zu Windisch-Grätz mobilized guards and troops.
• A speaker urged the demonstrators to defend their jobs and blamed Hungarian prisoners and officials for taking work from Austrian laborers.
• The Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire agreed on a ransom of one Pound Sterling per Ottoman prisoner, plus shipping and meal costs, totaling 1.3 million Pound Sterling.

After the Treaty of Constanza, Ottoman elites celebrated while bereaved families faced exploitation, and officials blocked most refugees from entering East Thrace. In a drunken gathering, young Ottomans condemned the peace and rallied around Ahmed Yilmaz’s account of fighting the Russians.

• The Ottoman Empire celebrated the Treaty of Constanza as widows and orphaned families faced inheritance abuses, property seizures, and threats from gangs and religious orders.
• Ottoman officials sealed East Thrace’s borders against most refugees, sent many war widows to Anatolia, and allowed others to be trafficked into slavery.
• Nadir denounced the peace and warned that the Austrians would eventually threaten Istanbul, while Hanım said the Ottoman Empire could not keep fighting without perishing.
• Ahmed Yilmaz described executing two Russian officers and urged the young people to rely on themselves rather than The British.
• The young people praised Ahmed Yilmaz and toasted his battlefield exploits, then began discussing the British and their relatively low losses.

Ahmed Yilmaz told Ottoman listeners that British forces had helped ruin their formation and that the Ottoman army had been close to victory against Russia. In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas I and his ministers argued over the status of conquered Balkan lands, but the proposal to free their inhabitants faced fierce opposition.

• Ahmed Yilmaz blamed the British retreat and Omar Pasha’s orders for the Ottoman defeat, while claiming Russia’s army in Bulgaria was encircled and nearing collapse.
• Nadir asked whether the Ottoman army could have defeated the Austrians, and Ahmed answered yes, prompting cheers in the villa.
• As Austrian troops left Bergna Village, villagers debated their conduct before hearing that another army was approaching.
• Nicholas I proposed making conquered Balkan lands imperial territory and turning local peasants into imperial serfs, while granting noble titles to locals who had aided Russia.
• Chernyshev and Nesselrode urged Nicholas to grant the locals freedom, citing Greater Slavism and the risk of British intervention.
• Vronchenko supported freeing them to ease Russia’s fiscal pressure, but Duke Uvarov and the Limited Reform Faction condemned the proposal and defended the state serf system.

Prime Minister Chernyshev challenged Duke Uvarov’s defense of serfdom by arguing that Russia needed new revenue and could not rely on Austrian loans indefinitely. Nicholas I rejected officials’ calls to confront Austria over Balkan territories and reaffirmed that his goal was to restore Constantinople.

• Chernyshev asked Uvarov how Russia could address its financial crisis without raising state-serf rents, and Uvarov could offer no safe solution.
• Chernyshev warned that Russia’s five-year armistice with the Anglo-Turkish Alliance would expire and argued that Austria might not lend to Russia if Balkan rivalries worsened.
• Chernyshev pointed to East Bosnia and Russia’s ambitions in Wallachia and Moldavia, persuading Uvarov that the Russo-Austrian alliance might not last.
• Nicholas I objected when officials invoked Greater Slavism and warned that Austria and Greece threatened Russia’s Balkan ambitions.
• Russian officials urged Nicholas I to pursue influence over Balkan lands, but he declared that Russia’s mission was to restore Constantinople and forbade claims on territories he said belonged to Western Rome.

Russia's harsh rule over the Balkans led to forced labor, repression, and the deaths of wounded soldiers, while Greece erupted into revolt during Otto I's victory parade. Otto I's guards fled toward the harbor as Ioannis Makriyannis refused to send troops against the people.

• Russia imposed land debts, taxes, forced labor, military service, and Russian-only schooling on the Slavs while stripping other Balkan groups of their land and freedoms.
• The Austrian relief corps withdrew, and the Russian army's poor care left many wounded to die and corpses uncleared, setting the stage for an epidemic.
• Soldier Nicholas was executed for treason, carrying a dried flower from a girl he had met in an unnamed village.
• A cannon attack struck Otto I's victory parade in Athens, killing guards and wounding Otto I as the crowds and soldiers scattered.
• Otto I's remaining guards tried to escape toward the harbor, while Ioannis Makriyannis refused Captain Hubbard's request for reinforcements, declaring that his soldiers would not fire on the people.

A rebellion in Athens threatened Otto I, but Franz’s Umbrella mercenaries intervened as the king tried to escape through the harbor. Franz learned of the uprising in Vienna and ordered troops sent, framing intervention as a defense of world order.

• Queen Amalia challenged the mastermind behind the rebellion, who accused her and the Bavarians of persecuting the Greeks and dismissed her defenses.
• Ioannis Makriyannis learned Otto I had fled toward the harbor and ordered the city defense forces to stop him.
• Tanner Amherd split Umbrella’s mercenaries into search teams and seized the harbor, where they fought the rebels without mercy.
• Umbrella’s search team found Otto I unconscious, while fires spread across Athens and Ioannis’s forces mobilized.
• Franz received news of the rebellion in Vienna, kicked over a table, and ordered troops sent to uphold the existing order.

Franz used taxes and price controls to prevent Austrian capitalists from shifting the costs of war onto ordinary people, while the Wildcat Bank offered them a place to hide their money. The chapter revealed that Franz secretly controlled the powerful American bank, whose deposits helped finance California’s rapid growth.

• Austrian capitalists raised prices to resist Franz’s war taxes, but his Price Ceiling Edict broke their alliance.
• Franz argued that Austria’s rapid growth made low-interest bank deposits unattractive to capitalists and that other investors would replace them.
• Franz established Wildcat Banks in the United States, which attracted deposits with high throughput, strong security, and confidential services.
• John Tyler helped Franz oversee the Wildcat Bank, while American gangs and a militia failed to rob it.
• The Wildcat Bank’s secret Viennese ownership remained unknown to Americans, and its deposits helped develop the California Colony.

In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas I and Russian officials considered exploiting Otto I’s severe injuries to seize control of Greece. Duke Uvarov opposed the plan and went to the Summer Palace to urge Nicholas I to stop it.

• The chapter described how Franz’s war tax alienated some business owners while nobles and cultural elites largely benefited from his policies.
• Nicholas I learned that Otto I was badly injured and regretted that he had not yet died.
• Russian officials debated intervening in Greece, either taking control outright or dividing territory with Austria.
• Duke Uvarov warned that invading Greece would provoke Austria and leave Russia unprepared for another war.
• After officials dismissed his objections, Duke Uvarov went to the Summer Palace, believing only Nicholas I could stop the plan.

The Ottoman Empire debated exploiting Greece’s uprising while Britain refused to recognize its new government and the German states prepared to support Otto I. Austria planned a swift invasion, but Wolf Ram warned Franz that nearly ten thousand Russian troops stood ready at the Greek border.

• Empress Dowager Shevkyevza closed the Ottoman borders and strengthened defenses, while refusing to fund the Ottoman New Army’s plans to cultivate Greek proxies.
• Viscount Stratford urged Britain to recognize Greece’s new government as a pretext for war, but John Russell rejected the proposal.
• The German states prepared to send troops in support of Otto I, gathering armies in Bohemia ahead of the Confederation Assembly.
• Minister of War Thürheim presented Franz with Austria’s plan to attack Greece by land and sea and defeat it within weeks.
• Wolf Ram told Franz that nearly ten thousand Russian troops were standing by at the Greek border, raising the prospect of Russian intervention.

Franz ordered Austria to proceed with its planned operation while avoiding the troops stationed in Belgrade, as Russia’s intentions remained uncertain. In Greece, most local governments and the military stayed loyal to Otto I, and the Tsar’s envoy arrived in Vienna promising that Russia would not touch the Western Roman Empire’s lands.

• Count Latour, Count Giovanni Battis, Prince Schwarzenberg, and Duke Schmalt debated whether Russia planned to intervene in Greece, and Franz ordered the operation to proceed without using the troops stationed in Belgrade.
• Franz kept Otto I in Venice for emergency treatment because his condition was too poor for him to travel to Vienna.
• Greece’s local governments and military rejected the new Athens government and continued to swear allegiance to Otto I, while the Athens government’s cover-up of the massacre and torture of two Austrian reporters fueled opposition.
• Greek governments declared they would send troops to rescue Otto I, while Greek forces intercepted Russian troops in Macedonia and refused Russian assistance.
• The Tsar’s envoy arrived in Vienna and assured Franz that Russia would honor its alliance and leave the Western Roman Empire’s lands untouched.

Franz learned that Russian Greater Slavists might be acting without Nicholas I’s approval and continued sending Austrian forces toward Greece. In Venice, he urged the wounded and despairing Otto I to rally Greece’s loyalists and retake Athens, promising Austrian help.

• Franz suspected Russian Greater Slavists of pursuing a fait accompli in Greece or against Austria, and planned to inform Nicholas I.
• Franz kept the Austrian army’s advance on Greece on its original course to secure Otto I’s position and protect Austrian interests.
• Doctors amputated half of Otto I’s arm after his rescue, while he struggled with grief over the rebellion, his lost supporters, and Queen Amalia’s disappearance.
• Franz visited Otto I in Venice and encouraged him to eat, regain his resolve, and focus on the Greeks still loyal to him.
• Otto I asked whether he should seek the Confederation’s aid, and Franz said he would help him retake Athens.

As loyalist forces isolated Athens, Asterios and Ioannis Makriyannis tried to flee, but the Austrian Imperial Navy blockaded the harbor and destroyed Makriyannis’s ship. Friedrich then gave Athens’s civilians one day to evacuate under Austrian scrutiny, while airships dropped leaflets to publicize the order.

• Ioannis Makriyannis learned that Asterios had boarded a British ship for London and decided to flee Athens with his family.
• At the harbor, Siritos and Doplos encountered each other while trying to escape with their families and valuables.
• The Austrian Imperial Navy blocked the harbor, and its warships sank Ioannis Makriyannis’s ship when he ordered it to break through; Makriyannis survived, but his wife and sons disappeared.
• Friedrich held off an assault on Athens because foreign reporters were watching and ordered a one-day civilian evacuation under Austrian scrutiny.
• The Austrian Imperial Navy’s Airship unit dropped leaflets over Athens explaining the evacuation order.

After Athenian elites assassinated the king and Melissis’s son, Melissis led Greece’s loyalist forces in an assault on Athens while the city’s population rebelled against its government. Archduke Friedrich held the Austrian forces back, obeying the Emperor’s orders as chaos spread inside and outside the city.

• Melissis rejected Asterios’s envoy and killed him, then ordered the loyalist forces to fire their rockets and cannons at Athens.
• Ioannis Makriyannis urged Athens’s elites to hold out for British support, but the city’s residents fled as the government barred the exits.
• Athens’s city defense forces fired on fleeing civilians, prompting the population to storm police stations, armories, City Hall, and the defense headquarters.
• Melissis’s forces bombarded Athens while the city descended into revolt and disorder.
• Archduke Friedrich rebuked naval officers who questioned their orders and refused to launch a rash attack on Athens.

Athens fell after uprisings and Loyalist attacks overwhelmed Ioannis Makriyannis’s forces, and the city descended into a bloody melee. Austrian troops entered to restore order, found the Greek queen missing, and captured Ioannis after shelling his headquarters.

• Ioannis Makriyannis’s undermanned defense force was overwhelmed, and Athens fell as rebels, civilians, and Loyalist troops fought through the city.
• Friedrich watched from the flagship but did not intervene, while fighting and fires ravaged Athens overnight.
• Gablenz entered with Austrian troops to restore order, honored a child’s remains with a requested Mass, and learned that the Greek queen was missing.
• Gablenz ordered an artillery bombardment of Ioannis Makriyannis’s headquarters after Melissis’s assaults failed.
• Austrian-Greek forces dug Ioannis Makriyannis from the ruins alive, and he asked whether loving Greece was a crime.

Otto I returned to a devastated Athens, restored order with Franz’s help, and Greece became closely bound to the Austrian Empire. Austria then faced a dispute with Britain over merchant ships sunk during the blockade, while Prince Albert arrived in Vienna to invite Franz and Olga to London’s 1851 World’s Fair.

• Otto I returned to Athens, where loyalists welcomed him, and he wept at the sight of the ruined city.
• Ioannis Makriyannis was convicted of treason and executed, while Otto I reorganized Greece’s administration with German bureaucrats and Austrian reserve officials.
• The Austrian Imperial Army handed Athens’s defenses to the Greek military, withdrew from Greece, and took more than a hundred suspected attackers to face trial.
• Franz purged Greece’s pro-British, pro-Russian, and surrender factions and bound the country to Austria without adding it to the German Confederation.
• Habescu and Richard Cobden argued over British merchant ships sunk while attempting to pass the blockade, and Habescu cited a contract linking Captain Cook to Makriyannis’s escape plan.
• Prince Albert arrived in Vienna to invite Franz and Olga to the 1851 World’s Fair in London.

Prince Albert visited Franz and Olga to promote Britain’s World’s Fair, but Britain’s waning influence and the couple’s lack of interest undermined his efforts. Olga was unimpressed by his gifts and dismissed his Crystal Palace model as a greenhouse.

• Prince Albert’s reputation suffered as Britain lost influence, and his abolitionist efforts faced opposition from slaveholding nations.
• Franz and Prince Albert exchanged polite but strained remarks about their rival efforts to reshape the Vienna System.
• Olga viewed Prince Albert as hypocritical and showed little interest in his gifts, though she gave him a Lighter that delighted him.
• Prince Albert presented the Crystal Palace model and explained its construction, but Olga called it a greenhouse.

Franz and Olga attended London’s exposition, where Olga’s greenhouse comparison embarrassed Prince Albert and Britain’s diplomatic overture failed to impress them. Franz planned to counter Britain’s maneuver by sending Olga to London and using French newspapers to portray Britain as weak, while Albert’s visit to Vienna showed him how much the city had changed.

• Olga called the Crystal Palace an exquisite greenhouse and asked whether the event was an agricultural exposition, embarrassing Prince Albert.
• Prince Albert’s invitation had been intended to improve relations with the Austrian Empire, divide its factions, and create suspicion between Austria and Russia.
• Albert remembered Vienna’s former poverty and filth, then found that beggars, street garbage, and cockroaches had largely disappeared.
• Franz decided the Austrian Empire would not let Britain profit from the invitation without consequences.
• Franz planned to send Olga, daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, to represent the Austrian Empire in London and make her presence a diplomatic problem for Britain.
• Franz planned to have French newspapers accuse Britain of showing weakness before the Austrian Empire.