Chapter Summaries

Franz kept European governments from responding to American threats while Millard Fillmore’s speech and sensational reports stirred Americans to demand war for Cuba. Narciso López’s growing rebel force suffered a crushing defeat and learned that Cuban plantation owners had fought to defend slavery, leaving both sides considering compromise.

• Franz urged Spain to delay taking a public position, and European governments largely ignored the Americans’ boasts.
• Frederick Douglass rallied Washington crowds against Spanish rule in Cuba, then redirected them with promises of land, gold, and jobs until they chanted for war.
• John Caldwell Calhoun and Soros expected Narciso López to be defeated, but an Associated Press report claimed he had built a force of more than ten thousand men.
• Narciso López’s forces lost their first head-on clash with the Cuban Colonial Army, though his growing fame continued to attract recruits.
• Narciso López learned that landlord militias had resisted his promise to abolish slavery, and the plantation owners and rebels began considering compromise.

Narciso López negotiated with Cuba’s eastern Creole whites, represented by Don Peoli, for support against de la Concha and Spanish rule. Don Peoli made American backing conditional on preserving slavery and granting autonomy, and Narciso López sent his terms to Washington while remaining trapped in an unequal alliance.

• Narciso López met Don Peoli in Santiago as the Creole representative displayed the severed heads of López’s men and demanded compensation for freed slaves.
• Don Peoli offered support against the Peninsular Spaniards if Cuba received autonomy, slavery was preserved, and Creole property rights were protected.
• Narciso López challenged Don Peoli’s demands and warned that Washington might not respond before de la Concha captured him.
• Narciso López drafted a document according to Don Peoli’s terms and handed it over for delivery to New Orleans.
• Don Peoli introduced his butler Whitaker, who claimed that serving him was an honor, and Narciso López silently drained his wine.

Narciso López’s rebellion and the Cuban government settled into a stalemate as fires devastated the island, while the United States Congress erupted into a North-South dispute over intervention in Cuba and whether it would become a slave state. The international response remained limited, and Franz focused on Patagonia as exiled Jews expanded their conquests there.

• De la Concha refused to send troops against Narciso López, while resistance groups across Cuba burned fields and López threatened to burn the island.
• Lincoln and Davis clashed in Congress over Cuba, slavery, and whether the island should join the United States.
• Calhoun’s composure made Soros realize he had misjudged how deeply he understood American politics.
• Nicholas I condemned the Americans and decided to reinforce Alaska, while most other countries reacted with indifference.
• Franz studied Patagonia as the exiled Jews and their guards conquered territory and exterminated more than a dozen grassland peoples.

After the Kingdom of Patagonia agreed to surrender land north of the Colorado River, Austria demanded Argentina pay for the residents’ relocation and supplies. Felipe Arana tried to inflate the supply list for personal gain, but Franz had sent Rosas a copy of the original list.

• Franz proposed that the Kingdom of Patagonia relinquish land north of the Colorado River to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in exchange for resettlement funds and supplies.
• An Austrian Foreign Ministry official told Felipe Arana that Austria would not intervene and presented him with a detailed list and a demand for 25 million Reals.
• Arana returned to his hotel, where he vented his anger at the staff, and the Brazilian ambassador heard about the incident with satisfaction.
• Arana arranged for a forged supply list with altered quantities and quality grades, intending to divert the excess goods to companies under his name.
• Franz sent Rosas a copy of Austria’s original list, undermining Arana’s scheme.

Franz planned to rein in Patagonia’s Jewish settlers by disbanding their armed forces and sending Austrian troops, while using Argentine aid to keep the region stable. In Buenos Aires, Felipe Arana urged Rosas to seek American support against Austria, as the United States faced a contentious debate over Cuba and a new president amid suspicions surrounding Zachary Taylor’s death.

• Franz ordered Patagonia’s Jewish forces disbanded, planned to punish negligent prison guards, and arranged for fifteen thousand Austrian soldiers to take control of the area.
• Felipe Arana told Rosas that Austria might seek to return Argentina to Spanish rule, prompting Rosas to ask what to do.
• Felipe proposed seeking help from the United States, arguing that it wanted a pretext to seize Cuba.
• In Washington, Congress debated the proposal to take Cuba but could not decide whether to declare war on Austria.
• Millard Fillmore became president after Zachary Taylor died of a stomach ailment, an event that fueled suspicions of murder.

The United States declared war on Spain, helping ignite a widespread revolt across Cuba as fires and destruction drove civilians into the conflict. Survivors from Aceville Village found refuge in a crowded church, where Rokin was called to treat an injured person.

• The United States Congress voted to declare war on Spain, while Rosas received the news in Buenos Aires and passed preparations to Felipe Arana.
• Narciso López became an honorary American major general, and Don Peoli was nominated as governor of the Cuban state as the Cuban Revolution spread across the island.
• Mixed-race rebels burned farmland and homes, forcing growing numbers of Cubans to choose between joining the rebels and serving in de la Concha's army.
• Survivors from Aceville Village begged Father Mansta to open the church, and he let them inside despite Joya's threats.
• A nun called for a doctor to help an injured person in the basement, and Rokin said he had trained as a doctor before following her.

Luo Jin treated a wounded man in a church basement while Joya’s forces attacked the church, killed and brutalized its refugees, and burned it. As violence on Cuba Island drew attention in the United States, Lincoln called for Cubans, including de la Concha’s troops, to be granted American citizenship if they surrendered.

• Luo Jin removed shrapnel from a wounded man and stitched his wounds before an explosion shook the church above.
• Joya led an attack on the church, shot Father Mansta, lassoed him, and ordered his men to loot, abuse, and force the survivors to fight.
• Joya’s men burned the church and raised the Cuban colonial government’s flag, while Joya had Painter make a report seeking more aid.
• Luo Jin paid de la Concha’s troops protection money, and their officer agreed to report the situation to Havana.
• Lincoln argued in Congress that Cubans were fellow countrymen and proposed granting them American citizenship if they surrendered, including de la Concha and his troops.

Lincoln explained that the North’s real objective was to make legislators understand the stakes, while Ferdinand II chose to treat America’s declaration of war against Spain as a chance to restore his kingdom’s fortunes. Spain’s ministers questioned the decision to fight without Austrian support, but Ferdinand insisted on acting independently as the Austrian Empire kept its financial backing limited.

• Lincoln said the North needed to lay out the stakes for both sides to move the legislators.
• Ferdinand II announced that the Americans had declared war on Spain, and his ministers first welcomed the prospect of fighting them.
• Ferdinand II explained that America wanted Cuba, prompting Paul Rufo to point out that Spain had already transferred the island to the Austrian Empire.
• Ferdinand II called the war an opportunity to rebuild Spain and rejected both seeking Holy Alliance aid and informing the Austrian Empire.
• Carlo Ferrantini understood that Spain was financially exhausted and Ferdinand II’s rule was insecure, while Franz limited investment because he wanted Spain large but not strong.

Lincoln persuaded Congress to grant Cuban residents American citizenship so the United States could recruit them as cheap labor, while the war between America and Spain turned Cuba into a place of mass suffering. American ships evacuated refugees from the island as Franz prepared to import more workers from the Shogunate.

• Lincoln argued that the Austrian Empire had risen by plundering people and labor, prompting American factory owners to support bringing Cubans to the United States.
• Congress approved American citizenship for the Cuban people, and American ships began evacuating residents under the banner of humanitarianism.
• Franz decided to let America and Spain fight over Cuba and ordered another two hundred thousand laborers imported from the Shogunate.
• Captain Jack loaded ragged Cuban refugees onto his ship for transport to Boston as other American vessels crowded the docks.
• Four United States Army regiments landed on Cuba, but the fighting and atrocities continued while islanders desperately sought escape.

The United States and Spain escalated their embargo and military standoff, while Ferdinand II used foreign-owned ships to shield his expeditionary force from American attacks. Spain reached Cuba without a naval battle, where fires and continued fighting worsened the crisis and drove refugees toward ports as South American countries joined the scramble to resettle them.

• The United States and Spain extended their embargoes and increased the troops sent to Cuba, while Ferdinand II assembled a Spanish expeditionary force using ships hired from other European countries.
• Ferdinand II relied on foreign-owned merchant ships to discourage the US Navy from attacking, as European powers watched for a chance to profit from the conflict.
• Millard Fillmore's government sent the US Navy to patrol the Caribbean, but both fleets avoided one another and Spain's troops reached Cuba without incident.
• Guerrillas, De la Concha, Narciso López, and the new Spanish troops used fires to keep their opponents at bay, worsening the hardships faced by Cuba's civilians.
• American ships carried refugees away from Cuba, and Brazil and Argentina joined the effort to attract them, followed by New Granada, Chile, and other countries.

Don Peoli and the eastern Cuban gentry regretted joining the war but had lost the power to withdraw as Narciso López and the Americans took control. In Congress, Lincoln and Davis clashed over Cuba’s future, slavery, and workers’ rights, with Davis ending the debate by challenging whether destitute workers could truly be called free.

• Don Peoli and the eastern Cuban gentry realized the war had become a losing choice, but Narciso López’s support from the US Army left them unable to refuse further fighting.
• Lincoln argued that Cuba should join the Liberal Cantons, citing a survey that claimed 95 percent of Cubans supported it.
• Davis countered that Cuba should preserve slavery and invoked the Haitian Revolution to warn Congress about Black rule.
• Lincoln condemned slavery as immoral, but Davis compared plantation conditions with Northern factory exploitation and proposed a Labor Protection Act.
• Lincoln said workers were free men despite their hardship, and Davis asked whether freedom without anything to one’s name could still be called freedom.

Davis defeated Lincoln and the Whigs in a debate over slavery, while Millard Fillmore’s standing collapsed amid political infighting. As the fighting on Cuba Island drained its population and resources, Austria demanded a ceasefire, leaving Fillmore facing mounting war costs and harsh British loan terms.

• Davis brought Northern black men to testify about factory conditions, and Lincoln and the Whigs suffered a crushing defeat in the debate.
• Millard Fillmore was blamed for Zachary Taylor’s suspicious death and alienated the Whigs, Democrats, Northerners, Southerners, and expansionists.
• Spanish troops brought further destruction to Cuba Island as de la Concha contracted his forces and waited for Austria to intervene.
• Franz judged that Cuba Island’s population had fallen by more than a third and sent America and Spain demands to stop fighting and withdraw from Austrian territory, with ceasefire talks set for Harrisburg.
• Millard Fillmore faced opposition to a war tax and turned to war bonds, while Britain offered to underwrite them only for a steep commission, high interest, and customs revenues as collateral.

At the Harrisburg Conference, the Austrian Empire rejected the United States’ offer to buy Cuba Island while negotiating Spain’s withdrawal and the departure of Spanish and American expatriates. Daniel Webster accepted steep penalties in place of war reparations, but learned that Americans who had already fled Cuba would also be charged, leaving him planning to shift the burden to the Cubans.

• Daniel Webster offered 150 million dollars to redeem Cuba Island, but Lord Habescu refused and suggested the United States sell New Orleans and Florida instead.
• Paul Rufo agreed that Spain would cease fire and withdraw from Cuba Island if its expatriates could take their people and property.
• Lord Habescu said Spain could sell its real estate at a discount and promised to report its request for a lower departure tax.
• Daniel Webster asked to let American expatriates leave Cuba, and Lord Habescu demanded the full departure tax plus a 30 percent penalty.
• Daniel Webster accepted the penalties instead of war reparations, then learned that Americans who had already fled would also be charged and considered making Cubans pay.

The Austrian Empire negotiated the end of the Cuban Crisis, securing reparations, access to American agricultural goods, and a settlement involving Cuba’s enslaved population. Franz cleared Cuba of most of its residents and planned its reconstruction as a military outpost, while the war’s defeat brought down the American president and vice president.

• Daniel Webster believed the peace terms would let the United States recover Cuban residents and pay reparations, but the Austrian Empire refused to recognize Cuba’s black slaves as Americans.
• Franz arranged for the Austrian Empire to take in the enslaved people in exchange for gold and win monopoly rights over agricultural products from nine Southern states.
• The Austrian Empire drove Don Peoli and his partners from Cuba, collected exit taxes from departing residents, and reduced the island’s population from one million to fewer than one hundred thousand.
• Franz prepared to bring two hundred thousand Japanese laborers to Cuba and planned to rebuild the island as an Austrian military outpost.
• Millard Fillmore was impeached after the war, and Daniel Webster temporarily assumed the presidency after the president and vice president left office in succession.

Daniel Webster became President of the United States, and Franz’s invitation to him fueled suspicions of Austrian-American collusion. Meanwhile, Franz appointed de la Concha as an adviser and prepared to rebuild Cuba, whose resources and infrastructure remained more intact than outsiders believed.

• Daniel Webster became President, while Franz invited him to Vienna and American politicians interpreted the gesture as proof of collusion.
• Ferdinand II dismissed de la Concha, and Franz hired him as an Austrian adviser on Cuban affairs, gave him a former governor’s mansion, and paid him a substantial salary.
• Franz valued de la Concha’s role in preserving Cuba’s plantations, sugar production, skilled workers, and institutions, though he could not keep him as governor.
• Austrian experts estimated that Cuba’s sugar output could be restored in about two years, while Franz planned railways, telegraph lines, and redesigned waterworks.
• Franz saw Cuba’s reconstruction as a major opportunity for Austrian steel and railway industries, while America’s Pro-Austrian faction worked to suppress domestic steel producers.

Franz planned to build steel mills in the United States despite political and legal obstacles, while relying on immigrant labor in the Austrian Empire’s colonies. The chapter contrasted difficult-to-manage Irish refugees with Japanese workers, whose migration was encouraged by the Shogunate and idealized in popular performances.

• Franz recognized that American licensing barriers, legal risks, and political corruption made steel mills costly and vulnerable to European competition.
• Franz planned to use Austrian immigrants as the framework for colonial labor forces, with Japanese and Irish laborers filling out their ranks.
• British officials prioritized sending criminals and hooligans to Austria on rescue ships, and refugee ship hijackings led Franz to require security teams.
• The Austrian Empire repatriated Irish refugees who identified as Britons and disparaged its colonies, while Irish laborers remained difficult to manage.
• The Shogunate and Japanese daimyos prepared laborers carefully, and performers spread tales of the colonies’ fertile land and prospects for wealth.

Franz weighed the need to improve security and attract settlers to Cuba against Austria’s limited colonial forces and the military’s opposition to another troop reduction. He left the meeting facing objections to his plan to send immigrants through administrative measures rather than a construction corps.

• Franz concluded that public security in the colonies needed improvement, though limited military strength left some areas beyond firm control.
• The chapter described how Japanese laborers could rise from low status to citizenship, official posts, or honorary Austrian nobility, even as great merchant and shogun status remained only a dream.
• Franz sought immigrants from the Austrian homeland to develop Cuba as part of the empire, but Austrians had little interest in colonial settlement.
• Count Latour objected to another military reduction, citing threats from neighboring powers and the risk of civil war.
• Franz explained that Russia’s troop buildup in the Balkans was not aimed at Austria, and Olga left the meeting to avoid appearing partial.
• Schwarzenberg proposed using a construction corps to settle Cuba, but the chapter outlined how militarized management could worsen local tensions and weaken Cuba’s economy.

Franz argued that Austria needed to reform its military by adopting compulsory military service, which could reduce costs and strengthen the Empire’s war potential. His officials praised him instead of challenging his ideas, and he resolved to press forward despite their inability to keep pace with his thinking.

• Count Latour and Prince Schwarzenberg questioned the Empire’s security and the reliability of armistice treaties, while Franz insisted that Britain and France needed time to recover.
• Franz told his officials that Austria could strengthen its army without relying on an excessively large standing force and proposed studying France’s compulsory military service system.
• Franz explained that conscription had helped France mobilize large forces at low cost and with high morale, but Count Latour and Marshal Anton dismissed France and boasted about Austria’s strength.
• Franz urged his ministers to adapt the military system to industrial and national developments, but they responded with praise rather than debate.
• Franz hesitated briefly, then decided that his duty as emperor required him to continue.

Franz ordered plans for Cuban emigration and compulsory military service, then learned that Lakshmi Bai had arrived in Trieste. Lakshmi Bai and her attendants were escorted toward Schönbrunn Palace, awed by Austria’s ships and trains.

• Franz told Count Latour and Count Kuran to arrange for at least a hundred thousand people to emigrate to Cuba within three years and ordered compulsory military service there.
• Franz rejected Count Latour’s proposal for lengthy reserve training and ordered him to revise the plan.
• Mia Arties told Franz that Miss Jhansi and her attendants had arrived in Trieste, and Franz recognized her as Lakshmi Bai.
• Lakshmi Bai’s attendants trembled at the sight of Austria’s ironclads, and she scolded them before meeting the Hindi-speaking Austrian escorts.
• The escorts took Lakshmi Bai toward Schönbrunn Palace by train and warned her that her rude attendants could not enter the palace.

Lakshmi Bai and her attendants arrived by train in the Austrian Empire, where Baroness Eliette escorted them to a carriage for their meeting with Archduchess Anna. The attendants’ fear of the train caused a brief awkward scene, but Lakshmi Bai calmed them and the group left the station.

• Lakshmi Bai agreed that her attendants should avoid provoking Sophie, while reflecting on the difference between Indian customs and the Austrian imperial court’s rules.
• Anna sent Baroness Eliette to greet Lakshmi Bai because Anna’s personal appearance at the station could create political trouble.
• Baroness Eliette saw Lakshmi Bai’s attendants lying on the ground after the train doors opened and quietly urged them to get up because the ground was cold.
• Lakshmi Bai told her attendants to rise once they had rested, and they quickly obeyed.
• Baroness Eliette invited Lakshmi Bai into the carriage so they would not keep Anna waiting, and Lakshmi Bai noticed the crowded, expanding station as they departed.