Chapter Summaries

Franz and Olga welcomed their first child, a healthy boy, and the family debated what to name him. They had not settled on a name by the chapter’s end.

• Dr. Melissa delivered Franz and Olga’s healthy son and asked Franz to name him.
• Sophie proposed Friedrich, but Franz rejected it because of its association with Prussia.
• Olga suggested Peter, and Franz dismissed it as too Russian for Vienna.
• Archduke Franz Karl proposed Rudolf, but Franz worried the name would bring tragedy.
• The family considered Franz, Apollo, Ra, Horus, and Otto, while Franz objected to their suggestions.

Franz and Olga named their newborn son Karl Augustus after Alexander delivered the Tsar’s gift and conveyed the Tsar’s wish for the child’s middle name. The chapter ended with Franz ordering ceremonial cannons fired to announce the birth of the Austrian crown prince.

• Sophie and Olga praised the name Karl while Olga proposed adding an Indian name, and Franz insisted on keeping Karl.
• Alexander arrived to deliver gifts from the Tsar and visit his sister, Olga.
• Alexander told the family that the Tsar wanted the baby to have the middle name Augustus, and Olga proposed Karlga Augustus before settling on Karl Augustus.
• Sophie ordered Franz to announce the heir’s name and fire the ceremonial cannons.
• Franz told Colonel Bordeaux to announce the crown prince’s birth to the world.

Vienna celebrated the birth of Karl Augustus, Crown Prince of the Austrian Empire, while crowds expressed hopes for the empire’s future and others voiced bitter resentment. In a dark alley, a paid agitator armed a mob and urged them to set Vienna ablaze before escaping to the New World.

• The 101-gun salute announced Karl Augustus’s birth, and Vienna’s crowds celebrated with bells, lights, food, and cheers.
• Students and Pan-Germanists praised Karl while discussing hopes for constitutional reform and criticizing Emperor Franz Joseph.
• In a slum alley, laborers, former officials, and others gathered to denounce the Habsburgs and their losses.
• The crowd stoned a bound gendarme, and the leader set the cart ablaze to incite an uprising.
• The leader brought out weapons and rallied the mob to turn Vienna into a river of blood.
• The leader prepared to flee to the New World on a ticket arranged by the boss who had hired him.

Fleglova’s forces stopped a bomb plot in Vienna, but British-backed rebels began spreading a rumor that Kossuth was alive. At Schönbrunn, Franz dealt with Olga’s difficulty caring for baby Karl while Olga heard how Alexander’s reforms in Poland had gone further than Nicholas I expected.

• Fleglova ordered the captured conspirators executed after their crates exploded, and several extremist groups disappeared from Vienna.
• Rebel leaders heard from a British contact that Kossuth was alive and agreed to join forces against Austria and the Habsburgs.
• Franz reflected that Britain had invented the surviving Kossuth to rally Hungarian rebels and weaken Austrian rule from within.
• Franz transferred Karl to wet nurses after Olga nearly rolled onto him and almost dropped him while trying to care for him.
• Olga recovered and spoke with Alexander, who described his reforms in Warsaw and his plans to establish city dumas.

Alexander told Nicholas I that he wanted to emancipate the serfs, provoking his father to send him away from Poland. In Vienna, Alexander told Olga he had been appointed Governor of Alaska and ordered to form the Alaska First Army, while Russia faced French claims and development there under a loan treaty.

• Alexander told Nicholas I that he planned to emancipate the serfs, and Nicholas threw a candlestick at him and ordered him to leave.
• Alexander’s policies alienated Polish nobles and commoners, while Nicholas’s decision to remove him from Poland appeared to Franz to benefit both Alexander and Poland.
• In Vienna, Olga asked Alexander whether he had been sent there as a diplomat or to Siberia.
• Alexander told Olga that Nicholas had appointed him Governor of Alaska and ordered him to form the Alaska First Army.
• The chapter described how France had gained rights to develop Alaska through a loan treaty and had built ports and settlements, found mineral resources, and sold ice to California.

Alexander learned that he had been appointed Governor of Alaska and commander of Alaska's First Army, while Franz and Olga tried to persuade him to reconcile with Nicholas I. The chapter explained Russia's struggle to build up its forces in Alaska and left the new army poised to threaten the region's Indigenous communities.

• Alexander insisted that he would not apologize to Nicholas I, despite Olga and Franz urging him to see his father's perspective.
• Alexander told Franz that Nicholas I had made him Governor of Alaska and commander of Alaska's First Army.
• Franz learned that Russia had failed to assemble the twenty thousand troops Nicholas I had ordered and had gathered only about five thousand through transfers and recruitment.
• Russian officials planned to expand their force by forcibly conscripting Indigenous people and bringing in workers from Hawaii and California.
• The chapter described how Russian expansion had devastated Alaska's Indigenous communities and how the army planned to eliminate the remaining resistance.
• Russia prepared to rely on California for supplies, while British troops in Alaska dwindled from two regiments to six hundred men.

Franz and Alexander negotiated Austrian support for Russia’s plans to develop and garrison Alaska. They agreed Austria would send 5,000 people, with the arrangement left to be formalized, while Franz said Austria would focus on fishing and livestock.

• Franz supported Alexander’s plan to strengthen Russia’s presence in Alaska because he saw the territory as leverage in Russia’s alliance with Austria.
• Alexander proposed that Austria help develop Alaska and said Russia needed immigrants as well as soldiers.
• Franz agreed Austria could transport immigrants but stressed the scale and cost of the undertaking.
• Alexander asked Austria to send at least 10,000 people, and he and Franz negotiated the number down to 5,000.
• Franz insisted on a formal document before accepting Alexander’s handshake.
• Alexander asked what Austria intended to do in Alaska, and Franz answered that it would fish and raise livestock.

Franz planned to develop Alaska through farming, herding, and fisheries, while keeping its mineral resources for Russia to exploit. Nicholas I welcomed Franz’s plans and news of his grandson, but became angry when he learned Alexander intended to go to Alaska.

• Franz told Alexander that Russian soldiers should use weapons made in Russian factories, and the two agreed to a partnership.
• Franz planned a farm on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, renamed it Nikolayevsk, and identified opportunities for livestock and fishing.
• Nicholas I praised the farm plans and the news of his grandson Karl Augustus, whose parents were Olga and Franz’s family.
• Nicholas I learned that Alexander intended to go to Alaska and told Alexandra Feodorovna to let him cool his head there.
• Franz had informed Nicholas I because he thought the Tsar would stop Alexander from making trouble, but he had underestimated where Alexander got his stubbornness.

Franz reviewed the Austrian military’s new Dum-dum Bullet, renamed it the Defender Type I Bullet, and ordered an investigation into possible political meddling. He then showed Olga the treasures prepared for the World’s Fair and explained why Austria would display its wealth rather than reveal its technological achievements.

• Franz examined the Weapon Development Bureau’s Dum-dum Bullet and learned it had sharply increased Austrian forces’ combat efficiency against the natives.
• Vincenz Augustin proposed naming the bullet after Crown Prince Karl Augustus, but Franz named it the Defender Type I Bullet instead.
• Franz summoned Fleglova to investigate whether someone was stirring things up after Vincenz Augustin left.
• Olga questioned Franz about female officials, and Franz told her she could assist only through formal events unless she proved her ability.
• Franz led Olga through a hidden door to view Austria’s treasures and explained that the World’s Fair display would emphasize wealth and plundered artifacts, not technology.

Franz comforted Olga and promised to fulfill her dream of turning jewels into a treasure. In the War Department, officials argued over the limits of force in the colonies, while Archduke Albrecht and Count Latour worried about the competence of the Austrian Empire’s younger generals and the military academies that trained them.

• Franz reassured Olga that she was his greatest treasure, then showed her a design blueprint and promised to make her dream come true with gold, silver, and jewels.
• Major General Jun Diaz and other War Department officials condemned restrictions on harsh punishment in the colonies, arguing that violence was necessary to maintain Habsburg rule.
• Archduke Albrecht rebuked the officials, citing atrocities he had witnessed and insisting that soldiers must not act like beasts.
• Count Latour helped suppress the argument and clarified Franz’s orders, forbidding mass executions of harmless prisoners, systematic abuse of women and children, and killing for amusement.
• Count Latour and Archduke Albrecht lamented the shortage of capable younger generals and blamed the military academies’ reforms for encouraging officers to question orders.

Franz and Albrecht uncovered a Francophile clique in Austria’s military academies whose outdated lessons had weakened military education. Franz demoted the instructors, brought senior generals into academy leadership, and appointed Heinrich von Hess to help reshape military training.

• Albrecht showed Franz the academy’s teaching materials, including the Declaration of the Rights of Man and fabricated Battlefield Etiquette, and warned him about its entrenched academic cliques.
• Franz and Albrecht agreed to remove the instructors, and Franz proposed bringing retired generals back to lead the academies.
• Franz reassured Albrecht that he would offer the old generals generous terms and would not tolerate resistance to the reforms.
• Albrecht recommended Heinrich von Hess, a little-known major whose ideas included using railways, telegraphs, and newspapers in war.
• Franz appointed himself president of the Austrian Imperial Military Command Academy and made Heinrich von Hess his chief assistant.
• Franz reshuffled the three major military academies, appointing Radetzky, Pinkre, and Josip Jelacic as presidents.

Franz’s administration tightened Austrian control over Vojvodina and California, using Apache hunting squads to stop American infiltrators and passenger pigeons to destroy California’s locusts. Metternich struggled with California’s harsh conditions and ruthless politics, and ended the chapter doubting whether he belonged in the territory.

• Franz brought Jelacic and his family to Vienna because Jelacic’s popularity among Croatians made keeping him as governor of Vojvodina too risky.
• The Austrian Empire blocked American access to California and recruited Apaches, including Sleepy Man, into hunting squads that pursued infiltrators along the border.
• Austrian authorities strengthened their influence over nearby tribes, while some Apaches gained Austrian citizenship and sought to integrate into the new society.
• Metternich asked Audubon to control the passenger pigeons that descended on California’s locusts, and Audubon promised to find a solution.
• Metternich recalled failed attempts to mediate Mexico’s civil war and California’s separatist conflict, where Karl Ferdinand had killed the rebels, and questioned whether he suited California.

Metternich reflected on Austria’s harsh suppression of the rebellion and the political and financial problems behind Mexico’s resistance. After admitting that Santa Anna could not be trusted, Metternich asked Willie Roberts who in Mexico was reliable, and Roberts answered that no one was.

• Metternich learned that Archduke Karl Ferdinand had suppressed rebellions through unconditional military force, following Franz’s orders.
• Metternich considered how high taxes, Mexico’s debt, and the disputed California lease had fueled opposition to Austrian rule.
• Metternich recognized that Santa Anna had repeatedly delayed renewing the lease while demanding Austrian aid.
• Willie Roberts told Metternich that Santa Anna was untrustworthy.
• Metternich asked Roberts who in Mexico could be trusted, and Roberts replied, “No one.”

Metternich weighed how to pressure Santa Anna into renewing the agreement with Austria while avoiding a Mexican civil war. Willie Roberts urged cutting off Mexico’s tax revenue, but Metternich remained concerned about the cost of instability and ultimately turned to Franz for guidance.

• Willie Roberts advised Metternich to demand repayment of Mexico’s debts and stop tax payments until Santa Anna returned to negotiations.
• Metternich warned that cutting off support could provoke civil war and argued that Austria needed Santa Anna to maintain order in Mexico.
• Willie Roberts insisted Mexico would yield and left after Metternich dismissed him.
• Metternich considered Mexico’s military weakness, the brutality of Santa Anna’s Black brigade, and the vast forces needed to govern the country.
• Metternich presented the problem to Franz, who explained that North American diplomacy differed from traditional European bargaining.

Metternich traveled to Mexico City to confront Santa Anna over renewing an agreement, while Santa Anna tried to avoid meeting him. The chapter ended by questioning whether Santa Anna had truly planned Metternich’s assassination.

• Metternich read Franz’s final words, understood why Franz had sent him to North America, and decided to return to Mexico City.
• Colonel Jimmy found Santa Anna gambling at a cockfight and told him that Metternich had arrived in person.
• Santa Anna ordered his attendants to treat Metternich well but to claim he was too ill to meet him.
• Metternich’s party arrived by rail and stayed at the Mexican government’s state guesthouse rather than the Austrian embassy.
• Metternich judged that Mexico would face Austrian demands or war if he died on Mexican soil, and the chapter ended by asking whether Santa Anna had planned to kill him.

Santa Anna struggled to contain anti-Austrian unrest in Mexico City as Metternich demanded action from him. Metternich gave him three weeks to produce official documents, warning that Santa Anna would bear the consequences if he failed.

• Santa Anna’s rivals and Mexican nationalists stirred up anti-Austrian protests and threatened the Austrian envoy’s safety.
• Santa Anna learned that nationalist sympathizers might be present in the army and sent a Foreign Legion battalion to escort the Austrians.
• Metternich refused to leave Mexico City without meeting Santa Anna, forcing the president to visit him at the State Guesthouse.
• Santa Anna asked Metternich to wait three weeks for a satisfactory answer and blamed Mexico’s democratic freedoms for anti-Austrian newspaper coverage.
• Metternich demanded that Mexico stop government-sanctioned slander and warned Santa Anna that he would bear the consequences if official documents did not arrive within three weeks.

Santa Anna let unrest spread through Mexico City as Mexican nationalists attacked Austrian-linked businesses and their employees fought back. With Metternich’s deadline nearly expired and Mexican troops withdrawing from the state guesthouse, Metternich prepared to warn California if the city fell.

• Santa Anna rejected Jimmy’s suggestion to accept Metternich’s terms temporarily and slapped him after accusing him of betraying Mexico.
• Mexican nationalists gathered in Mexico City, looted factories and shops, and burned farmland belonging to the Austro-Mexican Joint Development Company.
• The company’s employees armed themselves and defended their homes as clashes and deadly gunfights with nationalists spread through the city and nearby areas.
• Santa Anna allowed the violence to continue while Metternich waited out the final hours of his twenty-one-day deadline at the state guesthouse.
• A guard told Metternich that a force was approaching and Mexican troops had withdrawn; after learning the telegraph line was cut, Metternich ordered carrier pigeons sent and arranged for soldiers to carry a warning to California.

Metternich forced Mexico to renew its lease agreement with the Austrian Empire until 1950 in exchange for forgiving five hundred million Pesos of debt. The deal made him a hero in Austria, while Santa Anna was left facing the nationalist unrest he had helped create.

• Metternich ordered the major to defend the State Guesthouse, where soldiers repelled a crowd of Mexican nationalists without letting them break in.
• Santa Anna ordered the Mexican Foreign Legion to suppress the exposed nationalist attack, and the Black soldiers killed many of the protesters.
• Metternich told Jimmy that he would stay unless Mexico renewed the agreement until 1950, and offered to buy it for five hundred million Pesos if Mexico refused.
• Santa Anna's government renewed the lease until 1950, and the Austrian Empire forgave Mexico's five hundred million Pesos of debt.
• Austrians celebrated Metternich's achievement, while Franz considered Santa Anna's growing dependence on Austrian power and the backlash from Mexican nationalism.

The Austrian Empire’s colonial policies stirred European rivalry as London prepared to open the Great Exhibition. The arrival of the Austrian vessel Karl Augustus eclipsed the Crystal Palace and left the crowded Thames in awe.

• Britain and France criticized the Austrian Empire’s actions, prompting other European nations to pursue colonial ventures.
• On May 1, 1851, London unveiled the Crystal Palace before crowds and foreign dignitaries gathered for the Great Exhibition.
• The Austrian Empire’s vessel Karl Augustus emerged from the mist and astonished onlookers with its enormous size and unfamiliar design.
• The Karl Augustus entered the channel, forcing smaller boats to flee as its hull nearly filled the waterway.

Olga’s lavish arrival aboard the Karl Augustus drew the British public’s attention and embarrassed Britain’s leaders, who had no ready way to match it. After meeting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Olga mocked the Crystal Palace as little more than a greenhouse.

• Olga waved to the crowds from the Karl Augustus, and the Britons on both banks saluted her and the Austrian retinue.
• John Russell confronted the Duke of Northumberland about the Austrians’ giant ship, then learned that Britain’s Great Eastern would not launch until 1856.
• Britain’s leaders faced the cost and timing problems of their shipbuilding plans after the Karl Augustus outshone their vessels.
• Victoria and Prince Albert received Olga with the royal family after she left the public setting.
• Olga told Victoria that the Crystal Palace was a beautiful hall, then compared it to a glass greenhouse and complained about clearing snow from conservatory roofs.