Chapter Summaries

Victoria and Prince Albert hosted Olga, who avoided political discussion, while British leaders reacted with frustration at Austria’s lack of interest in the Great Exhibition. The exhibition’s opening ceremony began with Victoria’s arrival, as Olga’s striking purple gown drew attention.

• Victoria and Prince Albert exchanged gifts with Olga, who focused on clothes, family, and children rather than politics.
• After Olga left, Victoria and Albert complained about being made to lobby for the British government and took comfort in each other.
• John Russell declared that Austria had made a fatal mistake by showing little interest in the Great Exhibition, but British officials reacted with frustration and doubt.
• The chapter described the exhibition’s invitations and public ticket rules, which largely excluded ordinary workers from the opening ceremony.
• Victoria and Prince Albert arrived at the ceremony, and Victoria appeared in white while Olga stood out in an expensive purple gown.

At the Great Exhibition’s opening, Olga’s lavish dress drew attention, and visitors explored the rival nations’ displays inside the Crystal Palace. Vienna Royal Women’s College also recruited students at the exhibition, offering a path for some young women to study and support themselves.

• Olga wore a purple-yam-dyed dress to the opening ceremony, attracting the envy of Queen Victoria and other noblewomen.
• Queen Victoria cut the ribbon after speeches by Joseph Paxton, John Russell, Prince Albert, and others, opening the Crystal Palace to visitors.
• Visitors examined Britain’s giant steam engine and machinery, France’s advanced technologies and luxury goods, and the displays from the German Confederation and Ottoman Empire.
• The Austrian Empire’s pavilion showcased extravagant objects, live musicians, paintings, and books, while its Church took interest in Ottoman medical texts.
• Thalia posted Vienna Royal Women’s College’s admissions notice and offered generous benefits to young women who met its requirements.

At the Great Exhibition, Samuel Colt’s revolver impressed Ottoman officials, who placed an order for five thousand pistols. Colt seized the opportunity to promote his weapon, unaware until the contract appeared that the Ottomans intended to buy so many.

• American exhibitors displayed agricultural machinery, tobacco, firearms, and other products, though many drew little interest from the British and Austrian visitors.
• The Austrian weapons experts dismissed most American firearms, while the Multi-Barrel Close-Defense Cannon failed to fire in tests.
• Samuel Colt demonstrated his revolver against two competitors’ pistols and personally conducted a test firing, impressing Omar Pasha and other Ottoman officials.
• Omar Pasha and Ahmed Yilmaz discussed equipping Ottoman cavalry and security forces with Colt revolvers.
• Omar Pasha approached Colt and offered to sign a contract for five thousand revolvers, leaving Colt astonished.
• Colt accepted the opportunity and began enthusiastically explaining the revolver’s features.

Samuel Colt agreed to establish a factory in the Ottoman Empire after securing promises of protection, wages, and patent fees. At the Great Exhibition, the novel Cousin Jerry's Factory sparked a fierce backlash against Northern American factories and abolitionists, leaving the North struggling to answer its influence.

• Samuel Colt negotiated with Omar Pasha over an Ottoman order for five thousand revolvers and agreed to build a factory in the Ottoman Empire.
• Omar Pasha promised Colt protection, rewards, wages, and patent fees, and Colt asked for freedom for himself and his workers.
• Cousin Jerry's Factory appeared at the Great Exhibition and exposed the exploitation of white laborers in Northern American factories.
• Foreign countries condemned America over the novel, while Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden expelled American envoys and restricted travel to America.
• British workers and Chartists marched in support of American laborers, and the American North answered with Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Cousin Jerry's Factory weakened Uncle Tom's Cabin's influence, and the chapter revealed that Franz had assembled literary masters to create the novel.

The Great Exhibition’s awards provoked outrage among German states, and Dutch nationalists turned the dispute into a crisis for William III. The Dutch king and his confidants took refuge in the Austrian Empire’s embassy as crowds surrounded the palace.

• Olga bought rare plants from Brazilian and Peruvian exhibitors, while Franz’s experts also planned to acquire specimens for research.
• The Qing Dynasty won many exhibition awards despite its officials’ indifference to the exhibits.
• Luxembourg’s Matt Luo protested the awards, threw down his silver medal, and was thrown out; other German states also renounced their honors.
• Dutch nationalists took to the streets and demanded that the Netherlands renounce its awards in solidarity with the German states.
• Crowds stormed Rotterdam City Hall, surrounded the Royal Palace, and sang the "Song of Germany," while William III and his confidants hid in the Austrian Empire’s embassy.

The Great Exhibition awards crisis left European governments balancing British pressure against nationalist unrest and their ties to the German Confederation. Louis Philippe chose to forfeit the Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine’s awards and commit himself to the German Confederation, while Franz prepared a different way to handle Austria’s medals.

• Louis Philippe listened calmly to German singing as Guizot praised the fulfillment of the House of Orléans’ long-cherished wish, while the Alsace-Lorraine ministers feared unrest in Strasbourg.
• Frederick VII handed the Danish crisis to Lamont, who avoided taking a position by falling seriously ill, while Belgium also struggled to reconcile its British ties with its dependence on the German Confederation.
• Bismarck waited for Austria to decide how to handle the awards crisis, while William IV argued with William of Grapeshot and the brothers parted ways.
• Franz decided Austria would not publicly forfeit its awards and instead had its medals melted down into objects that Austrian artists could submit for awards again.
• Louis Philippe forfeited Alsace-Lorraine’s awards and chose to rely on the German Confederation rather than risk Britain favoring Napoleon’s government.

Louis Philippe’s protest over the Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine’s prizes and Denmark and the Netherlands’ award renunciations infuriated Britain and strengthened German nationalism. Belgium left the choice to individual exhibitors, while Prussia and Bismarck remained uncertain how to respond without alienating Britain or nationalists.

• John Russell became furious when Louis Philippe protested the Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine’s few consolation prizes and threatened to publicize the complaint.
• Frederick VII’s ministers refused to take responsibility for the Danish protests, and the king decided to heed the crowd and renounce the awards.
• Denmark’s exhibitors received an ambiguous order, and William III announced that the Netherlands would renounce its awards as Dutch German nationalism grew.
• Leopold I and the Belgian Parliament declared that accepting or renouncing awards was an individual choice, and Belgian exhibitors split over what to do.
• Bismarck struggled to find a response for Prussia that would satisfy nationalists without provoking Britain.

Bismarck relinquished Prussia’s awards at the Great Exhibition, becoming a nationalist hero while Frederick William IV dismissed him and sent him to Africa. Franz expected the fallout to keep Bismarck under pressure, while Britain reflected on the exhibition’s success and prepared to let another country host the next one.

• After receiving no guidance from home, Bismarck decided to relinquish Prussia’s awards despite his officials’ shock.
• Bismarck’s decision angered Frederick William IV, who dismissed him, while nationalists hailed Bismarck as a hero and Britain treated the incident as his personal act.
• Cartoons mocked William IV as weak, and he sent Bismarck to Africa to establish a Prussian colony rather than attack him directly.
• Franz accepted Prussia’s decision but intended to let William IV make Bismarck’s life difficult.
• Prince Albert considered the Great Exhibition a success, while Britain prepared to give another country the right to host the next exhibition.

The British made English the sole official language of the 1851 Great Exhibition, provoking French protests and demonstrations. As public anger mounted in both countries, Louis Napoleon and John Russell struggled to contain the dispute, which remained unresolved.

• Prince Albert secured investment, including Franz's, for the Great Exhibition committee and planned to use the event to expand Britain's influence.
• The British issued the Great Exhibition's official documents, catalogues, and guides in English, angering the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and French writers.
• Alexander Colonna Walewski quarrelled with Napoleon III over the issue, and Napoleon III allowed him to take measures to safeguard France's interests.
• French scholars and religious leaders left London, protesters burned British invitations, and French businesses and volunteers produced guides and offered interpretation services.
• Louis Napoleon urged Félix Esquirou de Parieu to consider Britain's alliance with France, then promised the public that he would explain his actions and serve France's interests.
• John Russell rejected a proposal to shift blame onto Prince Albert and criticized British officials for trying to evade responsibility.

Prince Albert proposed making France the host of the next World's Fair to calm European disputes over the Great Exhibition, and John Russell accepted the plan. At the exhibition's close, Britain's airship display unsettled other powers, while Prussia and France struggled to respond to Austria's technological lead.

• Prince Albert offered the British government a plan to designate France as host of the next World's Fair, and John Russell praised the proposal.
• An official objected that Prince Albert had overstepped the royal family's political role, but John Russell kept his criticism to himself.
• Franz judged that French resistance had shaken Europe and reflected that occupying France would have been a disastrous mistake.
• Britain displayed its airship at the end of the Great Exhibition, prompting other nations to reconsider the balance of military power.
• Albrecht von Roon worried that Prussia could not counter airships or match Austria's weapons, while Helmut Karl Bernhard von Moltke offered unconventional ideas that still depended on luck.
• Louis Napoleon favored buying patents or stealing airship secrets over funding costly French research.

Franz considered the Austrian Empire’s rapid but dangerous aviation development and settled a dispute over competing aircraft designs by ordering nearly all of them tested. The Weapon Development Bureau and Vienna Glider Club left with Franz’s approval to let practical trials determine which proposals worked.

• Austrian aviation advanced under Franz’s guidance, though early aircraft lacked reliable power and flight experiments caused many deaths.
• Vincent Augustin and William von Ackengnitz brought competing aircraft proposals from the Weapon Development Bureau and Vienna Glider Club to Franz.
• Franz reviewed the designs and rejected three Vienna Glider Club proposals that did not resemble airplanes.
• Franz ordered the remaining fourteen designs tested, telling both men that trial and error was part of research.

Franz and Olga watched the Austrian Empire test its fourteen aircraft prototypes, which crashed repeatedly as engineers tried different launch methods. The sixth aircraft briefly flew before crashing, leaving the team with a promising design but many failures still ahead.

• Franz watched the Weapon Development Bureau and the Vienna Glider Club test launch methods, and a rocket-powered aircraft broke apart after takeoff.
• The Austrian military switched to compressed-air catapult launches and held a prototype flight test attended by Franz and Olga.
• The first five aircraft crashed into a haystack, while William von Ackengnitz and Vincent Augustin worried about their departments’ reputations.
• The sixth aircraft flew for eighteen seconds before crashing into a forest, and William von Ackengnitz identified its designer as Dr. Hasen.
• Franz reviewed Dr. Hasen’s design documents, then watched more prototypes fail with less concern.

Prototype No. 9 completed a seventeen-minute flight before crashing into haystacks during landing, and Franz rewarded the teams led by Dr. Hassen and Dr. Milos. Olga questioned Franz’s focus on small, dangerous airplanes over airships.

• Prototype No. 9 circled for seventeen minutes and fifty-one seconds, then snapped part of its landing gear and crashed into haystacks, leaving its pilot unharmed.
• William von Ackengnitz identified Dr. Milos as the designer, and Franz called representatives of both Dr. Hassen’s and Dr. Milos’s teams forward.
• Franz awarded Dr. Hassen’s team twenty thousand Florins and arranged for the reward to be counted openly.
• Franz praised Dr. Milos’s design and predicted that he could produce a qualified prototype within a year.
• Olga asked Franz why he pursued small, dangerous airplanes instead of safer, more reliable airships.

Franz watched Austria’s aircraft prototypes compete, and Countess Thalia von Ossent’s No. 14 set a record before crashing into the Danube. Thalia survived and won independent funding, while her team prepared to take her for a bath.

• Franz awarded a prize after an earlier prototype stayed airborne for seventeen minutes and fifty-one seconds, and Vincent Augustin’s prototype later flew for nine minutes and fifty-two seconds.
• Prototype No. 14 used a catapult-and-gravity rail launch, flew over Vienna and the Danube, and remained airborne for thirty-nine minutes and forty-six seconds before losing power and plunging into the river.
• Sailors hauled Thalia von Ossent and No. 14 from the Danube, and Franz learned that Thalia had designed and piloted the aircraft.
• Franz agreed to provide Thalia with independent funding and told her to stop taking such risks.
• Thalia handed the prize money and vouchers to her team, then noticed a prized student staring at Franz and told her it was time for a thorough washing.

Olga reflected on Franz’s political judgment and accepted his unconventional conduct, then asked him to name the successful aircraft. Franz called it Icarus and considered how state resources and his guidance had advanced Austrian aviation.

• Olga recalled that Franz had exposed the advisers who had deceived her and no longer wished to enter politics.
• Olga asked Franz to give the airplane a name, and Franz named it Icarus.
• Franz assessed the test flights, noting that four aircraft had taken off and that two matched Flyer II while one surpassed Flyer III.
• Franz explained that Austria’s resources and his technical framework had helped the teams outperform the Wright Brothers’ limited efforts.
• Franz considered why biplanes suited the era’s weak engines and materials, and noted that safer landings would require further practice.

Babbage confronted the memory of Joseph Clement’s betrayal, then bought Clement’s papers and patents before leaving Britain. Meanwhile, Franz rejected John Sina’s plan to cash in on rising silk prices and hoped to raise Venice silk’s standing against Lyon silk.

• Babbage visited Joseph Clement’s grave and recalled how Clement had helped halt the Analytical Engine project and seized its parts and drawings.
• Babbage threw his Great Exhibition medal onto Clement’s grave, spat on it, and left.
• Before departing Britain, Babbage paid Clement’s widow and apprentices five hundred Pound Sterling for Clement’s patents and manuscripts.
• John Sina urged Franz to sell their silk at a 150% profit while prices were high and French silk faced lost sales.
• Franz refused, saying the Qing Dynasty’s weakness meant the conflict could continue and that Venice silk should reach Lyon silk’s price.
• John Sina argued that Venice silk still lacked high society’s recognition and quality advantages, despite the Venetian industry’s recovery under Austrian rule.

Franz explained his plan to use Japanese silk to challenge French Lyon silk and build Venice silk into a luxury brand, while John Sina warned him about market risks. In Lyon, wage cuts and hardship drove silk workers and silkworm farmers to protest, and Mayor Claude Marie Dubois ordered soldiers to disperse them, leaving over a hundred casualties.

• Franz showed John Sina two bolts of silk and revealed that both were made from Japanese silk, not Lyon silk.
• Franz said he planned to meet Austrian and continental European demand before competing in the American market, and he insisted the war would last at least ten years.
• French capitalists bought up silk factories and workshops, depressed the price paid to silkworm farmers, and cut factory workers’ wages by 20%–30%.
• Lyon officials and a bishop urged workers to endure hardship for France after Lyon silk won an award in London, but the protesters demanded bread and dignity instead.
• Silk workers and silkworm farmers surrounded City Hall and the police station, and Mayor Claude Marie Dubois sent soldiers to disperse them, causing a little over a hundred casualties.

Lyon’s silk workers and silkworm farmers rose against their employers, and the uprising escalated into looting and armed resistance. Landon de Bugeaud’s troops crushed the rebellion with artillery and Congreve Rockets, leaving much of the city burning as he and Mayor Dubois blamed the destruction and mass deaths on the rioters.

• Silk workers and silkworm farmers confronted factory overseers and thugs, and a gunshot interrupted their attack on old Barry.
• Old Barry recovered his pickaxe and urged the workers to fight, and the crowd killed their oppressors before storming and looting the factory owners’ mansions.
• Councilors and wealthy gentry demanded action from Mayor Claude Marie Dubois, who requested troops from Paris and received Napoleon III’s approval to suppress the rebellion.
• Landon de Bugeaud deployed troops across Lyon and used artillery and Congreve Rockets to destroy the rebels’ barricades.
• The rockets started fires that spread through Lyon, and Landon de Bugeaud and Mayor Dubois blamed the destruction and tens of thousands of deaths on the rioters.

Napoleon III worried over the financial losses caused by the Lyon rebellion, while Alexander Colonna Walewski proposed measures to strengthen the regime's control of Paris. The chapter ended as Napoleon III claimed he had a permanent solution to the barricade problem.

• Napoleon III demanded an accounting of the fire's losses, and Pierre Magne reported that much of the urban district and silk industry had been damaged and that Monsieur Mazos was missing with the account books.
• Napoleon III ordered that Mazos be found, while Pierre Magne feared the anger of investors who had lost money in the silk business.
• Alexander Colonna Walewski argued that the reduced silk supply could raise prices, and Napoleon III accepted that the shortage might benefit Lyon silk.
• Alexander Colonna Walewski warned that Napoleon III's rule remained unstable and proposed applying Landon de Bugeaud's tactics against barricades to secure Paris.
• Napoleon III reassured Alexander Colonna Walewski that he had a once-and-for-all method for solving the barricade problem.

Louis Napoleon and Alexander Colonna Walewski planned a major Paris redevelopment to widen streets, modernize utilities, and fund the work by selling central land. Meanwhile, news of France’s swift suppression of the Lyon rebellion and the joint French-Austrian effort drove silk prices close to Franz’s target.

• Louis Napoleon showed Alexander Colonna Walewski a plan for broad avenues and star-shaped intersections that would make barricades harder to build.
• Louis Napoleon explained that selling land freed up by relocating residents could help pay for rebuilding Paris, and Alexander Colonna Walewski approved the idea.
• Louis Napoleon and Alexander Colonna Walewski argued over free competition and monopolies before Louis Napoleon assigned him to oversee the redevelopment and utility reforms.
• News of the Lyon rebellion’s swift defeat spread through Europe, while Austria assessed France’s losses and anticipated its next moves.
• France and Austria coordinated to raise silk prices, which surpassed 330 percent of their earlier level and neared 400 percent in parts of the Americas.