Recaps

Lincoln approved Safar’s plan to raise arms prices and weaken the South through economic attrition, while worrying about how to finance the war. In Vienna, Franz chose to postpone major development of New Bavaria and seek to bring the Lanfang Republic into the New Holy Roman Empire through negotiation.

• Safar told Lincoln that Austria could supply large quantities of rifles and artillery, and proposed raising prices to strain the Southern Government’s finances.
• Safar warned Lincoln that Federal losses had exceeded eighty thousand and that the North was unlikely to win quickly; Lincoln approved the plan but raised the unresolved problem of financing.
• Josip Jelačić told Franz that New Bavaria was costly to develop, so Austria would focus on suitable areas and the surrounding islands instead.
• Josip Jelačić explained that Austria had signed a friendship agreement with Count Hummel of the Lanfang Republic, and that colonial officials were seeking a pretext for war.
• Franz ordered Josip Jelačić to negotiate Lanfang’s entry into the New Holy Roman Empire with autonomy rather than destroy it by force.

Count Hummel changed the fleet’s plans to recruit German-descended immigrants in the United States to help establish an Austrian foothold in Central America. When the fleet reached Newport Harbor, a large crowd of German immigrants gathered to welcome it, leaving Hummel encouraged by the opportunity.

• Count Hummel told Lieutenant General Arest that occupying Nicaragua without a pretext or enough immigrants would risk political fallout and unstable rule.
• Arest proposed recruiting German-descended Americans, and Hummel decided to shorten the fleet’s Hawaii visit before touring the western states.
• The fleet arrived at Newport Harbor, where German immigrants gathered hoping Austria would improve their political standing.
• Count Hummel saw the crowd and grew more confident that his recruitment plan could succeed.

British leaders debated how to protect cotton supplies and secure Britain’s interests amid the American Civil War, weighing intervention against the cost of another war. They concluded that Austria might use cotton to undermine Britain’s textile dominance and left the meeting considering how to test Austria’s willingness to sell.

• Prime Minister John Russell convened British officials to discuss Lincoln’s blockade and the need to keep trade with the Confederacy open.
• Edward argued that the American navy was weak and that allied fleets could protect Confederate ports, while Agawar warned Britain could lose influence if it intervened without sufficient strength.
• Gladstone proposed sending a powerful fleet and reinforcing Canada, but James opposed the expense after the costly suppression of the Indian Rebellion.
• Russell redirected the discussion to Britain’s urgent need for cotton, as India’s plantations had been damaged and Egypt’s cotton program was faltering.
• Russell called for a fleet to deter Austria from siding with the North after officials realized Austria might be withholding surplus West African cotton to threaten Britain’s textile industry.
• Agawar proposed testing whether Austria would sell its cotton abroad.

Franz responded to British attacks on the Suez Canal Company by ordering a counterattack using information on British abuses. Meanwhile, the American Civil War threatened cotton supplies, and Darville Cotton Purchasing Company struggled to secure West African cotton as prices rose.

• Franz learned that British publicity about the canal company’s use of Egyptian slave labor had intensified protests in France, and Wessenberg reported that the company was considering moving its headquarters to Vienna.
• Franz ordered his agents to give the canal company information about British abuses so it could retaliate in the press.
• Max offered Carlos increasingly higher prices for his West African cotton, but Carlos refused to abandon Felix Trading Company, his established buyer.
• Kenneth warned Darville Cotton Purchasing Company that a price war in West Africa could erase its profits, while Malti said falling cotton output made rising prices inevitable and urged quick action.

Napoleon III considered copying Austria’s colonial methods to secure cheap labor and cotton production in French Africa. He ordered a purge in the French Balkan Peninsula and plans to recruit its people as immigrants.

• Colonial Minister Stern and Foreign Minister Auvergne explained that France lacked immigrants for West African cotton cultivation and could not compete with Austria for European settlers.
• Finance Minister Pélissis proposed recruiting Balkan Peninsula residents through a poll tax and preferential immigration policies, after suppressing opposition in the colony.
• Napoleon III approved the plan and ordered the Balkan governor to purge enemies and potential enemies, citing Austria’s use of forced labor to stabilize its territory.

At a government meeting in Berlin, Roon argued that Prussia needed urgent army reform and continental expansion, while Chancellor Frank and William I favored colonial development to revive the economy. The meeting ended with Prussia choosing colonies and industrialization over immediate military expansion, as Roon accepted that the kingdom lacked the strength to challenge its rivals.

• Chancellor Frank urged the government to establish a colonial empire and build an ironclad fleet, while Roon warned that Prussia lacked the ships and money to do so.
• Roon defended his army expansion plan, but Finance Minister Fibel Adolf cited Prussia’s declining fiscal position and argued that it could not match the great powers’ military spending.
• The meeting weighed the capitalists’ claims that colonies would supply raw materials, markets, and revenue against the danger of Prussia’s divided territory and worsening security.
• Roon warned that Prussia risked becoming a minor state unless it expanded on the European Continent, but William I said Prussia could not yet defy the other powers.
• William I declared that Prussia should use the peaceful period to open overseas colonies and complete industrialization, and Roon reluctantly agreed.

Franz weighed Prussia’s naval ambitions and considered exploiting tensions between France and Montenegro as French policies drove Balkan emigration. On Kalimantan, Lanfang became an autonomous province of the New Holy Roman Empire, and Governor Liu’s son reassured him that the Empire’s laws would protect their autonomy.

• Franz reviewed Prussia’s reasons for building a navy and viewed its colonial ambitions as a way to strengthen its position.
• Tyrone gave Franz reports on French efforts to squeeze the Balkans and relocate its people to overseas colonies.
• Franz ordered Tyrone to monitor France and provoke a conflict with the Principality of Montenegro if an opportunity arose.
• On September 12, 1861, the double-headed eagle banner was raised over Lanfang, which became an autonomous province of the New Holy Roman Empire, with Liu Asheng appointed governor.
• Governor Liu questioned whether the Emperor would respect the province’s autonomy, and his son Chun’er cited the Empire’s laws and past conduct to reassure him.
• Lanfang’s leaders held a celebration and invited foreign representatives to signal that dealings with the province would now go through the Vienna Government.

Franz and his ministers discussed the revenue potential of the Lanfang Autonomous Province and Austria’s costly colonial empire. Franz kept Austria’s established priorities, limited South Seas expansion, and chose to encourage Prussia’s colonial ambitions to weaken its future military competition.

• Austria’s 1861 colonial accounts showed losses of 5.957 million Divine Shields, while Lanfang had contributed 580,000 toward military expenses.
• Finance Minister Karl proposed replacing direct colonial rule with Lanfang-style indirect rule, but Franz said few indigenous states could support themselves or gain acceptance within the Empire.
• Colonial Minister Josip Jelačić recommended expanding in the South Seas and described potential targets, competitors, costs, and expected returns.
• Franz kept Austria’s focus on Central America and Africa, directed the Colonial Ministry to pursue small and medium-sized unclaimed islands, and approved limited attempts elsewhere.
• Franz decided to give Prussia an opportunity to expand in the South Seas so it would invest more in its navy and less in its army.

As Confederate forces advanced toward Washington, Lincoln and Grant confronted the capital’s uncertain defenses and the federal army’s desperate need for reinforcements. The West Coast anti-war movement and foreign influence obstructed recruitment, leaving Lincoln to pressure western state governments as the war’s manpower balance worsened.

• Lincoln asked Grant whether Washington could be held, and Grant said its defense depended on the enemy’s determination.
• Grant told Lincoln that fifty thousand reinforcements from California, Oregon, and New Mexico had not departed because the states had failed to meet their recruitment quotas.
• Safar explained that Austrian Count Hummel had encouraged German immigrants to leave for Central America, while anti-war activists and European embassies hindered recruitment across the West Coast.
• Lincoln learned that western states were refusing to enforce the ban on anti-war activity, citing constitutional objections.
• Lincoln ordered people to negotiate with western state governments and secure the soldiers the federal government needed.

Facing troop shortages and the threat of Illinois withdrawing, Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to revive recruitment. Meanwhile, Austria sold its Ocean-going Fleet through Nicaragua to the Southern Government, leaving Austria to build replacement warships as the American Civil War continued.

• Safar told Lincoln that Illinois threatened to leave the war unless it received reinforcements, and Lincoln decided to implement the Homestead Act.
• Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 1, 1862, offering land to eligible settlers and prompting long lines at recruitment stations.
• The Northern and Southern navies fought at Hampton in March 1862, where the Merrimack and Monitor exchanged fire without a decisive result.
• Count Hummel and Jefferson Davis signed a Labor Import Treaty on June 7, and Hummel offered to sell Austria’s Ocean-going Fleet to the Southern Government.
• Austria sold the fleet to Nicaragua for 38 million Divine Shield on July 1, and Nicaragua transferred it to the Southern Government four days later.
• Franz began arranging for new Austrian warships to replace the fleet that Austria had sold.

President Lincoln faced the threat of the Southern Government’s new fleet and sought to weaken its manpower advantage by abolishing slavery in rebellious states. The Emancipation Proclamation passed, triggering escapes and enlistments while the Southern Government responded by courting the Indians.

• President Lincoln learned that the Southern Government had bought a fleet and ordered the navy to seek warships abroad while accepting that victory depended on the army.
• Secretary of State Safar warned Lincoln that the European powers favored the South and opposed abolishing slavery, but Lincoln argued that emancipation could divide enslaved people from their owners.
• In September 1862, Lincoln submitted the Emancipation Proclamation to Congress, which passed it narrowly over fierce opposition.
• The proclamation prompted enslaved people to flee toward the North and join its army, while the Confederate Government granted black slave soldiers free-citizen status to maintain morale.
• The Southern Confederate Government began courting the Indians and promising to support their independence and statehood.

Prussia celebrated the sea trials of its first ironclad, but William I learned that building a capable navy and securing overseas supplies would take years. He weighed Austria’s offer to jointly develop the South Seas, recognizing it as a calculated bid to draw Prussia closer to Vienna while Prussia’s nobles and colonists increasingly leaned toward Austria.

• William I attended the Friedrich the Great’s sea trials and asked Roon when Prussia could open overseas colonies.
• Roon explained that Prussia’s inexperienced navy needed at least two or three years of training and contrasted it with Austria’s established naval foundations.
• William I said Austria had invited Prussia and the German Federal Empire to jointly develop the South Seas and use Austrian colonial outposts for supplies.
• Roon asked what Austria expected in return, and William I called the proposal an open scheme to win over Prussia’s nobles and use Prussia as a hired force.
• William I worried that Austrian influence, growing through Prussian settlers and colonial ventures, could eventually cause Prussia to be absorbed by Austria.

George I considered using a joint colonial venture to strengthen his authority over the German Federal Empire, while Franz and Wessenberg planned to draw Prussia and the Federation into overseas expansion. The chapter left them preparing to establish colonies in territories likely to provoke Britain, the Netherlands, or France.

• George I lamented his weak authority and low prestige, then discussed with Paul how a shared navy and South Seas colonies might let him gain influence over the German states.
• Paul advised George I to use disputes over colonial profits to divide the states and weaken their united opposition to him.
• Wessenberg told Franz that Prussia and the German Federation had accepted Austria’s invitation to colonize the South Seas.
• Franz and Wessenberg proposed Malaysia for the German Federation and Sumatra or the Indochinese Peninsula for Prussia, choices likely to create conflicts with Britain, the Dutch, and France.
• Wessenberg suggested keeping the plans secret and using colonial risks and possible profits to persuade the two German powers to act before Britain and France could intervene.

Franz and Wessenberg discussed France’s plans to absorb the Kingdom of Sardinia, while Austria quietly backed Napoleon III’s bid for its throne. In America, the Confederacy armed an independent Indian state that devastated Kansas, deepening the Federal Government’s losses as Lincoln faced an approaching congressional inquiry.

• France blamed the Sardinian Government for the imperial assassination, imprisoned Cavour, and forced Vittorio Emanuele II to abdicate, clearing the way for annexation.
• Franz ordered Austrian agents to support Napoleon III’s election as King of Sardinia and promote the idea in public opinion.
• On January 15, 1863, the Confederacy backed the independence of the Indian region and supplied its new government with weapons.
• Indian forces attacked Kansas, nearly destroying 70,000 Federal troops and driving more than 300,000 civilians from their homes.
• Lincoln reviewed the Federal Government’s enormous military and civilian casualties, while Safar warned him to prepare for the next week’s congressional inquiry.

Austria’s colonial expansion spread across Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and the South Seas as Franz considered the consequences of a world nearing division among empires. At Schönbrunn, Franz’s brother Maximilian announced he intended to become emperor of Mexico, and Franz challenged him to prove he could govern.

• Austria expanded its colonial holdings across several regions, while Prussia and the German Confederation pursued their own overseas ambitions.
• Franz told his son Friedrich that the imperial heir had to study more than ordinary children and prepare to rule.
• Elena informed Franz that Maximilian had argued with Empress Dowager Sophie over his plan to go to Mexico and become emperor.
• Franz asked Maximilian who supported his ambition, and Maximilian cited the Mexican Constitutionalists and Napoleon III.
• Franz challenged Maximilian to present policies that would prove he could hold the Mexican throne, and Maximilian vowed to prove himself.

Franz challenged Maximilian’s idealistic plan for governing Mexico and explained that an emperor had to understand the country’s interests, factions, and resources. Maximilian remained determined to take the Mexican throne despite learning that Franz and the Habsburg Family would offer him little more than verbal support.

• Franz criticized Maximilian’s liberal plan and questioned his knowledge of Mexico’s social conflicts, resources, and industries.
• Franz told Maximilian that political power depended on managing competing interests and securing the people’s material well-being, leaving Maximilian shaken by his brother’s methods and success.
• Maximilian asked Princess Charlotte whether he was suited to be emperor, then admitted his jealousy of Franz and his desire to prove himself.
• Princess Charlotte encouraged Maximilian and reminded him that his marksmanship surpassed Franz’s, renewing his confidence in pursuing Mexico.
• Franz warned Maximilian that Mexico was dangerous and that Austria would not invest in his bid for the throne, offering only moral encouragement.
• Maximilian realized he could not count on Habsburg support and would have to rely on the French while pursuing the Mexican throne.

Franz enforced Austria’s military service traditions, while Alexander II faced unrest and a growing fiscal crisis after Russia’s incomplete emancipation of the serfs. The chapter ended with Alexander agreeing to ask Franz for financial help, preserving the Russo-Austrian alliance.

• Franz sent his two younger brothers to the barracks, where noble sons endured strict military training as part of Austria’s service tradition.
• Alexander II’s emancipation decree granted serfs personal freedom but left peasants burdened by costly land redemption payments.
• Minister of Police Jialinuoweisi reported thirty-eight serf uprisings in one month, and Alexander ordered strict vigilance against further unrest.
• Finance Minister Ku'erdaxiyabi warned that Russia faced a fiscal deficit exceeding forty million Rubles and suggested delaying tax reforms and selling Alaska.
• Alexander rejected using Alaska to offset debts to Austria, but agreed to write Franz asking for financial assistance.

After France annexed the Kingdom of Sardinia, Franz rejected an Italian appeal for help and argued that the new territory would be difficult for France to integrate. He expected France to remain occupied with resistance for several years, leaving Austria time to pursue its plans while Europe’s balance of power held.

• More than six hundred pro-French Sardinian representatives unanimously elected Napoleon III king, prompting international criticism and Italian petitions for help.
• Franz dismissed the Italian petition, blaming the Sardinian Government and populace for supporting extremists and declaring that they had to bear the consequences.
• Prime Minister Felix proposed aiding Italian nationalists against France, but Franz refused to support them because they were also Austria’s enemies.
• Felix warned that France’s expansion into central and southern Italy threatened Austrian interests, but Franz predicted that integrating Sardinia would occupy France for three to five years.
• Franz explained that Austria’s slow integration of its Italian regions showed how difficult it would be for France to win the loyalty of Sardinians without compulsory education or popular support.

Maximilian left Vienna for France to seek French backing for his claim to the Mexican throne, rejecting the political resources of the Habsburg Family. Napoleon III decided to support him, and Maximilian and Princess Charlotte sailed for Mexico at the end of 1863, while the family treated them as having given up their inheritance rights.

• Tyrone told Franz that Maximilian and his wife had left Vienna for France, and Franz chose not to support their venture in Mexico.
• Napoleon III welcomed Maximilian in Paris and asked his confidants whether the French should back him.
• Pélissis and Patti discussed Maximilian’s motives and abilities, while Napoleon III worried that an incompetent emperor could not stabilize Mexico.
• The French decided Maximilian was worth supporting despite the risk, and Maximilian and Princess Charlotte sailed for Mexico aboard a French warship at the end of 1863.
• Franz ignored Maximilian’s departure, while Empress Dowager Sophie reprimanded him and the Habsburg Family treated him and his descendants as having relinquished their inheritance rights.

After Maximilian I’s disputed coronation, Britain, France, Austria, and Spain formed an intervention coalition as the North and South prepared for a decisive battle in the American Civil War. The four powers agreed to send fleets and troops, leaving the United States facing foreign intervention.

• Maximilian I was crowned Emperor of Mexico amid Republican protests and an attempted disruption of the ceremony.
• The North and South assembled hundreds of thousands of troops for a decisive battle along the Pennsylvania–Ohio border.
• Austria’s Drucker proposed immediate military intervention in the American Civil War, while France’s Alfred argued for waiting.
• Britain’s Mario Oliver and Spain’s Francisco backed intervention, passing the proposal by a three-to-one vote.
• Britain, Austria, Spain, and France each pledged fleets and troops for the intervention force.

Franz learned that Britain, France, Austria, and Spain had formed an Intervention Coalition capable of sustaining the American Civil War, and he ordered Austria to accelerate immigration from the United States. With France proposing an international conference to partition Africa, Franz agreed to have the Foreign Ministry contact the French about their competing interests.

• Franz canceled plans to transfer Austrian troops from Africa and the South Seas after learning that the Intervention Coalition had assembled more than a hundred warships and 260,000 troops.
• Franz ordered Governor Hummel to speed up the organization of immigrants from the United States before the civil war ended.
• Wessenberg reported that Napoleon III planned to convene an international conference to divide Africa, and he suspected the move was linked to France’s annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
• Wessenberg argued that France was signaling Austria to negotiate rather than genuinely surrendering its African interests.
• Franz instructed the Foreign Ministry to approach France and discuss a deal if the terms suited Austria.

The Northern and Southern Governments remained locked in a costly war of attrition, with neither side able to secure a decisive advantage. Jefferson Davis ordered secret contact with the North to propose recognizing Southern independence, while the leaders feared Britain would intervene after the campaign weakened both sides.

• Lincoln received another request for reinforcements and asked Simon Cameron how long the campaign would last.
• Cameron blamed the Federal army’s heavy losses on inadequate training and poor-quality recruits, while Lincoln insisted all Federal soldiers be treated equally.
• Jefferson Davis learned that Britain was delaying intervention as the Northern and Southern armies suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties.
• Robert argued that neither government could continue fighting for long, while Alexander maintained that the campaign’s victor might retain enough morale and mobile troops to prevail.
• Davis ordered Robert to contact the Northern Government secretly and offer to end the war if it recognized Southern independence.

Governor Hummel pressed Austria’s immigration strategy in Central America and Colombia despite Colombia’s resistance, then confronted the colony’s mounting costs. The chapter left the colony politically established but economically unprofitable, with Hummel under pressure to prove its value.

• John-Radf told Governor Hummel that Colombia had barred immigrants from Panama and that British and possibly French influence was behind the opposition.
• Hummel ordered officials to bribe Panama’s authorities, forge immigrants’ identities, and settle the newcomers in Panama or Colombia’s interior.
• John-Radf reported that Austria had settled 380,000 immigrants in Central America and sent more than 60,000 into Colombia, while Hummel prepared a final immigration wave.
• Klaus estimated Central America’s revenue at 7 million Divine Shields and its deficit at 6 to 7 million, with fiscal balance expected in five years and investment recovery taking at least twenty.
• Hummel faced growing criticism at home because the costly colony offered little immediate economic return and its strategic value remained difficult to demonstrate.

Franz weighed Austria’s covert support for Polish independence against the need to preserve its alliance with Russia, while Roon and Moltke discussed a Prussian plan to exploit the rebellion and seize Schleswig-Holstein. The chapter ended with the Prussians preparing a risky strategy to weaken Russia and strengthen Prussia’s position.

• Wessenberg told Franz that a large-scale rebellion had begun in Russian Poland and that Britain, France, Prussia, and other countries were assisting Polish independence organizations.
• Franz ordered Austria’s anti-Russian faction to restrain itself and conceal any involvement so Russia could not use it as leverage.
• Roon worried that the Junker plan to promote Polish independence would provoke Russia, while the continental Junkers hoped to delay naval expansion and protect their influence in the military.
• Moltke advised Roon to use the Polish movement to tie down Russia while Prussia seized Schleswig-Holstein before the Tsarist Government could respond.

The Polish War of Independence erupted after foreign powers backed Polish revolutionary organizations, while the Tsarist Government initially treated the rebellion as routine unrest. In the summer of 1864, Alexander II approved a military expansion into Central Asia as Russia struggled to sell its industrial goods, leaving the Polish uprising unattended.

• Alexander II granted concessions to the Poles, including pardons, new institutions, and a consultative State Representative Conference, while the Berlin Government feared Russia planned to seize Prussian Poland.
• Polish independence organizations allied with Russian revolutionaries and gained support from the United Kingdom, France, and Prussia, which helped them expand and prepare an uprising.
• The Polish War of Independence erupted, but Franz dismissed it as an ordinary independence movement and Alexander II's Government ordered local authorities to suppress it as routine unrest.
• Russian industry expanded in quantity after serfdom was abolished, but poor quality and high costs left machinery and other goods unsold.
• Alexander II approved the War Ministry's plan to expand into Central Asia in the summer of 1864 while the Polish uprising continued to be ignored.