Recaps

As British leaders assessed Russia’s gains in Afghanistan, Rosario argued that Britain had to sever French and Austrian support by provoking conflict between the two powers. The meeting ended with the risks of a wider European war debated, while Rosario maintained that a prolonged, costly struggle would leave Britain room to intervene.

• Rosario said Russia’s battlefield advances depended on French and Austrian money and supplies, and urged Britain to cut off their support.
• George reported that the Foreign Office had failed to divide the three governments, while Hugh Childers argued that French backing was limited and Austria would stop once Russia won the Afghan War.
• Rosario insisted that Britain could not accept even a temporary Russian victory and proposed encouraging French expansion into Central Europe or Austrian unification of Germany.
• George warned that either France or Austria might emerge as Europe’s new hegemon if Britain ignited a continental war.
• Rosario argued that France and Austria would be weakened by years of fighting, leaving Britain able to intervene while their rivalry continued.

Franz learned that European prices were falling despite the Anglo-Russian War, raising fears that wartime overproduction could trigger another economic crisis. He also heard that Britain was trying to drive a wedge between Austria and France, and ordered closer surveillance of France as the risk of war grew.

• Franz reviewed falling commodity prices, and Reinhardt explained that the Anglo-Russian War had caused less demand for supplies than expected.
• Franz warned that European overcapacity could spark an economic crisis, but chose not to intervene.
• Wessenberg reported that Britain had offered Austria support for German unification if it abandoned Russia, while making similar promises to France.
• Karl argued that France's response to Britain's offer would determine whether a continental war became unavoidable.
• Franz ordered Austria to accelerate its war preparations and immediately report any signs that France was preparing for war.

On May 24, 1890, disappointing company reports exposed the losses and oversupply hidden beneath the Paris stock market’s wartime boom. Panic selling sent shares plunging, while more financial reports were still due over the following week.

• French industries struggled with rising production costs and excess goods, while Austrian firms won Russian military orders because their weapons matched Russia’s systems.
• Investors gathered at the Paris Stock Exchange expecting strong reports after share prices had risen sharply since the Anglo-Russian War began.
• Amix regretted selling half his Hex Textile Mill holdings, while Anthony argued that recruitment advertisements showed companies were thriving.
• As companies released disappointing financial reports, shareholders panicked and began dumping their stocks.
• Police officers moved into the exchange as sell orders overwhelmed the market, and the Paris stock market closed down 8.6 percent, with some shares losing half their value.

The fabricated procurement boom collapsed, triggering layoffs, canceled orders, and mounting losses for French manufacturers. Baron Fidoren tried to limit the damage at his machinery factory, then received a confidential offer of help from Paris Bank.

• The supposed government procurement contracts were exposed as agreements with shell companies, and businesses began laying off workers and canceling orders.
• Baron Fidoren learned that returns and breached contracts threatened Fidoren Machinery Factory with losses of around 40 million Francs.
• Baron Fidoren ordered returns refused, production suspended where necessary, and canceled orders repurposed or dismantled.
• Baron Fidoren concluded that a wider economic crisis could last one to two years and rejected his secretary’s concerns about refund clauses.
• Two representatives from Paris Bank arrived, and their leader told Baron Fidoren they had come to help and requested a private conversation.

Paris Bank persuaded Baron Fidoron to support France’s Central European Strategy in exchange for extending his factory’s loan, as a coalition of capitalists began building pressure across the country. The campaign shifted public blame for France’s economic troubles onto Belgium and Germany and left the government facing growing calls to act.

• A Paris Bank representative told Baron Fidoron that supporting the Central European Strategy could ease his factory’s financial crisis and bring it further loans.
• Baron Fidoron warned that the strategy risked destroying the French Empire, but agreed to promote it after the representative offered to extend his bank loan.
• Baron Fidoron began calling his contacts to help advance the strategy.
• French capitalists secretly built connections with industrialists, parliament members, and government officials after the stock market crash.
• Experts and scholars blamed France’s economic woes on Belgium and Germany raising coal prices, while tabloids also accused Britain and urged the government to act.

Napoleon IV's government debated France's response to the growing unrest and the military buildup in Belgium and the German Confederation. The ministers concluded that Austria and the risk of broader European intervention made the Central Europe strategy dangerous, leaving France without an easy way to preserve its initiative.

• Napoleon IV ordered an investigation into the demonstrations, and Adonis reported that industrial and commercial circles had helped spark the unrest.
• Napoleon IV blamed the financial syndicates and ordered the Foreign Ministry to disrupt Belgium and Germany's military expansion, even offering security guarantees if necessary.
• Karel Kadletz reported that Belgium and Germany distrusted France's guarantees and that Franz had publicly encouraged their military preparations.
• Ruskinia Hafiz urged France to launch the Central Europe strategy early, while Terence Bulkin argued that Austria was the true obstacle and should be dealt a crushing blow first.
• Ruskinia Hafiz warned that France could not decisively defeat Austria without risking prolonged war and intervention by other European powers.
• Karel Kadletz said Britain and other countries might remain neutral until France gained the battlefield advantage, when they would likely intervene to preserve Europe's balance of power.

As Europe prepared for a possible French invasion, Franz rejected proposals for Austrian troops and joint exercises, concluding that war was unavoidable. He ordered Austria onto high alert and prepared to use the crisis to strengthen central control over its constituent states.

• Switzerland, Spain, and Austria announced military preparations as tensions over France’s ambitions spread across Europe.
• Wessenberg reported Baden’s request for Austrian troops and Belgium’s proposal for a joint military exercise, but Franz rejected both as costly and provocative.
• Karl questioned why Italians were supporting France’s hard line, and Wessenberg blamed the British-backed Italian Independence Organization for trying to spark a continental war.
• Mark-Leo von Joseph urged delaying war, but Wessenberg warned that France’s Central European Strategy made conflict difficult to avoid.
• Franz declared a Level Three state of alert, ordered military industries to full capacity, called for 500,000 reservists to be mobilized within a week, and put the Middle East and East Africa on Level One readiness.
• Franz ordered the governors to seize the Suez Canal and Egypt if France invaded Central Europe, and called an Imperial Conference to discuss resistance.

France’s military expansion intensified fears of war across Europe, while British officials discussed how to prevent France from facing a coalition led by Austria. Britain planned to preserve France’s strength against Austria but could only confidently keep Spain and Switzerland neutral.

• The French Government began a large military expansion as its neighbors prepared for war.
• George told Gladstone that France’s expansion had followed Britain’s plan but warned that Austria could rally Belgium, the German Confederation, Switzerland, and Spain against France.
• George explained that Austria had shifted Spain toward its side and had loaned money to several countries, while France had failed to win them over.
• Hugh Childers argued that France’s military reputation could deter its neighbors more effectively than diplomacy, but Gladstone ordered the Foreign Office to keep them neutral.
• George said Britain might keep Spain and Switzerland neutral, while Belgium and the German Confederation could not be kept out of a war over their territories.
• Gladstone worried that a French victory would devastate the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and feared Queen Victoria would blame him for the plan.

Austria’s Jonas negotiated with Vittorio Emanuele III to secure the Italian independence movement’s cooperation in the coming war against France. Vittorio agreed to disrupt French forces in exchange for Austrian support and promised gains, while Austria made clear it would recognize the Italian states separately rather than support his bid to unite them.

• Jonas told Vittorio Emanuele III that the approaching continental war offered a chance to restore Sardinia, but Vittorio said the independence movement could not challenge France without an Austrian battlefield victory.
• Jonas warned that Austria would not guarantee Sardinia’s territorial integrity if its forces waited until the war was settled before contributing.
• Vittorio demanded guarantees for a united Italy, but Jonas said Austria had already made separate agreements with representatives of the Papal States, Naples, and Tuscany.
• Vittorio accepted that his organization could disrupt French logistics and morale through sabotage, strikes, and noncooperation rather than direct combat.
• Jonas promised that the movement’s contributions would determine its postwar gains, and Vittorio pledged to make trouble for the French.

Swiss chairman Bernhard Hammer weighed Austria’s offers to draw Switzerland into the coming war against France but upheld the country’s neutrality. He agreed only to obstruct French trade in strategic materials if war broke out, leaving Switzerland’s actions dependent on how the conflict unfolded.

• Bernhard Hammer told Austrian envoy Élie Decazes that Switzerland would remain neutral and could not join the war against France.
• Élie Decazes offered Switzerland Franche-Comté for opening its passes to Austrian troops, with Savoy as an additional reward if Swiss troops fought.
• Bernhard Hammer refused the territorial offers, wary of France’s military strength and of Austria becoming the dominant power in Europe.
• Élie Decazes accepted Switzerland’s refusal to grant passage and asked it to hinder French trade during the war.
• Bernhard Hammer agreed that Switzerland could prohibit strategic materials from entering France once war began.

Austria worked to isolate France diplomatically while Alexander III tried to delay a European war that threatened Russia’s plans. As war loomed, Franz brought Austria’s armor and tanks into service and gave Archduke Friedrich command of the new force.

• Austria offered Spain generous terms to station forces along the French border and continued lobbying other European countries.
• Alexander III learned that French mediation demands were unacceptable to Belgium and Germany, then ordered Oscar Jimenez to delay war until the second half of next year.
• Oscar Jimenez warned that Russia lacked the leverage to restrain France, while Belgium and Germany’s expanding armies made delay increasingly dangerous.
• Franz ordered six armored divisions and four tank brigades formed as Austria’s armor and tanks entered service.
• Franz asked how soon the armored force would be combat-ready, and Feslav estimated it needed another month or two of training to face French infantry and cavalry.
• Franz barred the force from combat for three months and appointed Archduke Friedrich to lead its formation.

Napoleon IV’s government learned that Austria was buying up grain and coordinating a supply embargo with Belgium and Germany, threatening France’s wartime food supply. The French leaders decided to conserve grain and purchase it overseas as they prepared to accelerate the war.

• Karel Kadletz reported that Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Nordic Federation would remain neutral, while Russia would wait to see how the war unfolded.
• Kadletz warned Napoleon IV that Austria had bought Russia’s export grain at a 25 percent premium and had apparently reached an anti-French agreement with Belgium and Germany.
• Roy Vernon reacted with shock to Austria’s grain purchase, and Terence Bulkin explained that Austria was using its creditor claims to secure grain and deny it to France.
• Bulkin said France could rely on the Great Farm Plan and emergency rationing to endure a shortage until victory, prompting Napoleon IV to approve grain conservation measures.
• Napoleon IV ordered the government to announce grain-saving measures and directed the Foreign Ministry to buy grain around the world.

Raphael faced a crisis after Napoleon IV ordered France’s overseas farms to ship grain home, exposing widespread fraud amid an international shortage. He ordered the remaining officials to secure grain and falsify crop-loss reports while meeting part of their quotas, leaving the farms scrambling to comply.

• As grain prices surged and Napoleon IV ordered overseas farms to send grain to France, many farm officials resigned or fled, leaving Raphael with the shortfall.
• Raphael ordered Cole to threaten the missing officials with wanted notices and demanded that the others resolve the grain shortage before resigning.
• Cole explained that Austria had cornered the international grain market, making it impossible to buy enough grain abroad.
• Raphael ordered the farms to borrow or buy grain domestically and ship at least thirty percent of their quotas after the harvest.
• Raphael directed farms in Algeria and Morocco to report a fabricated locust plague and a combined production loss of about twenty-five percent, while leaving Egypt unreported.

Austria’s economic campaign against France drove up global commodity prices as merchants burned supplies and investors speculated on shortages. Franz decided Austria should begin selling its stockpiles, but Karl urged him to wait until war began so the French would face the highest prices.

• Ulbert told Odell he burned purchased grain to keep it from reaching France, and a reporter’s account of their conversation spread across the Confederate States.
• Merchants and investors across the Americas began burning or hoarding supplies, sending grain and other commodity prices soaring.
• Wessenberg presented diplomatic protests to Franz and reported sharp increases in international prices, including a 144.1% rise in food prices.
• Franz ordered Austria to release its stockpiled goods, arguing that continued price manipulation risked provoking governments and that France could buy supplies elsewhere.
• Karl persuaded Franz to wait until war began before releasing the goods, when prices would peak and France would be under greater pressure.

As the Anti-French Alliance’s embargo isolated France and threatened its war preparations, Napoleon IV’s ministers pushed for an early conflict, while he suspected Austria was trying to provoke France. News that French soldiers had been attacked at the Belgian border gave the government a pretext to demand concessions, and Napoleon IV ordered Belgium to comply within forty-eight hours.

• Karel Kadletz reported that Austria had assembled an Anti-French Alliance and that European opinion and strategic-material prices were turning against France.
• Terence Bulkin warned that shortages were cutting French production, while Elsa urged Napoleon IV not to delay the war.
• Napoleon IV argued that Austria was staging a political performance and that other nations were mainly encouraging the conflict for their own benefit.
• An attendant delivered news that three French soldiers had been attacked on the Belgian border, leaving two dead and one missing.
• Terence Bulkin proposed demanding that Belgium hand over the culprits, release the missing soldier, and pay compensation within forty-eight hours.
• Napoleon IV ordered the demand issued and warned that no further trouble should arise.

Prime Minister Terence Bulkin suspected a plot behind the incident that gave France a pretext for war, while Belgium received a French ultimatum demanding soldiers, culprits, and compensation. Leopold II rejected the demands and ordered preparations for war, urging Austria to send troops while Belgium negotiated to buy time.

• Terence Bulkin suspected Deputy Minister Raphael of betraying him and vowed to investigate whoever had manipulated the incident.
• On September 24, 1890, France gave Belgium forty-eight hours to hand over kidnapped soldiers and attackers and pay one billion Francs.
• Leopold II learned that Germany had offered no firm commitment and Austria would support Belgium's decision, including war.
• Leopold II recognized that Belgium would face the French before Austrian reinforcements could arrive and ordered the country to prepare for war.
• Leopold II told the Foreign Ministry to keep negotiating with France while he urged the Austrian Government to dispatch troops quickly.

As France and Belgium mobilized, Franz ordered Austrian troops to reinforce the Belgian-German front after a one-week delay, while Russia’s leaders recognized that prior agreements had tied them to Austria. France then declared war on Belgium, beginning the continental conflict.

• Wessenberg told Franz that North German states had tentatively agreed to send troops but were arguing over troop allocations and command, while George I remained passive.
• Franz ordered normal-intensity mobilization and delayed Austrian reinforcements for one week, instructing the Foreign Ministry to secure railway control and promise Belgium troops within a month.
• Alexander III rebuked Oscar Jimenez over the escalating crisis, and Oscar explained that Russia’s Austrian supply agreement would protect its strategic-material imports.
• Alexander III realized Russia was bound to support Austria because its grain exports and supply arrangements had left it with little freedom to withdraw.
• On September 27, 1890, France formally declared war on Belgium, accusing it of conspiring to murder French soldiers.

After France declared war on Austria and invaded Belgium and Luxembourg, George I realized Britain had misled him and ordered the German Confederation to mobilize. He prepared to seek Prussia’s support and asked Britain to postpone loan repayments while trying to preserve its neutrality.

• On September 28, Belgium declared war on France, and Franz won the Imperial Parliament’s unanimous approval to declare war the next day.
• France declared war on Austria and invaded Belgium and Luxembourg on September 29, beginning the Continental War.
• George I learned that Britain called the French invasion of Luxembourg a misunderstanding, then ordered troops to reinforce Luxembourg and Belgium and called for nationwide mobilization.
• George I decided to travel to Berlin to seek Prussia’s support and rejected Prime Minister Aivar’s proposal to default outright on British loans.
• George I ordered the Foreign Ministry to request a loan repayment delay from Britain, promising payments would resume once French troops withdrew.

Prince Luitpold weighed Lombardy’s wartime burdens as General Morkes demanded laborers, railways, roads, and civilian vehicles for the imperial army. Meanwhile, Marshal Adrien’s planned advance stalled amid anti-war protests in Turin, and his attempts to catch the Italian Independence Organization had failed.

• Prince Luitpold worried that the war could destabilize Wittelsbach rule and leave Lombardy vulnerable to the Vienna Government’s decisions.
• General Morkes asked Prince Luitpold to provide 350,000 laborers and requisition Lombardy’s railways, roads, and civilian transport for military logistics.
• Prince Luitpold objected that the demands would disrupt Lombardy’s population and economy, but accepted that cooperation was necessary after Morkes promised to report the losses for imperial compensation.
• General Morkes explained that the army’s rapid expansion had strained its transport capacity and that Lombardy’s terrain required many kinds of vehicles.
• Marshal Adrien struggled to advance from Turin because anti-war protests had delayed the French army, and he suspected someone had orchestrated them.
• Marshal Adrien asked whether the Italian Independence Organization’s members had been caught, and an officer replied that the group would not show itself.

Marshal Adrien ordered a request for the French cabinet to coordinate with local authorities against Italian rebels, while Vittorio Emanuele III and his supporters planned to escape British supervision and return to lead the independence movement. Their scheme began with Vittorio pretending to be gravely ill, prompting Prime Minister Gladstone to fear the loss of a useful political pawn.

• Marshal Adrien told his subordinate to ask the cabinet to coordinate with local authorities in hunting down the Italian rebels.
• Vittorio Emanuele III learned that Britain had refused to support his restoration and was keeping him in London under close watch.
• Prime Minister Leonid urged Vittorio Emanuele III to escape London and return to lead the independence movement.
• Foreign Minister Fien proposed that Vittorio feign illness, switch places with a lookalike assistant, and escape by ship arranged by the Austrians.
• Vittorio Emanuele III accepted the plan, and the Independence Organization spread word that he had fallen ill after being angered by the British.
• Prime Minister Gladstone read reports of Vittorio's grave illness and worried that his death would destroy Britain's Italian political leverage.

Captain Petra’s ship, the Fulda, was pursued by British warships as Vittorio Emanuele III fled toward the Netherlands. Vittorio ordered the cargo dumped to speed the ship, and the chapter ended with him revealing himself to the crew and daring the British to fire if they wanted to commit regicide.

• Captain Petra spotted two warships closing in on the Fulda and ordered the ship to accelerate toward the Netherlands.
• Vittorio Emanuele III told Petra to throw nearly all cargo overboard and promised to cover the losses, while Petra warned that the ship still could not outrun warships.
• Vittorio persuaded Petra to continue by warning that the British would hang him if they captured them and suggesting he might grant Petra a noble title.
• Petra ordered the cargo dumped as the pursuing warship rapidly closed the distance.
• The British signaled the Fulda to stop for inspection or face gunfire, and Petra objected that they were on the high seas.
• Vittorio Emanuele III appeared on deck, revealed himself, and told the crew to signal that the British could open fire if they wanted to commit regicide.

Colonel Richard pursued Vittorio Emanuele III across the sea, then escorted him safely to the Netherlands after realizing the political cost of stopping him. Meanwhile, the Anti-French Alliance struggled on the Western Front as Belgian defenses weakened and Archduke Albrecht prepared to command the allied forces.

• Colonel Richard learned that Vittorio Emanuele III was aboard the Fulda and ordered the ship to stop, but the king refused the British invitation and warned them not to follow.
• Vittorio Emanuele III calmed the Fulda's Irish crew and told his companion that reaching the Netherlands would make the British wary of harming a king in front of a fleet.
• On October 9, 1890, Colonel Richard escorted Vittorio Emanuele III to the Netherlands and treated the voyage as a friendly mission.
• Leopold II asked when German and Austrian reinforcements would arrive, and Foreign Minister Jules explained their delays and George I's struggle to secure Prussian support.
• Archduke Albrecht arrived ahead of the Austrian reinforcements to command the allied army, then grew concerned as the Arden Forest neared defeat.

Archduke Albrecht warned Belgium that France could exploit its weakly defended coast, while Austria delayed its reinforcements. In Vienna, Vittorio Emanuele III accepted Austria’s terms, and the two sides signed the Austro-Sardinian Accord, opening a new era in their relations.

• Archduke Albrecht told General Desmet that French warships and airships could overcome Belgium’s coastal defenses, but Desmet said Belgium lacked troops to reinforce them.
• Archduke Albrecht learned that Austrian reinforcements were advancing slowly under Vienna’s plan to let Belgium and Germany bear the brunt of the fighting.
• Franz welcomed Vittorio Emanuele III to Vienna, then left Wessenberg to receive him and discuss Sardinia’s restoration.
• Wessenberg offered Austrian support for Sardinian independence in exchange for a share of military expenses, with Sardinia’s contribution on the battlefield reducing its bill.
• Vittorio Emanuele III and Wessenberg signed the Austro-Sardinian Accord on October 21, 1890, ending decades of hostility between Austria and Sardinia.

Napoleon IV faced the danger of Vittorio Emanuele III’s escape to Vienna and the growing risk that Italian soldiers in the French army would become unreliable. In Italy, General Morkes rejected a cautious single-front plan in favor of attacking on three fronts, leaving Vittorio Emanuele III doubtful and the Austrian commander’s intentions unexplained.

• Napoleon IV accused Britain of deliberately allowing Vittorio Emanuele III to escape, while Karel Kadletz blamed France’s battlefield failures and War Minister Luskinia defended the army’s plans.
• General Morkes outlined three possible Austrian offensives in Italy and favored a cautious southern advance that could encourage Italian uprisings.
• Vittorio Emanuele III urged Morkes to strike toward Turin, arguing that a decisive victory would restore his kingdom and strengthen Austria’s position.
• Morkes replied that Austria could attack on all three fronts at once, and Vittorio Emanuele III questioned whether two routes would merely be feints.
• Morkes smiled at the Italian Independence Organization’s delegation without explaining his plan.

Austria launched a three-front offensive in northern Italy, while Vittorio Emanuele III struggled to protect his claim to Sardinia’s throne and avoid angering the Austrians. On the front, overwhelming Austrian artillery battered French positions, and Marshal Adrien considered how to respond after dismissing a request for support.

• Vittorio Emanuele III asked Kolosna whether Sardinia had uncovered Austria’s purpose, and Kolosna reported that their intelligence network in Lombardy had been cut off and their former allies had rejected them.
• Vittorio Emanuele III ordered his people to keep a low profile as he worried that failing to reach the front could cost him his claim to the Sardinian throne.
• General Morkes learned of Vittorio Emanuele III’s movements and decided to tolerate them as long as the Sardinians did nothing outrageous, since Austria still needed their cooperation.
• Colonel Novik complained that Austrian artillery was suppressing his regiment and ordered a request for fire support to be sent to French headquarters.
• Marshal Adrien discarded Colonel Novik’s telegram and studied the map while considering how the French army could strike back.