Recaps

Franz reshaped Austria’s government and colonial plans while steering the American crisis toward a divided United States. The Confederacy gained foreign recognition and early military victories, while Austria prepared overseas intervention and the Union struggled to respond.

• Franz accepted Radetzky’s and Metternich’s resignations, appointed Wessenberg Foreign Minister and Marshal Edmond temporary Chief of the General Staff, and planned further cabinet changes.
• Franz approved colonial development plans and ordered officials to expand labor recruitment, relocate troublesome people to mines, and prepare cotton and tobacco production.
• Franz revised the constitutional draft, named his newborn son Peter, and presided over Radetzky’s state funeral amid Sardinia’s political crisis.
• Franz ordered Austria’s diplomats to encourage French expansion in Italy, approved colonial advances in Central America, and sent seven ironclads on a global cruise.
• After Lincoln’s election, Southern representatives declared the Confederacy, and Britain, France, Austria, and Spain recognized its independence after agreeing that it would abolish slavery.
• Austria’s fleet toured Asia as European powers pursued overseas interests, while the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter and Spain sent troops to seize Hispaniola.
• Franz prioritized dividing the United States, ordered five divisions overseas, and arranged deployments to the South Seas, Central America, and Africa.
• Lincoln detained Maryland’s political elite, but Confederate victories at Cincinnati and elsewhere threatened the Union as Lincoln called up 300,000 militiamen and Fickel bargained with John Casey over Missouri’s rifles.

Austria expanded its colonial influence while European powers maneuvered over the American Civil War, Sardinia, Mexico, and Poland. The stretch left the Polish uprising growing as Russia looked toward Central Asia and Austria continued to weigh its rivals’ moves.

• Safar persuaded Lincoln to consider buying Austrian weapons at higher prices, while Josip Jelačić secured Lanfang’s entry into the New Holy Roman Empire as an autonomous province.
• Count Hummel pursued German-American immigrants for Central America, while Britain debated intervening in the American Civil War to protect its cotton supply.
• Franz directed Austria’s colonial expansion and encouraged Prussia and the German Federation to pursue risky South Seas ventures.
• Lincoln enacted the Homestead Act and the Emancipation Proclamation as the Confederacy acquired an Austrian fleet and sought Indian allies.
• Maximilian pursued the Mexican throne without Habsburg backing, and Napoleon III supported his expedition as France annexed Sardinia.
• Britain, Austria, Spain, and France formed an intervention force for the American Civil War, while Jefferson Davis secretly explored peace with the North.
• Hummel pushed immigration into Central America despite mounting costs, and Franz told Austria’s anti-Russian faction to conceal any involvement in Poland.
• Polish groups launched an uprising with foreign support, but Franz dismissed it and Alexander II’s government treated it as routine unrest while approving expansion into Central Asia.

Prussia’s war with Denmark drew Russia and Austria into a contest shaped by foreign loans, while American-backed revolutionaries tried to destabilize Europe and failed. Austria crushed the uprisings, the Northern Government began secret peace talks with the South, and a British pirate ambush sank Popov’s ship.

• Franz kept Austria neutral in the Prussian-Danish war while considering how to use the conflict to check Russia and Prussia.
• Alexander II offered Austria Silesia for support, while Britain and France financed Prussia without sending troops.
• Lincoln sent revolutionary exiles to Europe, and Stephen’s Hungarian Independence Organization joined plans for coordinated uprisings with Italian revolutionaries.
• The Prussian invasion of Denmark widened into a confrontation with Russia, while both sides offered Austria territory in exchange for its backing or neutrality.
• Stephen’s organization staged a rebellion in Venice on February 15, 1865, but Austrian forces crushed the uprising and arrested more than 150,000 people.
• Lincoln concluded that the European unrest had failed to distract the powers and began secret negotiations with the Southern Government.
• Popov joined American ships in an attack on pirates near San Clemente Island, but Gurney’s disguised Royal Navy crew ambushed the fleet and sank the Moscow.

Franz steered Austria through a widening Prusso-Russian war while expanding its African strategy and exploiting migration from occupied East Prussia. The British blockade strengthened Austria’s trade with Russia, as Franz assessed a French plan to reshape Europe and ordered further intelligence review.

• The United Kingdom, France, Austria, and Spain intervened in the American Civil War negotiations, and Lincoln’s government later signed an armistice recognizing Southern independence.
• Franz advanced plans to integrate Austria’s African colonies and revised the proposed expansion to focus on regions Austria could realistically develop.
• Russia captured Baltiysk, and Franz approved loans and weapons for Russia despite the risks to Austria’s relations with other powers.
• Prussia launched a major offensive in East Prussia, shattered Russian forces, and pursued them as the war widened.
• Russian occupation and requisitions drove a mass exodus from East Prussia, and Austrian organizers resettled migrants across overseas territories.
• The Tsarist Government persecuted Jewish people to seize wealth for the war, while Franz sought to exploit growing anti-Russian sentiment in the Ottoman Empire.
• Britain blockaded the Baltic Sea, redirecting trade toward Austria, and Franz ordered an investigation of French plans to weaken Russia and acquire European territory.