Chapter Summaries

Franz accepted the resignations of Marshal Radetzky and Metternich and anticipated that Archduke Louis would leave as well. He reflected on how conservative nobles helped restrain capitalists and keep Austria stable, then faced the challenge of finding successors for the departing ministers.

• Franz approved Marshal Radetzky’s resignation after the elderly marshal repeatedly submitted letters.
• Franz accepted Metternich’s resignation and expected Archduke Louis to step down after him.
• Franz recalled Archduke Louis’s loyalty and his role in helping restrain the bourgeoisie and preserve political balance.
• Franz considered how colonial expansion, civil service examinations, and class conflict pressured the aristocracy to remain productive.
• Franz reviewed possible successors for the Chief of the General Staff and Foreign Minister, then worried that few candidates could replace the conservative Minister of the Interior.

Franz announced a series of Austrian government and military appointments, while delaying Archduke Louis’s resignation until Prince Windisch-Grätz could prepare to take over as Minister of the Interior. The chapter left Franz balancing appointments and social power to preserve the Habsburg government.

• After Austria disrupted the Paris Conference, Franz considered how France’s ambition in Italy diverted attention from Austria and eased other powers’ wariness of it.
• At a Vienna Palace cabinet meeting, Franz appointed Wessenberg Foreign Minister and Marshal Edmond temporary Chief of the General Staff.
• Franz told Archduke Louis to wait two months before retiring so Prince Windisch-Grätz could prepare to become Minister of the Interior.
• Franz said General Albrecht would become Minister of War after leaving his Balkan governorship, and Lieutenant General Morkes would replace him there.
• Franz reflected that he had to promote capable officials while balancing social status, and that he would suppress attempts by the bourgeoisie to manipulate government through corruption.

Franz reviewed Austria’s recovery from the economic crisis and approved the Vienna Government’s plan to end stimulus spending and reduce debt. He accepted that infrastructure projects would pause while government investments took years to produce returns.

• Franz read the economic report and learned that Austria’s industrial output and economy had suffered severe losses during the crisis.
• Prime Minister Felix said the Cabinet would end economic stimulus, cut spending over the next three years, and reduce the debt by 30 million Divine Shield.
• Franz agreed that Austria needed to reduce its debt and pause major infrastructure construction because the country’s essential towns and cities were already connected.
• Franz recognized that railway investments would remain unprofitable in the short term, but defended broad rail coverage as necessary to strengthen central control and develop poorer regions.
• Franz considered the government’s industrial investments a long-term inheritance for future administrations rather than a source of immediate revenue.

Franz reviewed the rapid expansion and heavy costs of Austria’s African colonies, then ordered the Ministry of Colonies to reduce the native population and increase European immigration. He worried that plantation and mine owners would rely on enslaved labor, while deliberately diverting emigrants from the United States to worsen its labor shortage and sectional tensions.

• Colonial Minister Josip Jelačić reported that Austria had established dozens of colonial outposts and cities, sent more than a million emigrants, and lost 9.85 million Divine Shield in 1858.
• Franz ordered Josip Jelačić to reduce the colonies’ native population by thirty percent within five years and make emigrants outnumber natives within ten years.
• Franz noted that Austrian nobles and the royal family were investing heavily in African plantations, while his own rubber plantations faced long waits and worker shortages.
• Franz worried that mine and plantation owners were turning to local labor, including slave-catching, and feared that slavery would undermine emigrants’ jobs and colonial development.
• Franz intended to divert European emigrants from the United States and send more black immigrants there, sharpening the conflict between northern industrialists and southern plantation owners.

Franz reviewed the Vienna Government’s plan to develop Austria’s African colonies through plantations and a railway linking Guinea to the Congo region. He approved the railway with limits on government spending and urged preparations to capture cotton and tobacco markets disrupted by the approaching American Civil War.

• Prime Minister Felix presented Franz with a colonial economic development plan and explained the proposed railway’s route, funding, and land grants.
• Franz assessed the railway’s costs and potential returns, including the value of land and resources along its route.
• Franz approved construction but warned that the government should not devote excessive funds to the railway.
• Franz directed colonial governments to survey local conditions, publish information on suitable cash crops, and let settlers choose what to grow.
• Franz urged preparations to expand cotton and tobacco production ahead of the American Civil War and the expected disruption to United States exports.

Franz and his ministers discussed labor shortages in the colonies and how to expand cotton cultivation and other industries. Franz ordered harsh measures to control crime and labor conflicts, while the colonies continued to rely on immigrant and foreign workers.

• Prime Minister Felix warned Franz that cotton harvesting required more labor than the colonies could readily provide and rejected relying extensively on indigenous workers.
• Franz said the government could recruit immigrants from the homeland and overseas, but foreign laborers would become residents only after assimilation.
• Colonial Minister Josip Jelačić warned that large-scale foreign recruitment could worsen public security and labor-management conflicts.
• Franz ordered colonial officials to send gang members, troublesome vagrants, and the long-term unemployed to work in mines, and to punish selected serious labor-management offenders publicly.
• Franz said the colonial government would pay market wages to people sent to mines without proof of a crime and blamed employment shortages for much of the disorder.

Franz’s colonial labor-export policies expanded rapidly while the Indian rebellion continued to fight the British with Russian support. Weighing the dangers of American intervention, Franz decided Austria would try to stir up trouble in the United States, despite expecting the effort to become a costly, prolonged commitment.

• Franz’s government subsidized labor-export companies in the Austrian colonies, and migrant numbers to the United States surged as colonial officials enforced relocation policies.
• British forces reinforced India and began recovering the initiative after rival Indian insurgent groups fractured into infighting.
• Franz ordered Tyrone to maintain routine intelligence on India and, if possible, stir up trouble in the United States in support of the Southern plantation owners.
• Franz weighed whether to weaken Britain or prevent the United States from becoming a future hegemon, and concluded that a divided America was the lesser evil.
• Franz chose to interfere in the American Civil War despite recognizing that intervention could become a costly, bottomless pit.

The New Holy Roman Empire’s Constitutional Committee completed a draft constitution that preserved substantial authority for the Emperor and state kings while setting strict limits on voting and candidacy. Franz reviewed the draft, added provisions against political donations and election campaigning, revised the succession law, and sent his recommendations onward as further negotiations remained ahead.

• The Constitutional Committee completed its draft after years of disagreement, and it was delivered to Franz for review.
• Franz examined the draft’s provisions on state autonomy, military command, taxation, government appointments, and parliament, noting that it largely protected imperial and royal authority.
• Franz crossed out political donations and added rules banning political campaigning by media outlets, enterprises, and individuals.
• Franz changed the succession law so the throne would pass to the second heir if the first heir could not fulfill the Emperor’s duties because of physical or mental reasons.
• Franz sent his recommendations, while the draft still awaited approval from the state parliaments and the political bargaining needed to settle its details.

Franz named his newborn son Peter just as Marshal Radetzky died, and he ordered a state funeral with fourteen days of national mourning. Meanwhile, the Carbonari assassination plot left Sardinia under occupation pressure as Cavour struggled to protect the families of arrested members.

• Franz drew a paper ball to name his newborn son Peter after abandoning his plan to let the baby choose.
• Franz learned Marshal Radetzky had died and ordered a state funeral, personally presiding over it and declaring fourteen days of mourning.
• News of Radetzky’s death spread across Europe, and Napoleon III sent a representative to the funeral while Sardinia sent none.
• The Sardinian authorities dismissed and scrutinized Carbonari members as leaders fled and others were arrested over the assassination plot.
• Kai'erde asked Cavour how to save his arrested father, and Cavour explained that Sardinia had to identify a culprit before France could annex the kingdom.

Franz watched France expand into Sardinia and North Africa while Austria maintained order and pursued immigration and colonial growth. After arranging a machine-gun test, he considered whether the latest Gatling prototype was ready for military use.

• British forces occupied Queensland in 1859, bringing all of Australia under British colonial rule.
• France expanded its influence across Sardinia and invaded territories in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, while Spain and Morocco signed the Treaty of Tetouan after Spanish troops captured Tetouan.
• Franz held state funerals for Marshal Radetzky, Metternich, and Marshal Julius, then imprisoned and punished people who protested Julius’s honors or took part in paid demonstrations.
• Franz ordered Jenny to arrange a test of a new machine-gun prototype for the next day.
• Franz assessed Austria’s generations of Gatling designs and weighed their combat usefulness against their high cost, weight, and risk of becoming obsolete.

Franz and his ministers discussed how Nicholas I’s death and Alexander II’s policies could reshape the European balance, including France’s expansion into the Kingdom of Sardinia and Austria’s plans for German unification. Wessenberg proposed encouraging Napoleon III to annex more of Italy, leaving the French Empire vulnerable to unrest.

• Wessenberg predicted that Alexander II might compromise with Britain, withdraw Russian support from the Indian rebels, and ease pressure on the Kingdom of Sardinia.
• Karl warned that British creditors and merchants would resist French control of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while Felix argued that France could gradually seize much of it without provoking Britain.
• Wessenberg suggested trading French acquiescence to Austrian German unification for the Italian regions, but Karl warned that Austria would need British or Russian support against Prussia and the wider European powers.
• Franz ordered the discussion kept secret and reaffirmed German unification and national development as Austria’s priorities.
• Wessenberg proposed manipulating the press and exploiting Italian political unrest to encourage Napoleon III to annex more Italian territory, where rebellions could eventually destabilize France.

Franz reviewed Austria’s global strategy and approved its African and Arabian expansion while questioning plans in Asia and the Americas. He ordered the Central American canal proposal shelved until the United States was divided, then examined South America’s sparse populations and missed opportunities for development.

• Britain and Russia signed the India Memorandum, with Russia recognizing British sovereignty in India in exchange for a fifteen-million-pound low-interest loan.
• Franz reviewed the Colonial Ministry’s global strategy and identified logistical and political problems with Austrian expansion in Asia and the Americas.
• Governor Josip Jelačić explained Austria’s existing footholds in Asia and its plan to economically infiltrate Central America.
• Franz accepted the colonial plans but ordered the Central American canal proposal set aside until the United States was split apart.
• Franz gathered information on South American countries and reflected on how their small populations and weak governments had hindered their development.

Franz prepared Austria’s navy to expand its influence overseas and potentially intervene in the American Civil War, while avoiding an open naval arms race in Europe. He ordered a seven-ironclad global cruise, beginning in Asia and continuing to the Americas before returning to Europe.

• Austria took advantage of Britain and the United States being distracted to extend its limited commercial influence into Central America and prepare for a possible role in the American Civil War.
• Franz considered how European support could prolong the Southern government’s fight against the North and planned to sell warships to whichever side needed help maintaining a balance.
• Franz asked Naval Minister Filkos when the newly built Bavaria, Lombardy, Württemberg, Hesse, and Saxony would enter service.
• Filkos said the Bavaria would be completed by the end of the year and the full batch would enter service around May next year.
• Franz ordered the Admiralty to launch a global cruise with seven ironclads, visiting Asia first, then the Americas, and finally European countries.

After Abraham Lincoln's election, South Carolina's delegates declared independence and established the Confederate States of America, prompting Franz's cabinet to assess the coming war. Franz ordered diplomatic and press efforts to strengthen the South, while the chapter leaves its prospects uncertain because its leaders have failed to secure support and its cotton leverage may prove unreliable.

• Abraham Lincoln won the U.S. presidential election, alarming Southern plantation owners who feared for their interests.
• On December 20, 1860, Southern representatives met in South Carolina, declared their withdrawal from the Union, and announced the Confederate States of America.
• Wessenberg, Windisch-Grätz, and Felix debated the North and South's strengths, the importance of attracting more states, and the chances of foreign intervention.
• Wessenberg warned that the Southern government had failed to seek foreign support and could lose slaveholding states to the North.
• Franz ordered the Foreign Ministry to coordinate with Britain and France to draw more states to the South and directed newspapers to expose cotton stockpiles and alternative supplies.

The United Kingdom, France, Austria, and Spain debated how to weaken the United States and agreed to recognize the Southern Government, claiming it could eventually abolish slavery. On February 11, 1861, the four powers jointly recognized the Southern Government’s independence and established diplomatic relations despite the Northern Government’s opposition.

• At the Austrian Embassy in Washington, Drucker urged the representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Austria, and Spain to coordinate their response to the South’s independence.
• Mark Oliver and Francisco argued that a divided United States would protect their countries’ trade and contain American expansion, while Alfred questioned the case for intervention.
• Drucker warned that a victorious Northern Government could dominate industry and trade, and Mark Oliver proposed recognizing the seven Southern states as independent.
• Drucker and Mark Oliver argued that the Southern Government could replace slavery with exploitative wage labor, persuading Alfred to drop his objection.
• The United Kingdom, France, Austria, and Spain jointly recognized the Southern Government’s independence and established formal diplomatic relations on February 11, 1861.

After Austria sent a formidable ironclad fleet on a global goodwill tour, Napoleon III ordered France to expand its own navy and considered how to exploit the approaching American Civil War. France planned to pursue interests in the Americas as the Southern government gained foreign recognition and the United States moved toward division.

• On March 26, 1861, Austria's fleet departed Venice and visited the Ottoman Empire before continuing toward Asia.
• Napoleon III called for a larger French ironclad fleet, and Navy Minister Dike sought 120 million francs while Finance Minister Monier demanded a revised budget.
• Napoleon III asked how France was responding to the possible breakup of the United States, and Foreign Minister Auvergne described the four-power agreement and the Southern government's agreement to abolish slavery.
• Auvergne explained that tariffs and the South's declining political influence had driven secession despite Northern concessions being rejected.
• Napoleon III concluded that Austria's naval tour also aimed to advance its overseas interests and ordered France to prepare a plan to claim a share of interests in the Americas.

Britain announced a major ironclad expansion while Spain struggled with political instability, and Gaboli and Cavour clashed over how to resist France’s growing control of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In Kentucky, Sebat delayed choosing between the Northern and Southern governments as both sides tried to win his support.

• Britain passed the Naval Act and planned eighteen new ironclads, while Franz ignored the challenge and Spain settled for a six-ship building plan.
• Gaboli urged Cavour to abandon reliance on foreign powers and fight France, but Cavour blamed the radicals’ actions for worsening Sardinia’s position and warned that resistance could destroy the country.
• The chapter explained that the International Investigation Commission had identified Carbonari participants in the assassination, but France and Austria refused to believe they were the masterminds.
• Connell pressed Sebat to support the Northern government, while Sebat cited Kentucky’s powerful plantation owners and postponed a decision.

Commander Arest handed the Russian request over to Austria’s Foreign Ministry while the fleet was anchored near Dagu. After the British suppressed the Indian Uprising, the Southern Confederacy’s attack on Fort Sumter disrupted the four powers’ plan to divide the United States diplomatically, and their ministers considered how to respond.

• Russia asked Austria for help over its attempt to seize Tsushima, and Arest decided the minister to Japan should handle the diplomatic matter.
• The British captured Delhi and other strongholds, suppressed the Indian Uprising by March 1861, and regained freedom to pursue their global strategy.
• The Southern Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, prompting Lincoln to call for enlistment and rallying Northern states behind the federal government.
• Drucker, Alfred, Mark Oliver, and Francisco discussed how the Southern Confederacy had undermined their diplomatic plan and weighed declaring neutrality to pressure both sides toward a peaceful settlement.

Lincoln’s government struggled to break its diplomatic isolation as the Southern government secured support from major European powers. Spain, with their backing, prepared to seize Hispaniola, and Colonel Garileso’s fleet began its attack on the island.

• Safar told Lincoln that the Southern government had won the support of the United Kingdom, France, Austria, and the Kingdom of Spain through promises of cotton, markets, and other concessions.
• Lincoln decided to seek Russian support, though Safar warned that Russia could offer little practical help in the Americas.
• Perez and Francisco coordinated with the United Kingdom, France, and Austria to retake Hispaniola and pursue further gains in Mexico.
• Perez organized five thousand troops under Colonel Garileso and sent them from Cuba to occupy Hispaniola.
• Garileso brought his fleet within sight of the docks and ordered, "Attack!"

Hummel secured Austria a most-favored-nation trade treaty with Japan but rejected plans to occupy territory or establish concessions, arguing Austria could not hold such gains once its Ocean-going Fleet left East Asia. He then hinted that Charide should work to worsen British-Russian relations, leaving Austria’s influence in the region focused on trade and diplomatic maneuvering.

• Hummel signed a friendship and trade treaty with Korea, then visited Edo and secured most-favored-nation treatment with the Shogunate Government.
• Charide urged Hummel to establish concessions, ports, or island holdings in Japan, but Hummel argued Austria should limit itself to commercial cooperation because its fleet would soon depart.
• Charide suggested Russia could help Austria hold Japanese territory, but Hummel warned that Russia was greedy and that Austria could not reliably support it so far from home.
• Charide accepted Hummel’s reasoning and recognized that Austria would leave the Russians to defend their influence around Nagasaki after the Ocean-going Fleet departed.
• Hummel hinted that British-Russian relations had grown too cordial, and Charide understood that Austria’s Foreign Ministry should stir up conflict between them.