Chapter Summaries

Austria's leaders discussed the American Civil War and planned preparations to exploit the conflict and support the Southern government if needed. Franz ordered troops and naval forces deployed overseas while Austria developed its South Seas holdings and prepared a possible expedition to the Americas.

• Felix, Wessenberg, and Karl debated why the Southern government had started the war and assessed the North's military weakness.
• Franz said Austria's priority was to divide the United States, but warned that the war could strengthen the federal government and its control over the states.
• Prince Windisch-Grätz proposed establishing a Central American foothold, and Josip Jelačić recommended Nicaragua as a base for intervention.
• Wessenberg assured Franz that Britain, France, and Spain would support joint intervention under their secret treaty.
• Franz ordered five divisions transferred overseas, sent forces to the South Seas, Central America, and Africa, and split the ocean-going fleet between Nicaragua and visits to the Americas.

Lincoln hosted a banquet to persuade Maryland’s influential figures to support the federal government, but their opposition led him to place them under house arrest. The chapter left Maryland’s crisis temporarily contained, while Lincoln faced the political fallout and prepared for the threat of Southern reinforcements.

• After Maryland refused federal recruitment orders, Lincoln decided to visit the state and pursue political negotiations while preparing for military action.
• On April 20, 1861, Lincoln hosted Maryland’s local elite and announced that the federal government would suspend habeas corpus in certain areas.
• Maryland’s Southern sympathizers denounced Lincoln’s decision and threatened resistance, while others challenged his authority.
• Lincoln asked whether the influential guests had all arrived, then told them they could stay overnight at the banquet venue.
• Lincoln left under guard, and federal troops surrounded the venue, placing the gathered elites under house arrest.

After Lincoln imposed military rule on Maryland and released its prominent leaders, Decla and his allies planned to obstruct the federal government from within rather than openly join the South. The chapter left them preparing bureaucratic resistance and covert aid while hoping Lincoln would lose the war.

• Decla, Edward, and Pirlo discussed how Lincoln had forced Maryland's leaders to yield and absorbed the state's militia.
• Decla rejected assassination and immediate impeachment, arguing that the capitalists would not yet abandon Lincoln or risk exposing their own compromise.
• Decla proposed using Maryland's legislature and officials to hinder federal policies, frustrate recruitment, and oppose Lincoln through Congress.
• Decla suggested that Maryland's allies could covertly help the Southern Government by sheltering its supporters, smuggling supplies, and trading with it.
• Decla told Edward that their internal resistance would disrupt the federal government even though Maryland could not openly join the South.

President Lincoln struggled to contain European interference and Delaware’s political unrest as the Union suffered a major defeat at Cincinnati. The loss threatened Ohio and exposed the Union’s shortage of troops and officers, leaving Lincoln to approve a massive militia call-up while the War Department sought further reinforcements.

• Lincoln learned that pro-neutrality demonstrations, backed by European pressure, had stalled Delaware’s preparations to support the Union.
• Secretary of State Safar told Lincoln that Russia would offer only diplomatic support, despite the Union’s request for help against Britain, France, Austria, and Spain.
• Secretary of War Simon Cameron reported that Confederate troops had defeated Union forces at Cincinnati after three days of fighting, placing Ohio in danger.
• Lincoln ordered a nationwide call-up of 300,000 militiamen, while Cameron said the Union needed at least 700,000 mobile troops to defend threatened states.
• Cameron asked Lincoln to recall retired officers and recruit older veterans as junior officers, explaining that the army lacked enough trained leaders.

The Southern Government’s scattered military strategy kept the war going and created a lucrative market for foreign arms dealers. In Missouri, John Casey tried to buy Fickel’s unsold muzzle-loading rifles cheaply so his factory could convert them into breech-loaders, and the two ended the chapter still haggling over the price.

• The Southern Government attacked across several states after its victory at Cincinnati instead of concentrating on the North’s industrial heartland.
• Fickel told John Casey that Missouri wanted breech-loading rifles and rejected his shipment of thirty thousand muzzle-loaders.
• John Casey explained that breech-loaders were more effective and proposed buying Fickel’s rifles for conversion at his arms factory.
• Fickel agreed to sell rather than risk being unable to move the rifles, but he angrily rejected John Casey’s offer of twenty-five thousand pounds.
• John Casey and Fickel traded counteroffers as they haggled over the purchase price.

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.