Chapter Summaries

Ham abandoned the idea of personally leading a revolution, while Metternich faced rising prices and political pressure in Vienna. As the European economic crisis spread, cheap British imports caused manufactured-goods prices in Vienna to collapse, leaving speculators with heavy losses and workers unemployed.

• Ham decided that he would support revolutionaries for profit but would not lead a rebellion himself.
• Metternich learned of the banquet at Veris Manor but refrained from arresting the capitalists, despite suspecting their plans.
• Vienna prices rose sharply as capitalists and nobles pursued profits, while the government failed to control prices or secure supplies.
• The economic crisis spread from Britain to France and the German states, as falling demand, factory closures, and unemployment mounted.
• The Vienna Government lowered import tariffs, and cheap British goods flooded the market.
• Manufactured-goods prices in Vienna fell below production costs, forcing capitalists to take losses, close factories, and lay off workers.

The economic crisis deepened into a Great Depression, leaving Austria’s political factions and workers in hardship. After Tyrone reported a revolution in Sicily, Franz prepared for unrest by directing intelligence toward key cities and reorganizing the Imperial Guard.

• Austria’s industrial and financial crises worsened as prices and purchasing power collapsed, and the Vienna Government suspended the Labor Protection Act.
• Franz learned from Tyrone that a revolution had broken out in Sicily, though Tyrone could not yet determine its scale or whether the Kingdom of Sicily had fallen.
• Franz ordered intelligence to focus on Vienna, Milan, Venice, and Budapest in case the Sicilian revolution triggered unrest elsewhere.
• Franz reorganized the Imperial Guard, separating the deadweights as he prepared for possible revolution.

Franz used his influence to reorganize the Imperial Guard and prepared for the unrest he expected to follow the January Revolution. He decided to serve with the City Defense Force for three months and train its idle officers, leaving the army’s youngest officers out of the program.

• Franz secured Ferdinand I’s written orders and gained effective control of the Imperial Guard with the Vienna Court’s tacit approval.
• News of the January Revolution reached Paris, where corruption, economic hardship, and the postponed Banquet Campaign had left the July Monarchy vulnerable.
• Franz warned military commanders and provincial governors that the Sicilian revolution could trigger unrest across Europe.
• Franz asked Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf how to improve the City Defense Force, and Albrecht offered to hand him its command.
• Franz chose to serve with the City Defense Force for three months and train its inactive officers, excluding those over twenty-eight and those listed on the army rolls without serving.

Franz tried to persuade Lady Sophie to let him spend three months in the army, claiming Austria faced growing revolutionary danger and political instability. Lady Sophie suspected he was maneuvering to seize power, and the chapter ended with her anxiously suggesting that he support Chancellor Metternich.

• Lady Sophie refused to let Franz enlist, but he argued that he only wanted three months of military experience before his official service began.
• Franz warned Lady Sophie that economic hardship and conflict between aristocrats and capitalists could lead to revolution in Austria.
• Franz described political infighting, food riots, and revolutionaries making contact with capitalists, then said the Regency Council likely knew about the danger.
• Lady Sophie suspected Franz had deliberately fueled conflict to create an opportunity to seize power, and Franz denied controlling events while warning that the empire was close to collapse.
• Lady Sophie argued that Franz could wait until he became emperor to address the crisis, but Franz said Metternich's departure could leave Austria without anyone able to hold it together.
• Lady Sophie blurted out that Franz could support Chancellor Metternich, then regretted the suggestion.

In cold January 1848, Franz pushed a group of young noble officers through punishing military training, hoping to prepare them for Austria’s coming unrest. The officers endured their first exercises under Albrecht, who began enforcing discipline as Franz considered how to shape them into a reliable force.

• Franz and the noble officers trained outdoors in the freezing weather under Lieutenant General Albrecht’s supervision.
• Albrecht ordered everyone to run a lap of more than ten miles, and Franz led the way while the officers struggled to keep up.
• After the run, Franz praised the officers for finishing and said their fitness still needed improvement.
• Franz reflected that saving Austria required reforming the next generation of nobles, though the coming revolution left little time for training.
• Albrecht ordered the exhausted officers into formation, then used his baton to correct their posture and discipline.

Franz and Albrecht assessed the aristocratic officers’ progress and planned further training to prepare them for command. Franz intended to place them in units as deputies and test them during an armed training march, while concealing his larger aims.

• Albrecht assigned the officers a three-day exercise to plan Vienna’s defense or a counterattack, threatening to send failures back to physical training as ordinary brawlers.
• Franz asked Albrecht how well the trainees could command companies or platoons, and Albrecht estimated that most could bring out six or seven tenths of a unit’s fighting strength.
• Franz ordered another round of training and said the officers could serve as deputies before taking command during an armed training march.
• Albrecht agreed to cooperate, believing Franz planned to replace older aristocratic officers with younger relatives without disrupting the existing order.

Franz watched the February Revolution erupt in France amid economic hardship, mass unrest, and opposition to the July Monarchy. By February 23, King Louis-Philippe had dismissed the Guizot government and appointed Molé to form a cabinet, but the uprising continued.

• The January Revolution spread from Sicily into Italy, and the Vienna Government sent troops to protect Lombardy and Venice.
• Rising food prices, unemployment, strikes, and grain raids intensified social unrest in France, while opponents of the July Monarchy organized banquets and called for change.
• On February 22, 1848, Parisians protested the government’s ban on the Banquet Campaign, and the February Revolution began that night.
• Students, workers, townspeople, and some capitalists joined the uprising, while much of the National Guard refused to suppress it and some troops switched sides.
• On February 23, King Louis-Philippe dismissed the Guizot government and appointed Molé to form a cabinet in an effort to ease tensions.

Franz warned Albrecht that Austria was nearing revolution and urged him to bring the City Defense Force under control before unrest reached Vienna. Albrecht agreed to arrange field drills, while Franz used the Emperor’s authority to bypass the Regency Council.

• Franz told Albrecht to take the troops out for field drills and secure control of the army.
• Franz explained that unemployment, economic hardship, and worsening exploitation had made Austria a powder keg despite the workers and bourgeoisie not wanting to rebel.
• Albrecht asked whether Franz had warned Metternich, and Franz said the chancellor likely knew about the problems but might not have taken them seriously.
• Albrecht agreed to arrange the drills but warned that the Regency Council would not listen to him.
• Franz invoked an order from the Emperor to proceed, aiming to command the fourteen thousand City Defense Force soldiers if revolution broke out.

As Vienna's government rejected the protesters' demands and the Labor Protection Act remained shelved, bourgeois organizers pushed workers toward an uprising. Jack and the workers' representatives began planning a revolt while Franz and Albrecht kept the City Defense Force away on maneuvers.

• Franz and Albrecht camped the City Defense Force outside Vienna and discussed the weak state of the troops left behind.
• Vienna's government indefinitely shelved the Labor Protection Act, and rumors turned workers against the capitalists and government.
• After news of the February Revolution in France reached Vienna, citizens, workers, and students demonstrated and petitioned Ferdinand I for political changes.
• The Regency Council rejected the petition's demands, while most protesters still sought concessions rather than revolution.
• Jack met Cole and the workers' representatives in a slum hideout and urged them to launch an uprising while the City Defense Force was away.
• Jack promised that secretly acquired weapons would help the workers overcome the soldiers left in Vienna, and the workers accepted the plan.

Owen persuaded Austrian capitalists that a revolution could help them escape the economic crisis, and that they could control the new government by keeping workers divided. As unrest threatened Vienna, Metternich considered repression but proposed abolishing serfdom to restore confidence in the market.

• Owen told Mr. Love and the other capitalists that economic hardship was driving workers and business owners toward revolution.
• Owen explained that the capitalists could seize power after an uprising by preventing Vienna’s workers from uniting.
• Archduke Louis warned Metternich that the opposition was preparing a larger demonstration and urged him to arrest its leaders.
• Metternich considered ordering arrests but argued that repression would not solve the economic crisis.
• Metternich proposed abolishing serfdom throughout Austria to expand the market and restore confidence.

The Regency Council debated Metternich’s proposal to abolish serfdom, but fears of revolt and opposition from the nobles forced him to set it aside. The government ordered arrests of demonstration organizers, but Chief Inspector Winston’s men could not enter the University of Vienna.

• Archduke Louis warned Metternich that abolishing serfdom could prompt Hungary to declare independence and trigger revolts elsewhere.
• Kolowrat interrupted the council’s dispute and urged its members to address the immediate crisis, while Metternich recognized that he lacked support for his proposal.
• Metternich reluctantly agreed to begin making arrests, concluding that Austria could not risk a revolt over abolishing serfdom.
• The Vienna Government sent secret police to arrest demonstration organizers that night, but the main leaders had stayed out of sight.
• Chief Inspector Winston found that his men could not get through the University of Vienna’s gates to arrest student representatives, and he hesitated to storm the influential school.

A massive demonstration in Vienna escalated after the government arrested revolutionaries, prompting Metternich to call troops back to the city. As the protesters surrounded government buildings and demanded sweeping changes, the elderly prime minister was left pale and overwhelmed.

• Winston ordered his officers to contain the people inside the school rather than risk storming it.
• The government's arrests fueled a larger demonstration, and Metternich ordered the City Defense Force into Vienna to restore order.
• Albrecht received orders to return his troops to Vienna, while Franz remained confident that the royalist army would crush the uprising.
• Franz planned to dismiss Metternich's cabinet, abolish serfdom, enact labor protections, and punish only the uprising's ringleaders.
• Demonstrators surrounded government buildings, the palace, and parliament, making demands that included Metternich's resignation and the abolition of serfdom.
• Thousands of protesters chanted for Metternich to come out as the prime minister lost his composure.

Metternich ordered the City Defense Force to disperse demonstrators, but a clash and gunfire sparked an uprising in Vienna. As rebels and criminals spread chaos through the city, Metternich’s retainers forced him to flee while the imperial palace remained a refuge.

• Oppenheimer urged Metternich to disperse the demonstrators, and Metternich ordered the City Defense Force to act.
• Revolutionaries fired at soldiers, who returned fire, and the crowd fled amid reports that the army had killed people.
• Armed insurgents attacked a police station with help from the Vienna municipal government, while aristocrats and revolutionaries seized banks and burned promissory notes.
• Holder and Metternich’s guards bundled Metternich into an old carriage and smuggled him out of Vienna as other aristocrats fled.
• Revolutionary groups recruited prisoners and other recruits, and criminals exploited the disorder to prey on Vienna’s residents.

As Vienna’s uprising spread, the panicked archdukes failed to take decisive action, and Archduke Louis ordered the Palace Guard to hold until the City Defense Force returned. Franz learned of the revolt and prepared to march to Vienna with Albrecht, leaving the rebellion’s outcome uncertain.

• Ferdinand I suffered another seizure, and the archdukes avoided responsibility until Archduke Louis ordered the Guard to hold out for the City Defense Force.
• Franz learned that demonstrators and troops had clashed in Vienna on March 7 and that an uprising had followed that night.
• Albrecht urged Franz to hurry toward Vienna, fearing the rebels would grow stronger if the revolt dragged on.
• Franz refused to risk a night march and said Vienna’s police, City Defense Force, and Palace Guard could hold until their arrival.
• Franz reassured Albrecht that the rebels were divided and unlikely to unite quickly.

As Vienna’s revolution descended into violence between workers and capitalists, Owen’s bourgeois faction struggled to control the uprising and feared retaliation from the aristocracy. Owen argued that they should negotiate with the emperor while blaming the bloodshed on the workers, but the faction remained divided over whether that would save them.

• Workers retaliated against capitalists, killing overseers and looting grain shops, while the bourgeoisie formed its own revolutionary army and clashed with them.
• At an estate in Vienna, Owen’s allies reported that thirteen gentlemen had been killed and their property looted.
• Owen proposed negotiating with the emperor and preparing to suppress the rebels, noting that the regular army could return to restore the balance of power.
• Rams warned that the aristocrats would seek revenge for their executed members and questioned whether the emperor could protect them.
• Owen claimed the workers, not his faction, were responsible for the aristocrats’ deaths and urged the nobles who had supported their cause to designate the workers as rebels.

Franz returned to Vienna and put Albrecht in command of the forces suppressing the rebellion, while the disorderly rebels terrorized the city. At Hofburg Palace, Archduke Louis faced the capitalists’ sweeping negotiation demands as the nobles feared losing their land and political power.

• Franz handed command of the campaign to Albrecht, who ordered the Third Regiment to attack.
• The rebels’ lack of discipline let looting and violence spread through Vienna, including around the University of Vienna.
• Franz prepared to use the rebellion and future provincial uprisings to abolish serfdom and confiscate the estates of nobles and capitalists involved.
• Archduke Louis presented the capitalists’ demands for constitutional government, universal suffrage, abolition of serfdom, and redistribution of noble lands.
• The archdukes feared that accepting the demands would provoke the nobles to revolt, since they would lose their land and political rights.

Franz’s forces crushed the Vienna rebellion, and he worked to secure political credit while reassuring the city’s residents. As the rebels’ defeat became certain, Owen and other participants fled Vienna, leaving the government poised to punish those involved.

• The City Defense Force returned to Vienna, prompting the Hofburg negotiations to deadlock as Archduke Louis and the court refused to accept the bourgeoisie’s terms.
• Franz and Albrecht used military force and Franz’s promise not to punish coerced rebels to suppress the uprising with help from Vienna’s residents.
• Franz delayed returning to the palace until he had secured the city and its political credit, unaware that Metternich and Count Kolowrat had already fled.
• Owen and his son escaped their estate by carriage after the rebels were routed, fearing both government punishment and retaliation from rival capitalists.
• Capitalists, nobles, and politicians who had hoped to profit from the rebellion fled Vienna as the revolt collapsed.

After the Vienna uprising was suppressed, Franz considered how to handle the prisoners and assessed the heavy losses. At Hofburg Palace, the court dismissed Metternich’s cabinet, dissolved the Regency Council, and agreed that Franz Joseph would become regent.

• Franz learned that the troops had lost just over three hundred men, while rebel casualties in Vienna exceeded ten thousand dead and wounded.
• Franz returned to Hofburg Palace, where his father, Archduke Franz-Karl, praised his role in suppressing the revolt.
• The archdukes blamed the Regency Council for failing during the uprising and unanimously dismissed Prime Minister Metternich’s cabinet.
• Archduke Franz-Karl proposed dissolving the Regency Council, and the archdukes approved despite Archduke Louis’s objections.
• Archduke Louis proposed Franz Joseph as regent, and the archdukes agreed.

After accepting the regency, Franz warned Austria’s archdukes that revolutionary unrest threatened the Empire and proposed severe punishment for nobles involved in the Vienna rebellion. The archdukes balked at measures that could strip noble families of their titles and estates, but Franz insisted the dead and heirless families demanded justice.

• Franz accepted the regency from Archduke Louis and urged the archdukes to take decisive action against unrest across Austria.
• Franz described the Vienna rebellion as a broad movement involving many social classes and claimed that at least eighty-three nobles had participated.
• Archduke Louis and the other archdukes condemned the rebellious nobles, while Archduke Franz Karl asked what Franz intended to do.
• Franz proposed executing the ringleaders, punishing other rebels according to their crimes, revoking participating nobles’ titles, and confiscating their property.
• Archduke Louis asked Franz to let the nobles keep their titles, but Franz refused and cited the deaths and noble families left without heirs.

After the Vienna uprising, Franz formed a cautious cabinet and proposed a state-led wartime economic system to restart production and employ the city’s many unemployed. The ministers agreed to use piecework wages, while Franz insisted the idea be credited to experts rather than himself.

• Franz imposed martial law in Vienna, confiscated property, distributed relief grain, and blamed the capitalists for the uprising.
• News of the Lombardy uprising reached Vienna, and on March 18, 1848, Franz appointed Felix, Marquis of Schwarzenberg, as prime minister and named the rest of his cabinet.
• Franz asked the cabinet how to resettle nearly forty thousand prisoners and restart production as unemployment spread through Vienna.
• Felix proposed that the government take over ownerless factories and organize production under a wartime economic system.
• Finance Minister Karl warned that government-run production would raise labor costs, and Franz proposed using pre-uprising average wages and piecework pay.
• Karl endorsed piecework wages across industries, while Franz insisted experts had devised the policy and should explain it to the public.