Chapter Summaries

After Russia captured Baltiysk, Prussia’s defenses in East Prussia collapsed, forcing William I and his military council to abandon their original strategy and consider a decisive battle. Moltke estimated a 70 percent chance of winning that battle, while the Tsarist Government celebrated its advantage and Russia’s navy gained new credibility.

• On May 1, 1865, the Russian Navy launched a surprise attack on East Prussia and captured Baltiysk.
• Roon told William I’s military council that Prussian forces had to withdraw to West Prussia and that the navy could not challenge Russia.
• The council recognized that Baltiysk had fallen because its inexperienced defenders broke under naval bombardment and Russian attacks.
• Moltke warned William I that Prussia could not spare troops to defend its coasts and had to risk a decisive battle against Russia.
• William I asked Moltke about the odds, and Moltke estimated a 70 percent chance of victory in the battle.
• The Russian capture of Baltiysk drew attention across Europe, and the Tsarist Government held a victory banquet as Russia’s navy earned new respect.

Franz weighed Austria’s response to Russia’s bid for a loan secured by Prussian Saxony and sought to prevent a possible Franco-Russian agreement over the Rhineland without undermining Russia before its reforms had been weakened. In Versailles, Napoleon III considered Russia’s offer of support for French annexation of the Rhineland, while his ministers disagreed over whether the promised political advantage justified lending money.

• Wessenberg told Franz that Russia had applied for a 30-million-Divine-Shield loan using Prussian Saxony as collateral, and Felix reported that Saxony’s Prime Minister Fresel was coming to Vienna.
• Franz instructed his ministers to delay approval and require Russia to agree to sell Prussian Saxony and settle the price in advance.
• Wessenberg warned that Russia might promise the Rhineland to France, so Franz ordered the news leaked to Britain to turn it against a stronger France.
• Felix proposed making Russia lose the war by cutting off Austrian supplies, but Franz refused because Russia’s reforms had already stalled and the Prussians could still resist.
• Napoleon III considered Russia’s offer to support French annexation of the Rhineland, while Abraham urged lending to Russia and Allen argued France could pursue the Rhineland without risking a loan.

Franz realized that Alexander II had used the Russo-Austrian negotiations to entangle Austria in Russian debts and undermine its relationships with Prussia, Britain, and France. He accepted the interest-free 50 million Divine Shields loan and faced the prospect of having to support Russia’s war effort.

• The Russian ambassador spread claims that Franz and Alexander II had agreed to sell Silesia and Prussian Saxony to the New Holy Roman Empire, stirring nationalist expectations in Austria.
• Franz approved a 50 million Divine Shields interest-free loan, secured by Ukraine’s customs revenues and to be repaid with Prussian Saxony if Russia obtained it.
• Franz concluded that backing down would damage his prestige and that Austria risked losing its loans and supply credits if Russia lost the war.
• Franz recognized that Russia’s maneuver had tied Austria to its interests and threatened Prussian-Austrian, Anglo-Austrian, Franco-Austrian, and Anglo-French relations.
• Franz reflected that Alexander II had drawn Europe’s powers into a diplomatic scheme that could prevent intervention in the Prusso-Russian War and give Russia room to expand.

William I and his ministers plotted to obstruct Russian loans from France and Austria while Prussia prepared to fight for survival. As Moltke launched a counterattack in East Prussia, Russian forces suffered heavy losses, exposing the gap between the armies.

• William I ordered his government to sabotage the Russian loan plan from France and Austria.
• Foreign Minister McKet proposed pressuring France over the Rhineland and using German nationalism to undermine Austria's loan to Russia.
• Prime Minister Christian warned that diplomacy could only buy time and that Prussia's survival depended on battlefield victory and cutting off Russian funds.
• William I authorized bold diplomatic tactics and considered promising France and Austria territory gained from Russia, with Lithuania and the Baltic States as Prussian targets.
• Moltke abandoned his defensive strategy and sought a decisive battle, inflicting thirty thousand casualties on Russian forces in East Prussia within a week.
• Prussian breech-loading rifles helped the army achieve a battlefield exchange ratio of 1:2.7 against the Russians.

Baron Fikeni used a welcoming banquet at Viscount Obila’s castle to seek noble support for colonial integration, offering African opportunities for the younger sons of Austria’s aristocracy. Obila considered sending Harrington to the African colonies, but he had not decided, leaving Fikeni with partial support for his cause.

• Viscount Obila welcomed Baron Fikeni at a grand banquet and praised the military prospects of his sons Harrington, Gardner, and Dewinton.
• Obila explained that Harrington had graduated from the Vienna Artillery Command Academy, while Gardner and Dewinton were still studying at military academies.
• Fikeni asked whether Harrington might pursue military merit in the African colonies, where colonial integration could also create new official and business opportunities.
• Obila said he had not decided Harrington’s future and asked Fikeni to look after him if he went to Africa, while noting his concerns about colonial effects on the family’s land.
• Fikeni accepted Obila’s answer graciously and reflected that he had persuaded three nobles to support colonial integration for the sake of their descendants.

John Russell feared that France, Russia, and Austria might upset Europe’s balance of power, while Franz looked for a way to counter Russia without breaking the Russo-Austrian Alliance. He chose to deepen Russia’s dependence on Austrian weapons, as the chapter left the Tsarist Government struggling with shortages, poor transport, and limited finances.

• John Russell warned that Britain had to prevent France, Russia, and Austria from dividing Europe, and Reslin argued that such an alliance was unlikely and France would not risk annexing the Rhineland.
• Franz concluded that he could not safely interfere in Russia’s internal affairs or challenge the Tsarist Government directly.
• Wessenberg reported Russia’s request to convert hundreds of thousands of rifles, and Franz approved selling breech-loading rifles, production lines, and artillery to the Russians.
• Wessenberg suggested delaying the conversion work as Prussian forces inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army in field battles.
• The chapter explained that Russian forces struggled to exploit their naval successes because the Tsarist Government lacked supplies, transport capacity, and money.

Franz reviewed the Colonial Ministry’s sweeping African strategy and reduced its ambitions to a more practical plan focused on regions Austria could realistically occupy. He left the revised strategy in place, prioritizing settlement and manageable expansion while postponing costly or disputed territories.

• Franz rejected the original plan’s goal of claiming more than half of Africa as impractical given Austria’s small colonial population and limited resources.
• Franz considered how population and resources, rather than export markets alone, shaped economic growth and the value of colonization.
• Franz decided not to reject the plan outright, but instructed that expansion should prioritize rivers and avoid deserts, powerful local groups, and areas likely to provoke conflict.
• Franz revised the plan by deprioritizing most of Mali, the Niger region, Ethiopia, Somalia, Namibia, and Tanzania, while reluctantly retaining Chad.
• Franz concluded that the smaller strategy, covering roughly a third to forty percent of Africa, had a much better chance of succeeding.

The American Federation and Southern Confederacy signed an armistice recognizing the country’s division, and Lincoln resigned as his government prepared to leave office. Franz saw the split as a lasting blow to federal power and believed the divided United States would pose little threat for years.

• On September 12, 1865, Lincoln’s government signed the armistice treaty recognizing the South’s independence, and Lincoln resigned the next day.
• The Federation Government returned to ruined Washington, where Lincoln reflected on his failure and feared prosecution.
• Safar reassured Lincoln that resignation and a likely successor’s pardon would protect him from imprisonment.
• Franz dismissed the United States’ internal politics and judged that the Confederacy’s independence had weakened federal authority and made future secession easier.

Franz planned to preserve Austria’s African ambitions by keeping them secret and weakening Britain and France through further costly entanglements. He ordered Tyrone to carry out a plan and outlined how Austria’s covert intelligence offices operated.

• Franz judged that Austria should focus on developing Africa rather than attempting to unify Europe, and he worried that French ambitions in South America could expose his strategy.
• Franz concluded that Britain and France could be slowed by draining their finances through additional conflicts and schemes.
• Franz ordered Tyrone to make arrangements according to the top-secret documents on his desk, and Tyrone agreed without question.
• The chapter described the three intelligence offices: the First gathered overt information, the Second handled domestic intelligence, and the Third handled overseas intelligence.

As Russia prepared for a politically driven decisive battle against Prussia and Poland, Austria rushed weapons to the Russian army, prompting Moltke to launch a counteroffensive before the deliveries arrived. European powers weighed the conflict’s outcome, while Sweden rejected a Prussian alliance despite encouragement to seize Finland from Russia.

• Alexander II decided to bring the war to a swift conclusion, and Austria’s Foreign Minister Wessenberg proposed accelerating weapons deliveries to force a decisive battle before winter.
• Franz ordered Austria to send equipment as quickly as possible and include one million rounds of ammunition for Russia.
• Austria dispatched 300,000 reserve rifles toward the Russo-Austrian border, and Moltke responded by ordering a full Prussian-Polish counteroffensive on October 2, 1865.
• Karl XV rejected Prussia’s proposal for a joint plan against Russia, despite British, French, and Austrian support for Sweden taking Finland.
• Sweden considered exploiting Russia’s weakness in Finland, but Russia’s military strength remained a major obstacle.

In occupied East Prussia, Father Prague sought help after the Russians demanded five hundred laborers from Ficks, while merchant James offered a way to evacuate people to Austrian colonies. Father Prague chose to tell the townspeople about the offer despite Bishop Bernard's fear that they would never return.

• The Russians threatened Ficks with forced labor and killings unless the town supplied five hundred men or paid twenty thousand Rubles.
• Father Prague rode to Königsberg to seek help and met merchant James, who was protected by his citizenship in the Holy Roman Empire.
• Bishop Bernard said the church could not persuade the Russian officers to spare the people from forced labor.
• James proposed that residents sign short-term contracts with Austrian companies and travel to Austrian colonies under the Labor Employment Treaty.
• Father Prague decided to let the people choose whether to leave, while Bishop Bernard warned that the plan could empty Königsberg and that few might return.

James persuaded Königsberg’s church leaders to help relocate tens of thousands of residents to Austrian Africa, then secured Russian permission by bribing Colonel Nikolai. The evacuation was presented as a rescue from Russian occupation, while Austrian-backed migration merchants worked across East Prussia.

• Bishop Bernard rejected approaching the local nobles and weighed James’s proposal to evacuate Königsberg’s elderly, women, and children.
• James promised to arrange false employment contracts, borrowed travel costs, and work or relief in Austrian Africa, shifting the church leaders toward organizing the departure.
• James submitted contracts for twelve thousand people, and Colonel Nikolai demanded a large employment tax while claiming family members could not leave.
• James gave Nikolai a 5,000 Divine Shield check, and Nikolai reduced the bill to 60,000 Rubles and issued the permit.
• Boris questioned Nikolai about accepting the bribe, and Nikolai explained that Austria’s Foreign Ministry had intervened and that provoking Austria could jeopardize Russian supplies.
• Immigrant merchants continued organizing departures throughout East Prussia as residents fled Russian occupation and feared being conscripted to fight their own country.

Franz reviewed Austria’s success in drawing hundreds of thousands of Prussian migrants away during the Prusso-Russian War, while William I failed to stop the exodus from East Prussia. The chapter left Franz content to keep Austria out of costly conflicts and benefit as a bystander.

• William I rejected Prime Minister Frank’s advice to ignore East Prussia and publicly called for action to slow the migration, though Prussia could do little to intervene.
• Russian forces requisitioned grain from villages across East Prussia, making it harder for residents to stay as the migration continued.
• By the end of September, more than half of East Prussia’s population had left, and Austria had dispersed migrants across Austrian Africa, the South Seas, and Central America.
• Franz reviewed figures showing that Austria had persuaded roughly 800,000 people from the Kingdom of Prussia to migrate, including 730,000 from East Prussia.
• Franz concluded that Austria should focus on development and avoid bloody wars, preferring to benefit as a fisherman while other powers fought.

Franz assessed the Prusso-Russian War and judged that Prussia could win a decisive battle by using its railways to rapidly reinforce East Prussia. Prussia’s surprise attack shattered the Russian force there, leaving the Russians retreating and forcing their other fronts to contract.

• Franz asked his military leaders to assess the likely winner of the battle, and Edmond and Albrecht warned that Prussia was preparing a decisive offensive in East Prussia.
• Prussia used its railways to move 150,000 troops to the East Prussian front in two days, catching the Russian commanders unprepared.
• Prussian forces attacked with local numerical superiority, broke through the Russian lines, and sabotaged Russian telegraph lines, disrupting command across the front.
• Moltke committed Prussia’s recruits as the disorganized Russian army retreated toward the West Dvina River, reduced from 386,000 troops to 112,000 and losing nearly all its artillery.
• With Lithuania fallen and Belarus exposed, the Russian army attacking in Poland contracted its lines, while Prussian forces pursued and struck the retreating troops.

William I faced unrest over East Prussia’s missing population and devastating losses while weighing whether to hold Lithuania through the winter. Prime Minister Frank urged him to withdraw and negotiate, but William concluded that foreign powers and Prussia’s war factions left him no choice but to keep fighting Russia.

• Prussian soldiers mutinied over their missing families and suspicions that Berlin had deliberately abandoned East Prussia, and William I’s government calmed them with an explanation and promises of compensation and repatriation.
• William I reviewed the campaign’s heavy military and civilian losses and resolved to expand Prussia’s gains before ending the war.
• Prime Minister Frank urged William I to abandon Lithuania for the winter and negotiate with Russia, warning that holding it would prevent a ceasefire.
• William I told Frank that British backing, Prussia’s debts, and the demands of domestic factions and foreign powers required the kingdom to continue fighting Russia.
• Frank left the palace distraught after realizing that William I had no intention of following his advice.

Franz and his ministers debated whether Austria should end the Prusso-Russian War or let it continue while Russia faced growing threats. Franz decided to warn the Tsarist Government about Britain's emerging anti-Russian plan only when it was nearly underway.

• Franz considered how Austria could profit from the war while avoiding the costs of partitioning Prussia and preserving Russia as a counterweight to Britain.
• Minister of Finance Karl urged Austria to mediate a ceasefire, warning that Russia's immense debts made further fighting financially dangerous.
• Foreign Minister Wessenberg argued that Prussia and Russia still had reasons to fight and warned that Sweden, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, the Qing Empire, and others might threaten Russia.
• Wessenberg reported that British diplomats appeared to be coordinating a broad plan against Russia, and Prime Minister Felix argued that Austria should prevent the Russian Empire from collapsing.
• Franz ordered his ministers to pass the warning to Russia only after the British plan was nearly underway, hoping to complicate Britain's efforts.

After Russia’s defeat in East Prussia, Alexander II’s government struggled to fund its debts and prepare for another war. The leadership rejected reliance on foreign loans and settled on seizing wealth from Jewish communities, leaving them targeted by the state.

• Minister of War Khramed told Alexander II that Russia could replace its lost troops and equipment, but unpaid debts were keeping businesses from resuming production.
• Minister of Finance Kristanval proposed raising war taxes and seeking foreign loans, estimating that taxes could bring in 86 million Rubles.
• Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov warned that foreign lenders would demand costly concessions and urged the government to find money at home.
• Alexander II accepted the plan to take money from wealthy groups rather than rely on loans.
• The Tsarist Government targeted Jewish financial capitalists, while Jewish people in the middle and lower strata were also caught in the persecution.

Franz assessed the Russian Empire’s new wealth after its anti-Jewish campaign and examined Britain’s efforts to assemble allies against Russia. He ordered Austria to intensify anti-Russian sentiment in the Ottoman Empire, hoping to draw it into war and buy Arabian territories cheaply.

• More than three hundred thousand Jews fled Russia as the Tsarist Government’s anti-Jewish campaign spread, while Franz kept Austria’s government from adopting similar policies.
• Finance Minister Karl estimated that Russia could seize hundreds of millions of Rubles in cash and billions more in other assets, giving it enough money to sustain the war.
• Franz asked the Foreign Ministry to assess Britain’s chances of bringing other countries into the conflict, and Wessenberg described growing pro-war factions in Sweden and the Ottoman Empire.
• Franz ordered Austria to inflame anti-Russian sentiment in the Ottoman Empire and use the resulting conflict to pursue a cheap purchase of Ottoman territories on the Arabian Peninsula.

Prussian leaders pressed Britain to blockade the Baltic Sea, while British leaders weighed the financial and diplomatic risks of supporting Prussia against Russia. The discussion then turned to Austria’s plans around the Ottoman Empire and the Suez Canal, and Britain’s possible expansion into Ethiopia, leaving those disputes unresolved.

• William I and Prussian officials discussed their uncertain allies, and Roon urged Britain to blockade the Baltic Sea before the next war with Russia.
• William I approved Roon’s plan to pressure Britain by threatening to compromise with Russia and abandon the Poles if Britain would not help.
• John Russell recognized that Britain’s loans to Prussia tied Britain’s interests to Prussian survival, and Edward said the Royal Navy could blockade the Baltic Sea.
• Reslin warned that the blockade could create diplomatic backlash, while Agawar and Edward debated whether Austria’s moves against the Ottomans concerned the Suez Canal or Jerusalem.
• Steve proposed occupying Ethiopia to disrupt Austria’s East African strategy, but Reslin cautioned that action near the Mandeb Strait could provoke France and Austria.

Britain blockaded the Baltic Sea, pushing Russian trade toward Austria, while Franz reviewed a leaked French strategy for exploiting the Prusso-Russian War and expanding across Europe. He rejected its plans to partition Prussia but ordered further analysis, wary that France might still pursue its ambitions by force.

• On January 11, 1866, the Royal Navy sealed the Baltic Sea entrance under the pretext of suppressing pirates, and shipping through the route largely stopped.
• The British blockade drove the Tsarist Government to increase trade with Austria, benefiting Austrian capitalists, bureaucrats, and tax revenues.
• Tyrone gave Franz a document describing the Frenchmen's latest European strategy, which proposed weakening Russia and acquiring territory including the Rhineland, Belgium, and parts of Italy.
• Franz judged the proposed partition of Prussia unacceptable because it would strengthen France, bring Austria little gain, and undermine his legitimacy as co-ruler of Germany.
• Franz ordered the cabinet to compare the intelligence with previous French strategies and assess what France might be concealing.