Chapter Summaries

Marquis McLean and Napoleon III considered Britain’s proposal for a Triple Alliance as they weighed the threat posed by France and Austria’s existing partnership. McLean searched for concessions that could win their support, while Napoleon III decided that France would ally with Britain only if Britain accepted its expansion into Italy.

• The Austrian Grand Hotel’s luxury rooms remained mostly empty, so Franz relied on its commoners’ district, conference facilities, and costly membership system to keep the business profitable.
• McLean concluded that France and Austria had reached an understanding on Italy and might settle their Central European dispute by dividing gains elsewhere.
• McLean considered Britain’s options for countering the Franco-Austrian Alliance and decided that joining it was preferable to provoking a war, but he struggled to find terms France and Austria would accept.
• Napoleon III weighed France’s strength against Britain’s and Austria’s, fearing Britain’s naval power while remaining confident that Austria could not strike France’s core regions.
• Napoleon III decided that France would consider an alliance with Britain only if the British stopped obstructing its expansion into Italy.

The British, French, and Austrian negotiations stalled as the powers continued competing over territory and monetary influence. In South Africa, Martinas Wessel Pretorius watched Austria negotiate with the Boer Republics’ powerful factions, leaving their incorporation into Austria increasingly likely.

• Britain rejected France’s demand to annex the Italian region and Austria’s proposal to annex the German Confederation, fearing either empire would grow too strong.
• Franz continued Austria’s rivalry with Britain and France over South Africa’s gold, which he saw as vital to the Divine Shield–gold system.
• Martinas Wessel Pretorius’s plan to unite the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State into the South African Republic failed after Austria opposed it and local elites backed Austria.
• The Vienna Government bypassed Martinas Wessel Pretorius and negotiated directly with powerful factions in the Boer Republics over joining Austria.
• Martinas Wessel Pretorius asked Kallen how the negotiations with the Austrians were progressing and resolved to keep track of them because he could not stop the change.

Martinas Wessel Pretorius watched Austria’s takeover of the Boer republics advance while hoping British intervention would restore his political importance. In Transvaal, Viscount Fikeni secured Skoman’s cooperation by promising him a hereditary title, and Skoman agreed to help remove opponents and prepare the way for the merger.

• Martinas Wessel Pretorius dismissed Cullen while suspecting that he had contacted the Austrians, and accepted that he could not stop the negotiations or openly oppose Austria.
• Martinas Wessel Pretorius hoped the British would intervene, since a crisis could give him a chance to become governor and secure a noble title.
• Viscount Fikeni urged Skoman to accelerate Transvaal’s merger with Austria, citing British preparations and the need to eliminate opposition.
• Skoman promised to build support for the merger and help expose the anti-Austria faction in exchange for becoming Baron Skoman.
• Viscount Fikeni advised Skoman to study noble etiquette before traveling to Vienna for his investiture.

Viscount Fikeni maneuvered to pressure the anti-Austrian faction while Austrian nobles prepared to exploit any conflict with Britain. In Cape Town, Governor Delfo decided to attack the Boer Republic without Portuguese support, confident he could defeat it before Austria intervened.

• William, facing a political offensive, invited pro-Austrian leaders to a banquet and secretly contacted the British.
• Fikeni relied on Austrian caravans, noble private armies, and local recruits while his faction sought to provoke a British attack without making it an official war between Austria and Britain.
• Governor Delfo learned Portugal would not join an attack on the Boer Republic and decided Britain would act alone.
• Delfo argued that Austria would need months to send reinforcements and that Britain could defeat the Boers before they arrived.
• Major General Friedman assured Delfo that the British forces could defeat the Boer Republic.

After the British invaded the Orange Free State, Viscount Fikeni reassured Boer leaders that Austria would support them while using the war to advance Austrian influence. In Vienna, Franz learned of the outbreak and ordered Stephen to secretly teach the British a lesson.

• Governor Delfo led 30,000 men into the Orange Free State, prompting Boer leaders to visit Viscount Fikeni and seek Austrian support.
• Viscount Fikeni assured the visitors that Austria would intervene if needed and told Transvaal and the Orange Free State to keep fighting in their own names.
• Skoman asked about the reinforcements, and Viscount Fikeni explained that Austrian African forces would receive citizenship papers and fight as Transvaal regulars.
• Franz considered the outbreak in Vienna and decided not to involve the Foreign Ministry or publicly signal Austria's intentions.
• Franz orally ordered Stephen to secretly teach the British a lesson.

Britain’s leaders argued over the Anglo-Boer War as they feared Austria’s intervention and struggled to avoid responsibility for the conflict. With Britain and Austria distracted by South Africa, Napoleon III accelerated France’s expansion in Italy.

• Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli questioned Colonial Secretary Sir Louis about the war, and Louis claimed British forces were advancing smoothly.
• Foreign Secretary McLean warned that Austria’s silence could signal preparations for a larger confrontation.
• Benjamin put the Colonial Office in charge of the war, but Louis tried to shift responsibility to the Cape Town Governor and called for a naval blockade.
• Navy Minister Robert pointed out that the Boer republics were landlocked, exposing the impracticality of Louis’s proposal.
• Benjamin ordered the Colonial Office to prepare a battle plan and win the war.
• Napoleon III took advantage of Britain’s and Austria’s distraction by increasing French troop deployments in Italy and pressing toward annexation.

William I rejected Prussia’s plan to annex the German Federal Empire, warning that Austria and Britain would oppose it and that Prussia was too weakened to risk another conflict. The government turned its attention to economic recovery and the danger of a future war with Russia.

• Chancellor Moltke urged William I to seize the opportunity created by the Anglo-Austrian conflict and French involvement in Italy to unify North Germany.
• William I argued that Austria would intervene to prevent Prussia from annexing the German Federal Empire, and Moltke recognized the political and strategic obstacles.
• William I reminded the cabinet that Prussia needed economic recovery and had to prepare for an inevitable war with Russia within twenty years.
• Finance Minister Roon agreed that Prussia’s dire finances required more active economic policies.
• Prussia had recovered from its postwar food crisis and expanded its industry, but foreign debts still consumed more than half of government revenue.

The British vanguard suffered a crushing defeat against Viscount Fikeni’s expanded Boer Republic forces, prompting Governor Delfo to demand an explanation and request reinforcements. Austria had concealed its role behind the Boer army, while Franz prepared to use the republic’s debt and wartime political upheaval to bring it under Austrian control.

• Viscount Fikeni took control of the Boer Republic, moved its upper ranks to the Zimbabwe region, and raised an army of more than fifteen thousand men.
• The British vanguard of five thousand troops was defeated, and Governor Delfo learned that the Boer forces had Austrian nobles behind them.
• Governor Delfo berated Major General Friedman, who blamed the defeat on the enemy’s unexpected strength and warned that more Austrian reinforcements might arrive.
• Governor Delfo ordered Ketch to request British reinforcements and have the Foreign Office protest to Austria.
• Franz relied on the Boer Republic’s 300-million-Divine-Shield debt and its leaders’ displacement to create an excuse for Austria to take over the republic after the war.

Napoleon III rapidly annexed Italy and proclaimed the Greater French Empire, while Austria and Britain debated how to respond. Franz chose to delay action in Europe and keep competing with Britain in South Africa, leaving Britain to focus on protecting Cape Town Colony.

• Napoleon III forced the Italian states to unite under his rule, then joined France and Italy as the Greater French Empire with capitals in Paris and Rome.
• Prime Minister Felix urged Franz to oppose French expansion, but Franz ordered a public condemnation and refused to annex the German Confederation yet.
• Foreign Minister Wessenberg proposed that Austria accelerate its plans, but Franz chose to maintain the original course and continue the South African contest with Britain.
• Foreign Secretary McLean argued that Austria was waiting to form a wider anti-French alliance, while British leaders worried about French ambitions and their own colonial interests.
• Colonial Secretary Louis warned that British forces were losing ground in South Africa, and Robert stressed that Britain could not afford to lose Cape Town Colony.
• Benjamin Disraeli ordered the Foreign Office to seek an agreement with Austria and the Colonial Office to prepare reinforcements, allowing that Britain might abandon the Boer Republic.

Napoleon III weighed the diplomatic backlash to France’s annexation of Italy and feared his young son would be unable to control the empire he was building. He instructed Foreign Minister Montero to draw Austria into conflicts with Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and the German Confederation, leaving France room to consolidate its gains.

• Napoleon III recognized that no European country accepted the Greater French Empire’s legitimacy and that Belgium and Switzerland were turning toward Austria.
• Napoleon III concluded that France had to absorb Italy quickly because his age and failing health left little time to secure the empire for his fourteen-year-old son.
• Foreign Minister Montero told Napoleon III that the Vienna Government had agreed to check Britain in exchange for French support for Austrian action in the Middle East.
• Napoleon III ordered the Foreign Ministry to encourage Austria to declare war on the Ottoman Empire and offered to divide Mediterranean interests with it.
• Napoleon III ordered money sent to the German Unification Organization to stir up nationalists and pressure Austria into acting against the German Confederation.

Franz declined to support France’s overseas commitments and instead accepted a French promise that strengthened Austria’s future position in the Middle East. France’s strategic retrenchment left Maximilian I increasingly isolated in Mexico as rebels and neighboring powers took advantage.

• Franz rejected France’s offer of the Ottoman Empire and told Stephen that Austria would halt colonial expansion and focus on developing Africa.
• Franz accepted the French olive branch, while France and Austria continued cooperating to weaken British influence in the Mediterranean.
• Napoleon III recognized that Austria would pursue its own interests and worried about securing his dynasty’s future in Italy.
• French retrenchment threatened Maximilian I, whose reforms had left him short of allies and burdened with debts to France, Britain, and Spain.
• After the French decision became known, the United States and the Confederate States of America stirred, and Mexican rebellions erupted again against Maximilian I’s rule.

Lieutenant General Schieder demanded that Maximilian I halt his reforms and pay France in advance for military deployments, leaving the emperor furious and politically trapped. In Vienna, Franz concluded that Mexico offered Maximilian no good options and considered abdication as a way out.

• Lieutenant General Schieder blamed Maximilian I's reforms and foreign interference for Mexico's recurring rebellions and decided France needed a stable country more than further gains.
• Lieutenant General Schieder confronted Maximilian I, demanded an end to the social reforms, and warned that France might refuse suppression missions unless Mexico paid mobilization fees in advance.
• Maximilian I rebuked Schieder for interfering in Mexican affairs, but Schieder left after declaring that the emperor alone would bear the consequences.
• Maximilian I smashed objects in anger and recognized that conceding could destroy his Reform Party and reduce him to a rubber-stamp ruler.
• Franz judged that Maximilian I's reforms and French colonial plunder had intensified Mexico's crisis, and considered abdication and a return to Europe the least damaging option.

Viscount Fikeni surveyed the battlefield after a Boer Republic victory and planned to keep advancing into British South Africa. Despite commanding tens of thousands, he insisted that others address him only as a colonel until his promotion was official.

• Viscount Fikeni inspected the battlefield and reflected on how camouflage and ambushes had given his forces an advantage over the British.
• Viscount Fikeni planned to draw the British deeper into British South Africa before seeking a decisive battle and taking Cape Town.
• A young officer reported 76 dead and 84 wounded among Fikeni's forces, along with more than three thousand enemy troops defeated, 156 annihilated, and 98 captured.
• Viscount Fikeni ordered his units to tend to the wounded, rest for one day, and then continue advancing.
• Viscount Fikeni corrected the young officer for calling him General, explaining that he was only a colonel until his rank was officially promoted.

British leaders debated how to contain France and prevent Austria from unifying Germany, while balancing the need to preserve the Royal Navy’s dominance. Benjamin Disraeli ordered the government to support efforts against French rule in Italy and secretly prepare an Anti-Austrian Alliance.

• Prime Minister Benjamin asked about the suspected Franco-Austrian deal, and McLean inferred that Austria had tacitly accepted France’s annexation of Italy in exchange for support for German unification.
• Motoli and Brandt warned that Austria could mobilize far more troops than Prussia, while Brandt urged expanding the British army; Benjamin postponed the army debate because Britain could not afford to weaken the Royal Navy.
• McLean proposed strengthening Prussia and maintaining a balance of power by breaking up both Greater France and any future unified Germany.
• Benjamin said Garibaldi, Mazzini, Vittorio Emanuele, and Italian nobles were seeking British support against French rule, and McLean reported that other European countries would back the Italian independence movement.
• Benjamin ordered Britain to continue suppressing France and secretly contact other countries to prepare an Anti-Austrian Alliance.

Franz let Britain bankroll European revolutionary groups while Austria avoided openly joining the anti-French coalition, and he used the South African War to train Austrian officers through Boer forces and native troops. With British reinforcements looming, Viscount Fikeni urged his commanders to launch a decisive drive on Cape Town before the year ended.

• Franz judged that Britain had long maintained contact with European revolutionary groups and left their funding to the British rather than spend Austrian money on them.
• European powers condemned France but refused to send troops, leaving France isolated without a force capable of attacking its heartland.
• Austria used the South African War to train reserve officers, whose experiments with native troops mostly failed before Viscount Fikeni's Boer Republican Army repaired the situation.
• By the end of 1870, the Boer Republican Army had advanced to within a little over two hundred kilometers of Cape Town, while Britain struggled to supply enough cannon fodder.
• Viscount Fikeni warned his commanders that British reinforcements could soon arrive and urged them to seize Cape Town in a decisive battle, promising promotions and titles for victory.

Franz reviewed the South African War’s rising costs and defended Austria’s support for the Boer forces, while considering how to manage the region after victory. He concluded that Austria should end the war soon and remind France that its campaign had fulfilled their agreement.

• Finance Minister Karl reported that military spending for the past two months had reached 12.486 million Divine Shields.
• Franz defended paying and compensating the Boer soldiers, arguing that fair treatment would preserve the nobles’ loyalty and that South Africa’s prospects justified the investment.
• Karl urged Franz to bring the war to a swift close now that France had stabilized the situation in Italy.
• Franz decided South Africa should be fragmented and placed under a provincial administration to prevent regional cliques from forming.
• Franz ordered the Foreign Ministry to remind France that Austria had fulfilled its agreement by holding back more than half of Britain’s army in South Africa.

Franz reviewed Austria’s growing steel demand and ordered the government to support several new heavy industrial bases by improving transportation. He also considered Russia’s expanding grain production and the technical obstacles that kept latecomer countries dependent on industrial powers, leaving Austria poised to benefit from its industrial and processing advantages.

• Franz saw that Austria’s steel output was nearing a bottleneck and projected demand would double within a decade.
• Franz ordered Serbia, Silesia, and Galicia to be included in a heavy-industry project and directed the government to address transportation problems.
• Franz considered how Russia’s poor transport network and harsh conditions constrained its industry and grain exports.
• Franz assessed the effects of Russia’s expanding farmland on grain markets and noted Austria’s advantage in processing Russian grain.
• Franz reflected that machinery manuals, hidden technical obstacles, and maintenance costs forced industrial latecomers to pay for access to advanced technology.

Franz and Minister of Industry Kaschin-Quebeck discussed how Austria would address its copper shortage while preventing African colonies from developing competing industries. Franz ordered colonial railway construction accelerated and secretly planned to direct routes toward gold extraction while neglecting connections that could support African industry.

• Franz rejected smelting copper ore in Africa because the continent lacked coal and transporting materials would make local production costly.
• Kaschin-Quebeck argued that Austria could permit mining while using railway planning to obstruct the development of an African industrial system.
• Franz agreed to prioritize colonial railways while secretly avoiding connections between African coal and iron regions.
• Franz ordered railway construction accelerated before the public could learn of the plan, and Stein received the assignment with dismay.

Viscount Fikeni raced to secure supplies and prepare for the assault on Cape Town, ordering forced recruitment and labor to keep the campaign moving. As Cape Town panicked, Governor Delfo used inflated enemy numbers and a staged display of sacrifice to deflect blame while local officials conscripted residents.

• Viscount Fikeni learned that supplies were delayed and ordered the Logistics Department to speed delivery while engineers cleared waterways using requisitioned laborers.
• A staff officer proposed recruiting cannon fodder for the Battle of Cape Town, and Viscount Fikeni ordered the Third Division to conscript able-bodied tribesmen and seize grain.
• Cape Town residents fled toward the Cape of Good Hope, but Sheriff Amber conscripted Pringle under an extended service-age decree after he could not pay the exemption fee.
• Governor Delfo’s officials reported that they had conscripted eight thousand men, and Delfo presented the recruitment as a necessary sacrifice for the Empire.
• Governor Delfo prepared a will and declared that he would live and die with Cape Town, hoping to be remembered as a hero if the city fell.

Governor Delfo struggled to control Cape Town’s worsening prices and supply shortages as the British faced a growing military threat. Viscount Fikeni ordered relentless attacks on the British positions, leaving Colonel Belding’s Sixth Division under concentrated bombardment.

• A middle-aged official warned Governor Delfo that food prices had tripled and necessities were becoming scarce, so Delfo planned to force merchants to cooperate with price controls.
• A military officer told Governor Delfo that supplies were running low and newly enlisted soldiers had to use retired rifles, while Delfo said he had requested aid from Britain.
• Viscount Fikeni ordered supervision squads to force the assault troops forward and commanded nonstop attacks until they were dead.
• The Boer Republic forces concentrated artillery fire on British positions, inflicting heavy losses on the Colonial Sixth Division in northern Cape Town.
• Colonel Belding demanded artillery support from headquarters as the bombardment battered his division and damaged its morale.