Chapter Summaries

William I agreed to Prussia’s plan to break apart the Russo-Austrian Alliance and prepare for an early war against Russia, relying on railway expansion to preserve Prussia’s advantage. Meanwhile, Alexandrovich arrived in London and met Crown Prince Edward, as their visit began a new chapter in relations.

• William I agreed to Prussia’s plan, recognizing that Britain and France would offer less support and that Prussia had to rely on itself.
• The Berlin Government sought to weaken the Russo-Austrian Alliance and prepare for war before Russia completed its reforms.
• Prussia expanded its railway network while Russia struggled to attract investors and had fewer than 8,000 kilometers of track.
• Alexandrovich arrived in London and was welcomed by Edward, the British crown prince.
• Alexandrovich and Edward exchanged polite greetings and left the harbor by carriage.

Alexandrovich negotiated with British Foreign Secretary McLean for a Russian loan, but McLean made British assistance conditional on Russia joining the British-led free trade and monetary system. Their first talks ended without agreement, leaving Alexandrovich weighing the tempting promise of agricultural exports against the risks to Russian industry and its alliance with Austria.

• McLean told Alexandrovich that Britain would support a Russian loan if Russia joined the free trade system.
• McLean argued that free trade would boost Russian agricultural and resource exports while drawing Russia into the Pound Sterling–gold system.
• Alexandrovich warned that British industrial competition could damage Russian industries and threaten the Russo-Austrian Alliance.
• Alexandrovich rejected McLean’s promises as unequal and demanded tangible short-term benefits.
• The negotiations were suspended after both sides failed to reach agreement, and Alexandrovich considered Russia’s transportation and production limits on agricultural exports.

Franz learned that Russia was using talks with Britain to seek better terms, and he staged anger while planning to counter the move. He intended to exploit the dispute to expand Austria’s influence in the Persian Gulf, while accepting that the Russo-Austrian alliance was nearing its end.

• Franz rejected competing with Britain for Russia’s favor and ordered the Foreign Ministry to remind Russia that the Russo-Austrian Alliance was nearing expiration.
• Franz decided to invite Prussia and hinted that Austria might support it if Russia turned toward Britain and the alliance ended before another Prusso-Russian War.
• Wessenberg argued that Prussia would likely approach Austria on its own as Anglo-Russian ties grew closer.
• Franz and the Vienna Government staged a display of anger so that reports would reach Alexander II and trouble the Russian ruler.
• Franz planned to use the three-nation alliance to strike Oman and extend Austrian influence to the Strait of Hormuz.
• Franz concluded that Russia’s reforms and industrial growth made it a rising competitor, and he chose to stop placating the Tsarist Government over currency reform.

Alexander II struggled to choose between British financial aid and preserving the Russo-Austrian Alliance after Vienna rejected his attempt to raise Russia’s price. Meanwhile, Franz refused to rescue Maximilian I, expecting Mexico’s rebellion to topple him and plunge the country into internal conflict.

• Alexander II read top-secret intelligence from Vienna and learned that the Vienna Government would not respond to his maneuver as he had hoped.
• Alexander II weighed seeking British loans against the risk of losing Austria, whose alliance protected Russia from Prussia and other enemies.
• Empress Carlota returned to Vienna for aid after Maximilian I lost control of Mexico, but Franz refused to intervene and urged her to persuade Maximilian to abdicate.
• Franz concluded that Mexico’s rebels would soon capture Mexico City and that Maximilian I would have to be extradited home.
• Franz expected the rebel coalition to fracture into factional conflict after removing Maximilian I, restoring history’s original course while extending his influence.

As rebel forces closed in on Mexico City, Maximilian I refused to flee, while his captain Feren and Austrian envoy Compton maneuvered to protect him and his loyalists. Feren forced Maximilian I into the Austrian Embassy, where the guards gained Austrian status as Juárez’s forces entered the city.

• Maximilian I rejected Feren’s pleas to escape and chose to remain in the palace as the rebels approached.
• Feren gathered loyal guards and arranged with Austrian envoy Compton to shelter them and their families under Austrian protection.
• President Juárez and the rebel leadership hesitated over Maximilian I, wary of provoking Austria by killing or capturing him.
• After the rebels entered Mexico City, Feren ordered his men to force Maximilian I into a carriage and take him to the Austrian Embassy.
• Compton expanded the embassy into nearby buildings and gave the loyalists Austrian uniforms, while Maximilian I lay in bed, dejected.

Juárez’s government surrounded the Austrian embassy after Maximilian I took refuge there, but Austria refused to recognize the republic and rejected its demand to hand him over. Governor Hummel used the standoff to prepare Austrian Central America for intervention, leaving the prospect of war dependent on whether Mexico escalated the crisis.

• Juárez rejected Bauer’s suggestion to storm the Austrian embassy and ordered it surrounded while Mexico’s Foreign Ministry sought negotiations with Austria.
• Minister Compton denied that Phillips’s delegation had any right to negotiate and gathered European ministers, who agreed not to recognize the Mexican republican government.
• Governor Hummel received a telegram from Mexico and ordered troops, the Caribbean Fleet, supplies, and a fleet mobilized for possible intervention.
• Hummel prepared to exploit any armed clash at the embassy as an excuse to intervene, while reporting the situation to Vienna and requesting instructions.

After Mexico City's bloody purge, President Juárez struggled to control rival factions, an empty treasury, and the unresolved status of Maximilian I. He ordered a food and water blockade of the Austrian embassy, while Envoy Compton continued seeking a pretext for Austria to intervene and remove the emperor.

• Republican troops carried out a purge in Mexico City for more than a week before President Juárez stopped it, and the violence damaged the new government's support.
• President Juárez confronted factional disputes, unpaid rebel soldiers, lost tariff revenue, and the need to secure Maximilian I's abdication and foreign recognition.
• The foreign minister told President Juárez that Austria refused to hand over Maximilian I and threatened extraordinary measures.
• President Juárez ordered the Austrian embassy's food and water supplies cut off, though the embassy's well and food reserves blunted the blockade.
• Envoy Compton protested the restrictions but learned that Maximilian I had refused special meals and was sharing the soldiers' food.
• Envoy Compton reassured embassy guards and expected Governor Hummel's army to take Maximilian I away if no pretext for intervention emerged.

Franz’s absence led Alexandrovich to mistake it for Austria abandoning the Russo-Austrian Alliance, while unrest in Mexico City gave Minister Compton a pretext to pressure the Mexican Republican Government. The violence escalated, and Compton prepared to claim Austrian citizenship and compensation for the victims and their families.

• Empress Dowager Sophie and Archduke Charles worried over Maximilian I, so Franz left Vienna on an inspection tour while Alexandrovich arrived there.
• Alexandrovich took Franz’s absence and the rejection of his loan request as signs that the alliance had collapsed, then returned to Russia after a week.
• Captain Mikkel and his companions tried to buy a meal in Mexico City, fought young radicals Kend and Cole, and later came under attack in a series of shootings.
• Several Austrian soldiers were killed or wounded, and some soldiers discovered their homes had changed owners, sparking further clashes.
• Minister Compton seized on the shootings to demand that the Mexican Republican Government hand over the culprits and planned to claim citizenship and compensation for the victims and their families.

After Austrian troops landed in Veracruz, President Juárez faced pressure from rival Mexican factions to resist them, while his government judged that it could not win a war. Juárez chose to seek British and French mediation and ordered the shooting case resolved quickly, but the culprit remained unknown and his health was failing.

• Governor Hummel sent Austrian troops into Mexico under the pretext of investigating the deaths of Austrian soldiers.
• Balsky, Cristanel, and Archbishop Lulanka urged resistance, while Vice President Anakin warned that war would destroy Mexico.
• Juárez silenced the factions by threatening to lead the willing into battle himself, prompting the foreign minister to propose British and French mediation.
• Foreign Minister Apt argued that Britain and France might support Mexico if it avoided giving Austria grounds to accuse it.
• Juárez ordered the shooting case resolved without delay and threatened anyone who obstructed the investigation with punishment for treason.

Governor Hummel’s Austrian army reached Mexico City, and Envoy Compton used Austrian citizens’ claims of damages to demand that President Juárez hand over Mexican soldiers and pay compensation. Compton then presented Juárez with demands designed to weaken his government, while British envoy Edward declined to interfere, leaving Juárez facing a crisis.

• President Juárez lifted the blockade around the Austrian Embassy and supplied it, wary of provoking Austria after the shooting.
• Governor Hummel’s army arrived outside Mexico City, where the shooting investigation continued under foreign envoys’ observation.
• Envoy Compton presented Austrian citizenship papers and evidence of property losses, then demanded the responsible soldiers be handed over and Austrian citizens compensated.
• Edward visited the Austrian Embassy and asked Compton what Austria intended to achieve in Mexico.
• Compton offered Juárez the choice of restoring Maximilian I or paying 12 million Divine Shield, with Mexican territories proposed as payment if the government could not afford the sum.
• Edward recognized that the terms were intended to divide the Mexican Government and chose not to intervene.

President Juárez struggled to resist Austria’s demands after the Republicans drove Maximilian I from power, but Mexico lacked the strength to refuse or sway the Austrian citizens who could support its case. Franz’s deeper plan was to protect Habsburg authority by shaping Maximilian’s reputation and making the Mexican Republicans take the blame.

• President Juárez weighed Austria’s demands and knew Mexico could neither accept Maximilian I’s restoration nor afford war or reparations.
• President Juárez learned that most of the Austrian citizens were hesitant to accept Republican compensation and abandon their claims.
• President Juárez recognized that Austria had trapped the Republicans politically, leaving them vulnerable to accusations that they had betrayed Mexico for power.
• Franz planned to use Mexico’s eventual turmoil to portray Maximilian I as a benevolent emperor and shift blame for his government’s failure onto the Mexican people and Republicans.
• Franz continued laying groundwork to protect imperial authority, while outsiders mistook his actions for anger over Maximilian I’s ouster.

Franz placed Maximilian under house arrest while Austria negotiated reparations with President Juárez in Mexico City. Juárez collapsed during the talks and died after rescue efforts failed, leaving Compton to report the death and its disputed cause to Vienna.

• Franz ordered Maximilian placed under house arrest to keep him safe and out of the negotiations.
• Minister Compton rejected Juárez's offer to pay one million Divine Shields and warned that Austria would take what it wanted as Austrian Central American forces seized Mexican territory.
• Juárez collapsed after denouncing Austria's aggression, and Compton and Kurd arranged medical help while a Mexican delegate accused them of poisoning him.
• Juárez died in the Austrian Embassy on January 21, 1872, after doctors failed to save him.
• Medical personnel attributed Juárez's death to poisoning and long-term narcotics use, and Compton sent word to the Vienna Government through Austrian Central America.

After President Juárez died in the Austrian Embassy, Franz ordered Austria to evacuate Mexico while preserving its hold on southern territories through local colonists. Minister Compton began withdrawing from Mexico City amid riots, as Austria’s retreat left Mexico facing mounting instability and colonial expansion elsewhere.

• Franz accepted Prime Minister Felix’s recommendation to withdraw Austrian troops, embassy staff, and expatriates from Mexico after Juárez’s death.
• Foreign Minister Wessenberg proposed retaining Austria’s occupied southern territories until Mexico formed a new government, and Franz ordered them held without formally claiming them.
• In Mexico City, Minister Compton received Vienna’s evacuation order as demonstrators surrounded the Austrian Embassy and repeatedly tried to storm it.
• Compton notified the Mexican Government that Austria was leaving and demanded it disperse the crowds within three hours.
• The Mexican Government sent police to break up the protests, provoking clashes that Compton watched as Austrian evacuation proceeded.
• As Austria withdrew from Mexico City, colonists in the south intensified military operations to expand their territory.

Franz learned that Britain had engineered Monaco’s independence to provoke trouble for France, while Napoleon III had accepted the arrangement to gain influence and draw British attention. The chapter ended with Napoleon III explaining his strategy to Crown Prince Eugène, who remained uncertain.

• Franz had Maximilian I escorted back to Vienna after the Mexican campaign ended.
• Franz asked Foreign Minister Wessenberg about Monaco’s independence, and Wessenberg explained that Britain had spearheaded it in exchange for Monaco relinquishing Menton and Roquebrune to France.
• Franz decided Austria would help improve France’s public image while quietly watching for British schemes.
• Napoleon III read praise of Monaco’s independence and explained to Eugène that he had accepted it to channel British interference and expose Italian independence activists.
• Eugène questioned the risks of Monaco’s independence, and Napoleon III told him that Britain and Austria were France’s true enemies.

Alexander II weighed Russia’s weakening alliance with Austria against its urgent need for foreign loans, while British negotiators demanded steep discounts on Russian grain. He accepted that Russia would have to take the unfavorable deal and focus on reforms, leaving the country bracing for a disastrous agricultural glut after the harvest.

• The Tsarist Government recognized that the Russo-Austrian Alliance was unraveling, while Alexander II still relied on Austrian trade routes and debt arrangements.
• Alexander II asked Clarence Ivanov whether Britain would provide a loan, and Clarence reported that Britain demanded half the loan amount and grain at seventy percent of market prices.
• Alexandrovich rejected the British terms as ruinous for Russian grain producers, and Alexander II acknowledged that falling international prices were inevitable.
• Alexandrovich proposed shifting peasants toward cash crops to reduce grain production, and Alexander II agreed that Russia needed to improve transportation, agricultural technology, and processing.
• Alexander II decided to accept the British loan terms before the harvest, reduce or waive agricultural taxes, and prioritize railway construction despite the losses.

After Britain and Russia’s agreements sent agricultural prices plunging, Franz’s government debated how Austria should respond. Karl proposed a measured price assault using reserve grain to test whether Britain would honor its deal with Russia, leaving the government to weigh the financial risks.

• Britain and Russia signed agreements that tied Russian agricultural exports to interest-free British loans and threatened Austria’s grain market.
• At Vienna Palace, Hols proposed halving international grain prices, suspending agricultural taxes and tithes, and guaranteeing domestic grain prices.
• Felix questioned the costs and risks, and Hols estimated the plan would require at least 120 million Divine Shield while reducing revenue and increasing education spending.
• Karl argued that Austria should avoid a full-scale assault and instead release reserve grain, lower export tariffs, and abolish agricultural taxes to push prices below the Anglo-Russian deal’s rate.
• Karl reasoned that a British breach would strain Russia and its currency alignment, while even an honored contract would leave Austria able to absorb losses through its processed-grain industry.

Franz and the Austrian cabinet rejected a plan to monopolize Europe's grain exports, opting instead to limit Austria's role in the coming agricultural crisis and use it to recruit immigrants. The chapter ended with Austria preparing to draw Russian peasants abroad as falling grain prices threatened their livelihoods.

• Prime Minister Felix argued that Austria could not monopolize grain exports and backed a gradual strategy over the Agriculture Ministry's plan to crush foreign agricultural production.
• The cabinet chose limited tax relief for nobles and farmers, while Franz rejected the radical plan and ordered officials to blame Russia for the coming grain-price collapse.
• Franz directed the government to test the Anglo-Russian Agreement, sell old grain stocks, and minimize Austria's visible role in the crisis.
• Franz ordered the Ministry of Colonies to recruit immigrants across Europe, especially from Russia, where falling grain prices and rapid population growth would make peasant families vulnerable.
• Franz saw Russian emigration as a way to reduce internal pressures for Alexander II's government while increasing Austria's population.

Austria’s sale of old reserve grain accelerated a collapse in international grain prices, while British capitalists exploited the cheap supplies and the outgoing Benjamin Cabinet failed to stop them. Austria then introduced land-use measures to reduce future grain output, but they could not ease the immediate glut.

• The Vienna Government announced that it would replace part of its strategic grain reserves, triggering another sharp drop in international grain prices.
• James bought thirty thousand tons of discounted Austrian old grain after Raul explained that it came from the Vienna Government’s reserve sell-off.
• Austrian grain flooded the British market, where British capitalists bought it and opponents of restrictions used free-trade arguments to block the London Government from intervening.
• Grain prices plunged across international markets as supply exceeded demand and the approaching harvest threatened an even deeper crisis.
• Austria’s Ministry of Agriculture called on major grain-producing countries to cut output, and the Vienna Government passed the Land Fallowing Act and Land Reclamation Act.
• The new laws were expected to reduce future grain production, but they could not lower Austria’s 1872 output or immediately stabilize prices.

Franz responded to a collapse in grain prices by approving measures to protect Austria’s farmers and food-processing businesses while avoiding a trade dispute with Russia. He also received news of vast gold deposits in South Africa and ordered Transvaal and the Orange Free State to dissolve so their territories could be incorporated into Austria.

• International grain and agricultural prices plunged, hurting Austrian exports and threatening farmers and processing workers.
• Hols proposed agricultural tariffs, protected grain prices, domestic finished-grain price guidance, and export tax rebates; Franz rejected tariffs to avoid Russian retaliation and restricted the remaining measures to domestic grain.
• Stephen reported that newly discovered South African goldfields might exceed the reserves of the United States.
• Franz ordered preparations for Transvaal and the Orange Free State to dissolve and their populations to return to Austria.

Franz chose to profit from South Africa’s gold rush by investing in farms and plantations rather than searching for gold himself. In Berlin, William I’s government debated how Prussia should respond to the agricultural crisis, and Moltke proposed using Poland’s radical factions to deter retaliation against Prussian tariffs.

• Franz reasoned that prospectors were unlikely to find or profit from gold, while suppliers of food and other necessities near South African mining areas could earn steady returns.
• Franz invested in farms and plantations near South Africa’s gold regions, leaving open the possibility of finding gold beneath the land.
• William I convened Prussian officials to discuss whether Prussia should reduce grain production after Austria’s measures and warnings about Europe’s surplus capacity.
• A Prussian official blamed Austria’s massive grain dumping for the collapse in prices and urged tax and export-duty cuts, higher agricultural import tariffs, and minimum grain prices.
• Gorman warned that tariff retaliation by Poland could damage Prussian industry and worsen the government’s dangerous fiscal position.
• Moltke dismissed the threat and suggested provoking Poland’s radical groups to make territorial demands of Austria, leaving the Polish government trapped between its powerful neighbors.