Chapter Summaries

After a massacre of Spanish colonists in Morocco, Spain prepared to retaliate and considered withdrawing its troops from France. Franz accepted the withdrawal and decided to keep supporting Russia’s war against France, while remaining wary of Russia’s growing population and power.

• Moroccan tribes slaughtered more than a thousand people in a Spanish immigrant town, prompting Spain to announce military retaliation.
• Franz learned that Spain wanted to withdraw its garrison from France, and Prime Minister Karl explained that Spain was prioritizing the safety of its expatriates in Morocco.
• Franz agreed to Spain’s withdrawal because Russia was already weakening France and the Holy Roman Empire did not need Spanish troops for now.
• Franz considered increasing support for Russia so the Russians could further cripple France, while recognizing that their growing population made them a potential future threat.
• Franz concluded that repeated wars could limit Russian strength by consuming the empire’s resources, so he favored letting Russia and France exhaust each other.

Franz decided to support Spain’s campaign in Morocco only with words, while French nobles gathered in occupied Paris to discuss Russian rule and the country’s worsening plight. The gathering revealed that resistance members were present, as the nobles quietly considered opposition to the Russians.

• Franz ruled out material or direct assistance to Spain and chose to offer spiritual encouragement instead.
• Breya and Maria traveled through snowbound Paris under Russian occupation, and Maria warned Breya not to provoke the Russians.
• Breya arrived at a noble gathering in a suburban manor, where Retes described Russian abuses, prisoner deportations, and France’s population losses.
• Breya said Spain’s troop withdrawal from Morocco might ease pressure on France’s southern region because the Alliance did not appear ready to replace them.
• Retes pointed out unfamiliar guests, and the nobles realized they were resistance members attending openly.

France’s guerrilla resistance trapped the Tsarist Government in a costly occupation, while the Holy Roman Empire resumed rapid development under Franz and Crown Prince Friedrich’s growing leadership. Franz approved Friedrich’s petrochemical plans but ordered him to reduce the royal family’s visible oil holdings, take charge of the restructuring, and organize the industry.

• French resistance groups targeted Russian troops, and the Tsarist Government avoided seeking aid or compromise to protect its prestige.
• The Holy Roman Empire recovered from the economic crisis and began drafting a new five-year plan as Friedrich took on more state responsibilities.
• Franz questioned Friedrich’s proposal to develop the petrochemical industry, and Friedrich cited wasted byproducts, economic growth, job creation, and royal oil holdings as reasons.
• Franz told Friedrich to take the royal companies public, reduce the family’s visible shareholdings, and form an industry association to raise barriers to entry.
• Friedrich accepted responsibility for the plan, and Franz approved of his composure as a sign of his fitness as heir.

Friedrich oversaw the Royal Consortium’s plan to list four oil companies, which aimed to raise 200 million Divine Shield for building out the petrochemical industry. After the preparations were completed, trading was scheduled to begin on December 21, leaving Friedrich feeling hollow once the work was done.

• As the market recovered from the crash, demand for the Holy Roman Empire’s oil and petrochemical products continued to grow.
• Friedrich weighed whether to merge the Royal Consortium’s oil companies or list them separately, then signed the documents launching the plan for four simultaneous listings.
• European financial media reacted to the companies’ planned 200-million-Divine-Shield IPO and their high valuations.
• The Royal Consortium completed pre-listing equity incentives and advance subscriptions, and trading was scheduled to begin on December 21.
• Friedrich instructed his aide to proceed with the original plan and felt hollow after the preparations were finished.

Franz planned to turn the Holy Roman Empire’s overseas colonies into autonomous constituent states and appointed his son Peter Governor of Central America as a first step. Peter accepted a five-year trial to prove he could rule the region and become its king.

• Franz reasoned that granting colonies greater autonomy through an enfeoffment system would preserve their ties to the empire better than the governor system.
• Franz appointed Peter Governor of Central America and asked whether he was prepared to take on the role.
• Peter said he had prepared for years, and Franz gave him five years to bring the region under his control and earn the future title of King of Central America.
• Franz advised Peter to follow the rules unless his safety or the monarch’s authority was threatened.
• Franz planned to appoint other governors gradually, avoiding the appearance of handing every colony to his sons before the conflict with Britain was settled.

After the Heden Disaster ruined Nicholas II’s reputation, his government struggled to respond while European monarchs took the incident as a warning. Franz and Friedrich discussed the Tsarist Government’s decline and how Nicholas II might use the crisis to restore his authority.

• The Heden Square celebration became a deadly crowd crush, and officials concealed the losses while Nicholas II remained unaware and held the planned banquet.
• Nicholas II angrily demanded answers from his ministers, and Sergei Witte urged him to address the aftermath and repair his public image.
• Franz reflected on how the disaster had benefited Europe’s monarchs and questioned Friedrich about what the Russian crisis revealed.
• Friedrich judged the Tsarist Government decayed, and Franz suggested local elites might have enabled the gathering and that a purge could expose them.
• Friedrich advised Nicholas II to deploy troops, punish selected figures, and use the crisis to establish authority and advance reforms.

General Okinets sought help from Allied Command as Russian supplies failed to arrive, risking Vienna’s control over Russian forces in France. Meanwhile, Nicholas II confronted demands for local autonomy and received an American proposal to build a railway across Russia.

• Nicholas II’s distrust after the Heden Massacre fueled bureaucratic resistance and demands for local autonomy, open parliaments, and relaxed elections.
• General Okinets learned that repeated requests for supplies had gone unanswered and ordered his aide to ask Allied Command for assistance.
• Okinets weighed the political cost of accepting Vienna’s help, knowing Allied Command could gain real control over the Russian Army in France.
• Nicholas II rejected the self-government representatives’ demands and defended the autocratic system, citing Russia’s ethnic divisions and France’s defeat.
• Foreign Minister Mikhailovich told Nicholas II that the United States had proposed closer economic ties and a railway linking Central Asia to the Far East.

Nicholas II weighed an American proposal to build the Siberian Railway, while Friedrich faced a dilemma over a Russian Army request for supplies in France. Friedrich chose to provide the supplies, leaving the Vienna Government to address relations with Russia afterward.

• Mikhailovich explained that American steel magnates wanted the railway project, operating rights, and favorable trade terms to support American expansion in the Far East and clear surplus steel.
• Sergei Witte proposed delaying construction for three years, but Mikhailovich warned that the American investors and government would not wait; Nicholas II remained undecided.
• Franz spent the summer touring the Albis Mountains while Friedrich handled the burden of government affairs.
• Prime Minister Karl told Friedrich that the Russian Army in France had requested help with its logistical problems.
• Friedrich rejected the option of urging the Tsarist Government to supply its own troops and ordered the Vienna Government to provide the Russian Army with supplies first.

Carlos sought Holy Roman Empire intervention as Russia forcibly conscripted French men for the Siberian Railway, but the Vienna Government refused to help. Public outrage over Russian atrocities spread across Europe, while Friedrich rejected Carlos’s appeals and told him France would have to face the consequences of its past actions.

• Nicholas II ordered the Siberian Railway built and planned to conscript French laborers, prompting Carlos to fear France would lose another generation of men.
• Carlos asked Austria to intervene, but Foreign Minister Pietro reported that the Vienna Government would only condemn the conscription and had no intention of stopping Russia.
• French citizens joined resistance organizations and expatriates spread reports of Russian abuses, causing public outrage across Europe and within the Holy Roman Empire.
• Friedrich received Carlos again and rejected his request for intervention, arguing that France had brought its suffering upon itself through its past aggression.
• Carlos blamed the Napoleon government and capitalists for the war, but Friedrich ended the argument and said France could not expect support while Luxembourg and the Rhineland still hated it.

Robert Cecil learned that Vienna was supporting the Russian Army’s devastation of France, exposing Britain’s failed effort to turn Russia against the Holy Roman Empire. He decided Britain must abandon France and focus on drawing the Russians into the costly Siberian Railway project while backing movements that could weaken them.

• Robert Cecil restrained himself from ordering the Royal Navy to block Russian access to France because it would not stop Russian reinforcements and could jeopardize Britain’s broader strategy.
• Cameron reported that Vienna was supplying the Russian Army and that the Russians had likely traded their campaign against France for Vienna’s approval of the Siberian Railway.
• Robert Cecil acknowledged that Britain had underestimated Russian diplomacy and viewed the Tsarist Government as its most immediate threat.
• Pavel urged Britain to ensure construction of the Siberian Railway and support anti-Russian groups, including French resistance organizations, Polish revolutionaries, Bulgarian independence groups, Russian revolutionaries, and Afghan guerrillas.
• Robert Cecil’s government accepted that France was beyond saving and resolved to redirect the crisis eastward against Russia.

After Spain pacified its colonial rebellions, Prime Minister Antonio planned to recruit French mercenaries and their families while arranging for the rest to return under the Carlos Government. In Russia, Nicholas II grew angry at the mounting casualties and persistent French resistance, and Sergei Witte could give him no estimate for ending the campaign.

• The Spanish Government negotiated peace with its colonial rebels but faced the cost of retaining more than two hundred thousand French mercenaries.
• Antonio learned that about one-fifth of the mercenaries would immigrate with their families and directed officials to recruit them while letting the others return to France.
• Foreign Minister Junior proposed handing the remaining mercenaries to the exiled Carlos Government to avoid alienating the new immigrants or provoking Russia.
• Nicholas II complained about the need for reinforcements as Russian casualties rose and French resistance continued.
• Sergei Witte explained that the frontline troops had sent five hundred thousand laborers home and blamed British support for prolonging the resistance.
• Nicholas II demanded to know when the French resistance would be crushed, and Sergei Witte could not answer.

Friedrich reviewed the navy’s shipbuilding proposal and worried that funding it would trigger an expensive arms race with Britain and undermine his chance to build a record as Crown Prince. Castagni argued that naval expansion would prepare the Holy Roman Empire to replace Britain as maritime hegemon, but Friedrich decided there was no need to provoke an Anglo-Russian War before the Central Asian Railway opened.

• As the Emperor took a long holiday, Friedrich assumed authority over the government’s budget allocations while departments prepared to compete for next year’s funds.
• Friedrich questioned the Naval Minister, Castagni, about the purpose of the navy’s plan to build more warships.
• Friedrich recognized that expanding the fleet would require greater military spending, risk a naval arms race with Britain, and frustrate his plans to earn public achievements.
• Castagni argued that the navy should prepare for the Holy Roman Empire to take Britain’s maritime hegemony after Russia helped drain British strength in a future Anglo-Russian War.
• Friedrich considered the proposal but concluded that the government should wait until the Central Asian Railway opened in two years before provoking a conflict.

Castagni proposed an experimental all-heavy-gun battleship that could help the Holy Roman Empire close the naval gap with Britain, and Friedrich considered the costly plan. He withheld approval until the cabinet deliberated, wary that a successful design could trigger an unprecedented arms race.

• The Holy Roman Empire Navy struggled to win funding as its budget stagnated while Britain’s naval spending continued to grow.
• Castagni presented Friedrich with an experimental battleship design that replaced mixed artillery with all-heavy-gun armament and promised three times the firepower of a conventional battleship.
• Friedrich questioned whether the design could work, and Castagni admitted its success was uncertain but argued that it had the potential to overwhelm opponents.
• Friedrich kept the proposal and expressed no objection in principle, but postponed the decision until the cabinet deliberated over the cost of more than four million Divine Shield.

Franz returned to Vienna Palace and assessed Friedrich’s handling of the Empire’s affairs, then questioned him about competing plans to challenge British naval power. Friedrich favored caution about an expensive battleship race, while Franz dismissed the Air Force’s bomber strategy and leaned toward the all-big-gun battleship plan.

• Franz returned to Vienna Palace in October and considered the political risks of the ongoing budget allocation and Friedrich’s position as heir.
• Friedrich reported on his work, and Franz was satisfied that he had kept the Empire operating normally in peacetime.
• Franz asked Friedrich what he thought of the Navy Ministry’s all-big-gun battleship plan.
• Friedrich warned that a naval arms race could exhaust both the Empire and Britain, benefiting the United States and Russia, and argued that the Empire needed to retain strength to inherit Britain’s position.
• Franz criticized the Air Force’s Terminator Plan as costly and unreliable, and considered the battleship plan a better way to erase the Royal Navy’s existing advantage.

The Holy Roman Empire advanced its experimental All-Big-Gun Battleship program while keeping its specifications quiet. At a diplomatic ball, Spain offered to sell the Morocco Region, and Wessenberg began negotiating its price, leaving the proposed sum at 300 million Divine Shields.

• Franz helped the Admiralty’s All-Big-Gun Battleship program pass, with the first ship scheduled to be laid down in February 1898 and launched in 1899.
• Wessenberg told Brad that the Holy Roman Empire had no government plan to take Morocco, but Brad said Spain intended to sell the region because it could not afford to maintain it.
• Wessenberg said Morocco’s weak Spanish control required a discounted price and suggested Spain occupy the region before negotiating.
• Brad argued that Morocco posed no meaningful obstacle to the Holy Roman Empire and asked for 300 million Divine Shields.

Wessenberg and Brad negotiated Spain’s proposed sale of Morocco, with the Holy Roman Empire pressing Spain to establish control before it paid the full price. In London, Robert Cecil decided Britain would oppose the deal and try to make the acquisition costly for Vienna.

• Brad argued that Morocco’s strategic and political value justified Spain’s demand of 300 million Divine Shields.
• Wessenberg countered that Spain would receive the full price only after crushing the Kingdom of Morocco and establishing order, otherwise offering 30 million Divine Shields.
• Robert Cecil learned Spain planned to sell Morocco, and Cameron explained Spain’s financial troubles and weak control over the region.
• Flora and Skybrew warned that Morocco in Holy Roman Empire hands would threaten Britain’s Mediterranean position, while Skybrew cautioned that holding it would require a huge army.
• Robert Cecil ordered the Foreign Office to tell Spain Britain wanted to buy Morocco and to spread claims that Vienna was coercing Spain, pressuring the Holy Roman Empire through public opinion.

Franz explained the strategic importance of acquiring the Morocco Region and dismissed his son Friedrich’s request for help with the British interference and domestic lobbying. Friedrich was left to decide how to handle the negotiations and the competing claims to the territory.

• Franz argued that taking Morocco would let the Holy Roman Empire secure the Mediterranean’s western gateway and gain the initiative against Britain.
• Friedrich told Franz that Britain was accusing the Empire of coercing Spain and was urging Spain to retain control of Morocco.
• Franz predicted that Britain had another move planned and warned that it might encourage a revolution in Spain.
• Friedrich explained that British pressure had stalled negotiations and that public committees were lobbying to fund a private acquisition of Morocco for their own benefit.
• Franz offered Friedrich only encouragement, leaving him to determine how the territory’s benefits would be distributed if the Empire obtained it.
• Friedrich realized they had not secured Morocco yet and watched the children by the lake, envying their carefree childhood.

The Holy Roman Empire signed an agreement to buy the Morocco Region from Spain for 180 million Divine Shield, mostly offsetting Spain’s debts, and private forces rushed to claim land there. The deal fueled celebrations and revived the name “the Second Roman Empire,” while Russian Minister Molos bristled at Britain’s Leandro in Vienna.

• On June 6, 1898, Wessenberg and Spanish representatives signed the Morocco Sovereignty Transaction Agreement, with the purchase price largely offset against Spain’s debts.
• Private armed forces gathered in Algeria Province, and several groups attacked the Morocco Region as nobles and minor state rulers sought fiefs and influence.
• Franz left the allocation of Morocco’s spoils and the coming cabinet reshuffle to Friedrich, who faced pressure from ambitious nobles and powerful ministers.
• European media celebrated the deal, popularizing the name “the Second Roman Empire” as citizens across the Holy Roman Empire held festivities.
• Leandro invited Molos to tour Vienna’s celebrations, and Molos resented the British minister’s attempt to engage him amid the rivalry over Rome’s legacy.

The Central Asian Railway’s main line opened, fueling Russian enthusiasm for marching into India and intensifying tensions with Britain. Nicholas II postponed the southern strategy until the branch lines could support military logistics, leaving the pro-war faction temporarily restrained.

• Molos sent Saint Petersburg an angry account of the Vienna Government’s perceived insult, and Nicholas II grew more determined to break free of the Holy Roman Empire.
• The Central Asian Railway’s main line opened on June 16, 1899, and Russian public enthusiasm for marching into India surged.
• Sergei Witte and Mikhailovich opposed the southern strategy, citing the risks of war with Britain, inadequate railway logistics, and the possibility of a British-Austrian compromise.
• Yevgeny argued that Russia needed to strengthen itself by pursuing the southern strategy as its western and eastern options became less useful.
• Nicholas II ordered the military to avoid clashes with Britain and used the unfinished branch railways to delay action and contain the pro-war faction.

Friedrich’s attempt to provoke an Anglo-Russian war failed to change either government’s calculations, and he turned his attention to other plans. In Trieste, Emperor Franz attended the launch of the Holy Roman Empire’s first Dreadnought and named it Rome.

• The British and Russian governments avoided war because neither saw enough benefit to justify the risks, while Friedrich accepted the failed provocation as only an initial probe.
• Du Chengen returned to his inn with his crew rather than join the crowds watching the harbor, and he explained that he had come to Trieste to buy a ten-thousand-ton cargo ship.
• Lao Cole and innkeeper James invited Du Chengen to watch the battleship launch, but Du Chengen declined and James mentioned the five-Divine-Shield viewing fee.
• Franz attended the Dreadnought launch, declined to board the unfinished ship, and asked Friedrich what it should be called.
• Franz chose the name Rome after rejecting Friedrich’s suggestion to name the ship after the Holy Roman Empire.