Chapter Summaries

Franz ordered the Holy Roman Air Force to expand its bombing of Britain and keep provoking the badly damaged British Air Force, while Campbell's Cabinet confronted the scale of Britain's losses and its inability to defend the British Isles. The chapter left Britain shaken, its air force needing time to regroup, and its leaders uncertain whether the Royal Navy could stop an invasion.

• Franz reviewed the air raid's results, including 376 British aircraft shot down and severe damage to Liverpool's shipyards, against the loss of twenty-seven Holy Roman aircraft.
• Franz ordered Conrad to bomb more British cities, use London as a feint, and drop at least twenty thousand tons of bombs within a month.
• Conrad warned Franz that the British Air Force might avoid further battles after its heavy losses, so Franz ordered continued provocations and leaflets to pressure the British public.
• London residents fled to the countryside as the Cabinet remained in an improvised air-raid shelter and public anger grew over the government's failure to protect them.
• Campbell asked Attilio whether advance preparations could have protected Britain, and Attilio said the British Air Force needed more advanced aircraft and time to regroup.
• Campbell promised government support for aircraft production but left the military's other problems unresolved.

After London was bombed, British leaders debated retaliation and the huge forces needed to defend their empire. In Singapore, the Holy Roman Empire Navy attacked the harbor to lure in the British Far East Fleet, while Admiral Michel prepared to turn the trap against them with Japanese support.

• Asquith urged retaliation, but Attilio said British aircraft could not reach Vienna, and Adam and Marcus warned that bombing allied capitals could unite the Continental Alliance against Britain.
• Marcus estimated Britain needed two million regular troops and five million colonial troops to protect its homeland and overseas possessions, and Azevedo proposed sharing the burden with Oceanic Alliance allies.
• Admiral Arest halted his fleet outside Singapore and sent bombers to destroy the coastal guns, while Colonel Burks urgently requested reinforcements from Admiral Michel.
• Arest delayed the landing so the threatened defenders would draw the British Far East Fleet into the Strait of Malacca, where Holy Roman Empire forces had prepared an ambush.
• Admiral Michel, already approaching Malacca from Cam Ranh Bay, arranged to rendezvous with the Japanese Navy and ordered them to hurry for a decisive battle.

Admiral Ito Sukeyuki ordered the Japanese fleet to speed toward its British rendezvous after learning the decisive battle near Singapore was coming early. When a reconnaissance plane spotted the Japanese fleet, Admiral Arest learned of the new threat and chose to proceed with his plan to strike the enemy fleet.

• Admiral Ito Sukeyuki received the British telegram and ordered his fleet to increase speed as it neared the Anambas Islands.
• Hans spotted the Japanese Navy from his reconnaissance aircraft, and Leo immediately sent the discovery by telegraph.
• The news reached Admiral Arest outside Singapore Harbor less than half an hour later.
• Admiral Arest weighed the added danger of the Japanese fleet and decided to gamble on attacking, aiming to cripple the enemy's main fleet.

The Holy Roman Empire’s aircraft devastated the Anglo-Japanese Combined Fleet, leaving Admiral Ito Sukeyuki and Admiral Michel to consider escape and sacrifice. Michel agreed to Ito’s proposed charge, then ordered the fleet to break away and retreat toward Cam Ranh Bay at full speed.

• Arest ordered the fleet into battle formation and authorized the air force to take off as the Anglo-Japanese fleet approached.
• Holy Roman Empire aircraft bombed the combined fleet, damaging the Elizabeth, disabling one of its main guns, and sinking or crippling several Japanese ships.
• Ito Sukeyuki ordered the Japanese fleet to prepare to withdraw and considered using the British as a distraction, while Akiyama Saneyuki argued Japan could still serve the Holy Roman Empire’s interests.
• As attacks from carrier aircraft and land-based planes intensified, Michel received Ito’s proposal to charge the enemy at close range.
• Michel accepted the proposal, ordered the fleet to charge in five minutes, and directed the ships to cease fire and retreat toward Cam Ranh Bay at maximum speed.

The Holy Roman Empire Navy’s South Seas Fleet routed the British-Japanese coalition at the Strait of Malacca, destroying most of its capital ships. After learning of the victory, Emperor Franz ordered a worldwide propaganda campaign to weaken the Oceanic Alliance and strengthen his allies’ commitment to the war.

• Major Wallace held his submarines in ambush until the British-Japanese coalition began retreating, then ordered an attack on its capital ships.
• Admiral Michel ordered the British ships to scatter after submarine torpedoes struck the fleet, while Akiyama Saneyuki urged Admiral Ito Sukeyuki to break away from the British.
• A torpedo hit Admiral Ito Sukeyuki’s ship, knocking him unconscious as the battle continued and the coalition’s remaining ships were sunk or captured.
• Admiral Arest ordered the South Seas Fleet to stop attacking and rescue survivors after its decisive victory.
• Emperor Franz received news that the allied fleet had sunk or captured most of the coalition’s capital ships and ordered the results publicized worldwide.

After the Anglo-Japanese Allied Fleet was defeated at the Battle of Malacca, the British cabinet argued over how to counter the enemy’s air power and reassure its allies. In Russia, the victory of the South Seas Fleet sparked a debate over whether to abandon the Far East and move south into India, leaving the Tsarist Government to weigh the risks and coordinate with the Vienna Government.

• Prime Minister Campbell and the British cabinet received confirmation that the Anglo-Japanese Allied Fleet had lost the Battle of Malacca and that Admiral Michel was missing.
• Foreign Minister Adam warned that the defeat would damage Britain’s diplomacy and urged the government to prove it could still win the war.
• Naval Minister Swinding proposed creating a naval air arm, while Air Minister Attilio argued that Britain lacked the aircraft and personnel to challenge the enemy air force.
• Campbell ended the dispute by telling the navy to solve its own personnel problem and directing the Foreign Ministry to seek pilots and aircraft production from allies.
• In Russia, Naval Minister Leonid urged Nicholas II to abandon the Far East and move into India, while Interior Minister Vyacheslav and Foreign Minister Mikhailovich warned that the plan risked conflict with allies and the Vienna Government.

President Roosevelt weighed the Union’s commitment to Britain as the Oceanic Alliance’s prospects worsened, while Archduke Friedrich’s forces struggled against prepared Persian defenses. The chapter ended with Friedrich ordering a feint and sending three divisions through Russian territory to join the Russian attack on Persia.

• Castro reported that the Oceanic Alliance’s estimated chance of victory had fallen from 86.7 percent to roughly 56.7 percent, and Roosevelt ordered the Union to help Britain hold its territory.
• Archduke Friedrich observed that his army had gained less than a mile against Persian fortifications after a day of fighting and ordered the attack halted for the night.
• Friedrich concluded that the Empire needed cannon-fodder units but recognized that only the Emperor could decide on such military organization.
• Friedrich ordered the Third Division, Ninth Division, and Thirty-Sixth Division to feint from the front while the Seventh Division, Thirteenth Division, and Eighteenth Division went through the Russian Empire to attack Persia.
• When an officer warned that Russia had not been consulted, Friedrich argued that the troops would be joining Russia’s declared war on Persia as allies.

Franz approved a carefully planned landing on the British Isles while keeping the Holy Roman Empire’s broader strategy of weakening Britain in place. After the Battle of Malacca, Colonel Nigel brought the damaged Gale to Cam Ranh Bay and reported the fleet’s destruction as British control in East Asia continued to unravel.

• Russian pro-war forces pushed toward joining the war against Britain, while Franz treated their ambitions in Persia and India as a minor matter.
• Chief of Staff Morkes urged Franz to launch a landing on the British Isles, and Franz approved the plan on the condition that it be made thorough enough to limit casualties.
• Franz kept the landing plan alongside existing operations, which continued to target Britain’s industrial and military capacity.
• Colonel Nigel arrived at Cam Ranh Bay aboard the battered Gale, towed by a British merchant vessel after the warship’s power system failed.
• Nigel told Governor Evans that the Battle of Malacca had become a one-sided defeat and that the capital ship Elizabeth had likely been lost.
• Spain and the Netherlands joined the war, worsening Britain’s position in East Asia as its Far East Fleet fled the Continental Alliance.

Japan's leaders confronted the collapse of their naval power after the Battle of Malacca and debated seeking diplomatic support from the Holy Roman Empire. In Britain, the Holy Roman Air Force intensified its bombing of London while the British government struggled with air-force losses, rising public anger, and worsening supply costs.

• Katsura Tarō reported the losses at Malacca, the likely death of Admiral Ito Sukeyuki, and the British Far East Fleet's devastation to Emperor Meiji's conference.
• Hirobumi Ito argued that Japan could not fight at sea and should pursue diplomacy, while Inoue Kaoru warned that Japan's enemies and poor relations with Vienna made a breakthrough difficult.
• Hirobumi Ito speculated that postwar conflicts between Russia and the Holy Roman Empire might give Japan a chance to secure long-term support from Vienna.
• The Holy Roman Air Force used napalm bombs to set fires across London after the British Air Force retreated to Scotland.
• Prime Minister Campbell asked when the British Air Force could return to action, but Air Minister Attilio said it lacked aircraft and pilots and needed to preserve its strength against a possible invasion.
• Foreign Secretary Adam promised incoming allied pilots and aircraft, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Asquith warned that wartime shortages, rising prices, and dangerous shipping routes were worsening Britain's economic crisis.

British leaders argued over disrupted trade, overstretched forces, and shortages of weapons as the war opened multiple fronts. The chapter then shifted to the Russian Persian front, where Colonel Sikrest waited for permission to fight and struggled with his lack of influence.

• First Lord of the Admiralty Swinding proposed convoying merchant ships, but Commerce Minister Burns said regular convoys would disrupt trade and waste resources.
• Swinding said the Royal Navy could not protect shipping while enemy colonial ports remained, and War Secretary Marcus described Britain’s worsening fronts and limited ability to deploy troops.
• Marcus explained that Britain’s rapidly expanded army lacked enough officers, rifles, and ammunition, leaving Prime Minister Campbell troubled by the country’s production shortfalls.
• The Tsarist Government reinforced its border near Persia while repeatedly refusing Colonel Sikrest permission to fight.
• Colonel Sikrest reflected that he had missed the chance to serve on the coveted Afghanistan front and had been assigned to Persia because of his limited background.

Colonel Sikrest allowed Austrian troops to cross his sector and joined their attack on Persia, where the Persian defenses eventually collapsed. As Russia sent troops into India, Franz asked Friedrich how to prevent the Russians from gaining too much territory, and Friedrich proposed ending the war quickly and drawing European allies into a joint campaign.

• Colonel Sikrest received vague orders about allied forces, let the Austrian Army pass, and ordered his troops to prepare to attack Persia.
• Major General Chris called for air support as Russian and Austrian troops struggled against Persian fire, then the Persian defenders broke under the combined assault.
• Franz celebrated the war’s progress and learned from Friedrich that Russian troops had entered India.
• Franz asked Friedrich how to limit Russian gains, and Friedrich proposed accelerating the war and forming a Continental Allied Army to advance into India.
• Franz supported the plan and proposed promising European countries a share of India’s spoils in return for their contributions.

As British defenses at the Cape of Good Hope crumbled under Holy Roman Empire attacks, Lieutenant General Stad waited desperately for reinforcements while Captain Berlant prepared his company to face advancing tanks. On the attacking side, Baron von Reuter worried that the territory was too small to reward all 230,000 participants, leaving the postwar division of spoils unresolved.

• Lieutenant General Stad requested another telegram from Britain asking when reinforcements would arrive, as enemy attacks continued and colonial troops failed to stop the advance.
• Captain Berlant, newly appointed company commander after five predecessors had been lost or incapacitated, ordered his exhausted soldiers to prepare for the approaching enemy tanks.
• Holy Roman Empire tank forces advanced against the Cape of Good Hope’s defenders, taking advantage of Britain’s limited armor and anti-tank weapons.
• Baron von Reuter considered how to divide the territory and property of British South Africa among the many forces that had contributed to the campaign.
• Baron von Reuter concluded that the Cape’s limited farmland could scarcely accommodate ordinary soldiers, while rewarding the nobles risked violating the rules governing military merit and fiefs.

Japan formed pilot suicide squads to drive the Spanish Navy from its waters as Spanish attacks devastated its trade. After the Holy Roman Empire captured Djibouti, British leaders debated how to defend the Cape of Good Hope and prepare for a possible enemy landing.

• Saionji Kinmochi warned that Spanish attacks had sunk more than a hundred Japanese vessels, severed trade routes, and threatened the war effort.
• Yamagata Aritomo proposed using pilots to crash bomb-laden planes into Spanish warships, and Katsura Tarō approved the plan.
• Japanese recruits flocked to enlist, and the Divine Wind Special Attack Unit emerged, though Japan had no training experience for ramming ships with aircraft.
• On March 16, 1905, the Holy Roman East African Army captured Djibouti, forcing the remaining British troops to surrender and leaving the Cape of Good Hope as Britain's last foothold in Africa.
• British officials discussed the Cape's shortages and the enemy's air superiority as Coleman urged action and Attilio admitted the air force could not stop the enemy.
• Sigmund reported that the Holy Roman Empire was planning a landing, while Swinding argued that Britain should use submarines or suicide pilots to oppose it.

Britain faced growing military pressure as the Continental Alliance advanced across several fronts and its allies began doubting the war. In the South Seas, Governor William struggled to manage a million-man coalition army swollen by eager volunteers, and the chapter left the coming battles unresolved.

• Swinding learned that the Holy Roman Empire had at least two Dreadnought-class battleships in service, leaving the Royal Navy at a growing disadvantage.
• The Continental Alliance pressed its campaigns in India and Gibraltar while assembling a decisive force, and Oceanic Alliance governments worried that Britain could not hold out.
• After the Battle of Malacca, Britain contracted its position in the Far East, while Governor William faced more than a million coalition troops in the South Seas.
• William recognized that most of his coalition army was poorly trained, but he accepted the volunteers because their numbers pressured the British and their morale was high.
• William had promised the army at least five hundred Divine Shields or five hectares of land in death compensation, and he intended to honor that promise while aiming to conquer the Indochinese Peninsula.

Governor Robert Jervis sent the Seventh Army and Eighth Army to reinforce Indochina and called for further military expansion as the Continental Allied Forces advanced. In the Americas, the Oceanic Alliance’s offensives faltered, and Theodore Roosevelt demanded a new strategy against the Holy Roman Empire’s colonies.

• Robert Jervis ordered the Seventh Army and Eighth Army south to Indochina and summoned officials to discuss expanding the army.
• The Oceanic Alliance attacked the Holy Roman Empire’s American colonies, but Austrian Central America held and carried the fighting into Mexico and Colombia.
• American forces failed to defeat Spanish mercenaries in Cuba, leaving the Union’s campaign in a stalemate.
• Theodore Roosevelt berated the military after the allied offensives failed, while Melchior urged the Union to continue driving the Holy Roman Empire out of the Americas.
• Brigadier General Matthias told Roosevelt that the Holy Roman Empire’s Central American nobles commanded private armies and retained military roles in the reserves.

The Union struggled to recover from its failed offensives while the Continental Alliance assembled for an invasion of the British Isles. Britain mobilized its people and forces for the defense, but its leaders faced overwhelming naval and aerial disadvantages as the landing approached.

• Roosevelt recognized that the Union’s offensives had failed, leaving it to reinforce Mexico and Colombia while fearing that new enemies could join the war.
• The Continental Alliance gathered more than 180 warships in the English Channel as British leaders hesitated to expose the Royal Navy to enemy air raids.
• Prime Minister Campbell called for national resistance, and Britain deployed a million troops along the Channel with reserves and militiamen behind them.
• Swinding and Attilio described the Royal Navy’s and Air Force’s preparations, with Attilio pledging to tie down enemy aircraft despite Britain’s inferior aviation industry.
• Adam announced agreements to import 200 Japanese suicide-squad pilots, recruit foreign volunteers, and support independence movements and uprisings abroad.

The Continental Alliance and Royal Navy fought a devastating first battle in the English Channel, with the allied forces holding the clearer advantage in the air but no decisive result at sea. Crown Prince Friedrich received the battle report and faced the political fallout from several allied navies being destroyed, while Morkes said the full balance of losses remained uncertain.

• Crown Prince Friedrich commanded the allied forces from Calais while Morkes served as Chief of Staff and directed the multinational forces at the front.
• The Continental Allied Fleet and Royal Navy fought a brutal naval battle as their air forces clashed overhead, and both sides withdrew at nightfall to rescue survivors.
• The British Air Force initially pushed back the Holy Roman Air Force, but later waves reversed the advantage and left the British fighting defensively.
• Crown Prince Friedrich learned that Montenegro, Sardinia, Two Sicilies, and Belgium had lost their navies, Greece had one destroyer left, and the Nordic Federation had lost more than half its fleet.
• Crown Prince Friedrich asked Morkes what the allies had achieved after suffering heavy losses, and Morkes said the allies likely had the advantage in the air but the naval balance was unclear.

After Britain’s navy and air force suffered heavy losses without stopping the Continental Alliance, Campbell’s government faced the prospect of defending the British Isles and losing the war. Campbell rejected further waiting and ordered Britain to unleash revolutionary groups and sleeper agents across Europe, leaving the story poised for a covert campaign against the enemy.

• Campbell reviewed the battle report and told the government that Britain’s naval interception plan had failed and the defense of the British Isles would be brutal.
• Marcus said the army would fight to the death but argued that the navy and air force had to take more proactive action to win the war.
• Swinding said the Royal Navy would raid enemy troop transports and supply vessels with fast warships and submarines, while postponing a full-scale counteroffensive for three months.
• Attilio said the air force would target enemy transports, avoid another chance encounter, and wait for Japan’s suicide squads before attempting a surprise attack on the main enemy fleet.
• Campbell concluded that Britain had little chance of winning and ordered revolutionary parties sheltered by Britain sent home, sleeper agents across Europe activated, and both groups given support.

After Persia fell, the Continental Alliance advanced toward India while its members competed over the spoils, and British-backed unrest plunged Europe into rebellions and strikes. Britain also faced growing anti-war strikes at home, with Dublin’s independence movement gaining strength.

• On May 27, the Continental Allied Army and the southbound Russian Army linked up in Khorasan, and Tehran surrendered, ending the Persian Empire.
• Archduke Friedrich moved Allied Headquarters to Zahedan and focused on repairing Persia’s railways to support the advance toward India.
• The Continental Alliance’s members began secretly undermining one another as they competed for influence over India, while Franz stayed out of the disputes.
• Britain supported revolutionary movements across Europe, and uprisings spread through Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Lithuania, and other regions.
• Republican, religious, and anti-war movements erupted in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hanover, Prussia, and the Netherlands.
• On June 16, anti-war strikes began in Bradford and spread to other British cities, while Dublin’s independence movement grew.

European unrest disrupted the Alliance’s campaigns, while its members supported movements against Russia as the empire descended into strikes and rebellion. Nicholas II learned that the Vienna Government had sharply reduced Russia’s strategic-material quota to supply Russian troops trapped in India, and he ordered an appeal for more supplies.

• Railway sabotage and civil unrest cut off Russian supply routes, stranded the Russian Army in India, and forced the Alliance to delay its offensive.
• Strikes and political unrest disrupted France, while Allied governments helped suppress opposition and restore friendly rulers elsewhere in Europe.
• Hanoverian authorities suppressed anti-war activists, while Prussia allowed anti-Russian demonstrations to continue.
• The Nordic Federation backed Finnish independence, and Prussia supported Polish independence with money and former military commanders.
• Nicholas II faced escalating strikes and rebellions across Russia as the empire’s railway lines and supply stores fell to rebels.
• Mikhailovich told Nicholas II that the Vienna Government had reduced Russia’s strategic-material quota to about ten percent, prompting Nicholas to order a request for increased supplies.