Recaps

Moreau’s victories forced Austria into crisis as defeat, shortages, and unrest brought Vienna to rebellion and pushed Franz II toward a ceasefire. Joseph held France back from invading Austria and turned to economic plans for stabilizing and integrating the Rhineland.

• Moreau defeated and captured Dernberg’s Bavarian army, then secured Bavaria’s alliance with France as Napoleon’s forces advanced against Austria.
• Napoleon’s army defeated Alvinzi and scattered the Austrian forces around the Vesio River, while Augereau’s troops drove Würmser and Bajachaza north and Beaulieu surrendered Mantua.
• Madam Scheller learned David had died, while Lucas was conscripted and Baron Scheller joined protests demanding an end to conscription and peace with France.
• Protests and looting spread through Vienna, and Franz II authorized troops to suppress the unrest as demonstrators demanded bread, pensions, and an end to the war tax.
• Lucas joined armed rebels who fought Hungarian troops, while Franz II fled Vienna and Schwarz led a dwindling resistance against Grasalkovich’s army.
• Kossuth organized Hungarian, Serbian, and Romanian rebels, while Kobzl joined Kaunitz’s faction and helped persuade Franz II to remove Thugut and approve a ceasefire with France.
• Joseph ordered Berthier to keep Napoleon from attacking Austria and directed reforms, police measures, and economic investment to stabilize the Rhineland.
• Joseph planned to develop Rhineland resources by delaying coal extraction, prioritizing potash and other materials, and using potash and North African phosphate to produce fertilizer.

Joseph used Austria’s defeat to reshape European diplomacy, strengthen France’s economic reach, and pursue new international institutions while arranging alliances and military support. The arc ended with Scheller witnessing France’s prosperity and Elijah agreeing to lend the money needed to save Lucas.

• Joseph arranged Madame Adelaide’s marriage to Ercole III and offered her the chance to rule an expanded Modena as queen.
• Austria accepted Joseph’s ceasefire terms, but the agreement triggered unrest that Archduke Karl struggled to suppress as Prussia weighed intervention.
• Joseph supported reforms to the Spanish Church and promoted football in the Rhineland while Achard developed high-sugar, sterile sugar beets for French industry.
• Joseph conceived a professionalized French Cabinet and proposed an International Maritime Convention that Frederick agreed to promote.
• Joseph negotiated Ottoman military aid and trade privileges, secured Austria’s participation in the maritime organization, and used Russia’s marriage alliance and arms deliveries to influence events.
• Talleyrand warned Russia of a Persian threat and steered Zubov toward a Caucasus campaign, while Scheller’s journey through France revealed its industry, railways, and social reforms.
• Scheller reached Elijah’s home, where Elijah promised a loan of more than 4,000 Francs to help save Lucas and explained his profitable cosmetics business.

Joseph managed military schemes in Portugal and Klagenfurt while advancing administrative and medical reforms across France and its allies. The arc ended with Covisat and Perna preparing medical experiments and equipment under Joseph’s direction.

• Corinna chose to marry the wounded Twaite, and Massena announced their betrothal and honored Twaite for his service.
• Napoleon and Desaix planned a covert operation against Klagenfurt, while Wellesley cut off supplies to the Franco-Spanish army besieging Porto.
• Archduke Karl defeated Mustafa’s Ottoman forces using ammunition apparently supplied to Austria by Marie Antoinette.
• Joseph advanced civil-service, labor, and health reforms, including a plan to train village assistant doctors, and helped Baron Scheller’s family reach Paris.
• Joseph let Desaix’s false-flag operation at Klagenfurt unfold, then Lefebvre arrested Desaix and Napoleon after the scheme was exposed.
• Joseph celebrated France’s victory by announcing the Triumphal Arch and urged Perna to build a practical system of care for poor communities.
• Covisat and Perna presented their Assistant Doctor’s Handbook, and Joseph ordered cowpox inoculation experiments and the development of medical equipment.
• Joseph established a Drug Standards Laboratory for double-blind experiments and told Covisat to keep the handbook cautious until treatments had been tested.

Joseph expanded France’s military, industrial, and agricultural plans while the war in Portugal intensified and Alexandra arrived in Paris. The stretch ended with Napoleon sent into exile and Britain preparing to reinforce Portugal while Pitt called for sweeping reforms to counter France.

• Joseph ordered intelligence agencies reorganized, pressed for strict military discipline, and began planning political commissars as France celebrated Louis XVI’s birthday.
• Joseph and Louis XVI planned a Steam Forging Machine and an Engineering Design Institute, while European delegates founded the International Maritime Convention Organization in Copenhagen.
• Wellesley’s forces fought Talavera’s army, then withdrew toward Coimbra as French and Spanish troops advanced and Portuguese villagers resisted British relocation orders.
• Joseph promoted France’s Second Military Reform and prepared reinforcements for Iberia, while Laplaisir’s militia and French cavalry defeated the British at Dusal Town.
• Joseph expanded plans for fertilizer, mining, steel, chemicals, medicines, and other industries, then directed Gaudin to arrange financing for the industrial program.
• Alexandra arrived in Paris, publicly signaled her willingness to convert to Catholicism, gave Joseph a sonnet, and offered to help organize public events.
• Napoleon sent Joseph an apology and military proposals, and Berthier explained Joseph’s new army tactics and structure before Napoleon was escorted toward exile on Elba.
• Pitt’s Cabinet decided to reinforce Wellesley’s expeditionary force to thirty-five thousand men and seize the Cape of Good Hope, while Pitt demanded sweeping British reform to match France.