Chapter Summaries

Sheikh Khan arranged the poisoning of more than three hundred released prisoners, triggering a scandal that ruined Jahan Zeb’s standing in Mysore. As anti-English anger spread, Tipu Sultan sent Jahan Zeb into exile, while Griffith learned that Tipu was preparing to declare war on Travancore and the East India Company.

• Sheikh Khan admitted to Salah that he had arranged for cooks to poison the prisoners and planned to eliminate the witnesses.
• Salah and his allies spread news of the massacre, prompting public outrage and accusations against Jahan Zeb.
• Tipu Sultan heard Jahan Zeb’s pleas but ordered him to pay the victims’ families and leave Mysore on pilgrimage, effectively exiling him.
• Shah accused Jahan Zeb of taking English benefits and persecuting Mysore’s people, while Tipu Sultan confirmed that the allegations about English conduct were true.
• Griffith learned that Tipu Sultan was preparing to declare war on Travancore and the East India Company.

Salah and Lafayette maneuvered Tipu Sultan into viewing the British withdrawal from Mysore as preparation for another invasion. Tipu decided to strike first, and the ministers approved a war against Britain, leaving Lafayette to lead Mysore's forces.

• Griffith investigated Tipu Sultan's attitude, was rebuked at the palace, and recommended that British personnel evacuate Mysore before arranging their withdrawal.
• Salah learned that the British were leaving after his agents planted intelligence suggesting Tipu planned to attack them.
• Lafayette and Salah urged Tipu to interpret the British withdrawal as a prelude to war, and Salah reminded him of Britain's past devastation of Mysore.
• Tipu resolved to attack Britain first and summoned his ministers, inviting Lafayette to attend their meeting.
• Lafayette told Salah that the ministers had unanimously approved war against Britain and promised to lead Mysore's army.

Lafayette learned that Tipu Sultan had awarded him Mysore’s highest military title, while the European front saw Hanoverian and Dutch commanders discuss the war and France’s supposed limits. Leo, reinforced with eight thousand Austrian soldiers, faced pressure from Lefebvre to resume fighting.

• Lafayette showed Salah the ribbon marking his Umdah title and invited him to the investiture ceremony.
• Karl II complained to General Karel van Bronckhorst about the Southern Netherlands Parliament and its idle troops, then voiced support for merging the Dutch and Southern Netherlands parliaments.
• Karl II told Bronckhorst that France lacked the resources to send more troops to the Low Countries and predicted the fighting would end after the French force in Luxembourg was defeated.
• Leo asked Lefebvre to let his troops rest and reorganize, but Lefebvre pointed to the Austrian reinforcements and urged him to act.

Leo sought the Crown Prince’s permission to have Lefebvre’s troops support him against Blücher, while Joseph considered how to finance France’s costly war and visited the wounded in Luxembourg. Joseph left the soldiers with a public salute and praise as France’s heroes.

• Leo asked Lefebvre to reinforce him when he fought the Prussians, and Lefebvre suggested he appeal to the Crown Prince in Clervaux.
• Joseph reviewed reports showing that French military spending had reached roughly seventeen million livres and worried that a prolonged war would overwhelm the national finances.
• Joseph considered issuing more bank notes and developing new forms of insurance to raise money for the war.
• Joseph visited the Royal Guard’s battlefield hospital, where Perna and local residents cared for more than three hundred wounded soldiers.
• Joseph removed his hat, saluted the wounded, and told them France was honored by their sacrifice and devotion.

Joseph visited wounded soldiers at the Battlefield Hospital, promised greater support for casualties and their families, and conceived a lightweight bulletproof insert for French uniforms. He prepared to ask Lavoisier to help develop it when Eman announced that General Leo had arrived.

• Wounded soldiers cheered for Joseph, the King, and France as he visited them at the Battlefield Hospital.
• Joseph told Berthier to raise casualty pensions by 20%, find government work for wounded soldiers, and increase support for affected families.
• Joseph considered ways to protect soldiers from bullets and devised a lightweight insert made from metal, silk, and ceramic.
• Joseph wrote down his equipment idea and was about to write to Lavoisier when Eman announced General Leo's arrival.

Joseph persuaded Leo to let French troops enter Southern Netherlands under Leo’s authority, while Leo hoped to recover the region and win greater standing. The chapter then shifted to the Liegnitz battlefield in Silesia, where Kellermann commented on a chess game as cannon fire sounded in the distance.

• Joseph told Leo that Karl II was marching twenty-four thousand Hanoverian and Netherlands troops to reinforce Blücher at Liège.
• Joseph warned Leo that a defeat could make him responsible for losing Southern Netherlands, and Leo asked for French troops to help attack Blücher.
• Joseph agreed to send French forces and proposed that they also confront Karl II and the Netherlands troops east of Brussels.
• Joseph’s real plan was for Leo’s army to fight the Prussians while the French bypassed Liège and occupied Brussels under the pretext of helping Austria.
• Leo accepted the arrangement, hoping that retaking Southern Netherlands would bring him a marshal’s title and influence in Vienna.
• At Liegnitz, Kellermann listened to distant cannon fire and said that the chess game before him would end in a draw.

The Austrian army remained deadlocked with Prussia at Liegnitz, leaving Leopold II convinced that Austria’s finances could not sustain the war without a major offensive. He urged Joseph II to suspend reforms and restore noble privileges to mobilize troops and money, while Joseph redirected him toward Leo’s campaign in the Southern Netherlands; the chapter ended with Joseph overseeing a French Steel Technology Association acquisition in Luxembourg.

• General Kellermann discussed the stalemate at Liegnitz, where Austrian and Prussian artillery had bombarded each other for a month without a breakthrough.
• Leopold II returned from inspecting the front and warned Joseph II that Austria needed 80,000 more troops and could not afford to continue the war without a decisive advance.
• Leopold II urged Joseph II to suspend reforms, restore noble privileges, and stop extra payments to Serfs in exchange for troops and funds.
• Joseph II declined to decide immediately and asked Leopold II to find 10,000 reinforcements for Leo’s plan to capture Brussels with help from Archbishop Constantine and General Würmser.
• Leopold II left to consult State Minister Kaunitz, while Joseph went to Luxembourg City to preside over the French Steel Technology Association’s acquisition of eleven Iron Mines and two smelting workshops.

Joseph bought Luxembourg’s iron mines and other assets cheaply, planning to use them to expand France’s steel industry while securing the region against future wars. In Paris, Alexei accompanied Grand Duchess Alexandra at Eden Amusement Park.

• Luxembourg mine owners signed agreements selling their iron mines to the French Steel Technology Association as war fears drove down prices.
• Joseph acquired more than ten major iron mines for under eight hundred thousand Livre and arranged for French steel companies to build plants nearby.
• Joseph planned to combine Luxembourg’s iron resources with Wallonia’s coal and considered turning both regions into inland provinces for greater strategic security.
• Alexei watched Grand Duchess Alexandra ride a carousel at Eden Amusement Park, then quietly had a nearby guard arrange to make it go faster.

Alexandra Pavlovna spent a day at a Paris amusement park with her uncle Alexei before beginning painting lessons with Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Although the other aristocratic students looked down on her, Greuze was struck by the skill and vitality in her first painting.

• Alexandra persuaded Alexei to take her on the amusement park rides, including the Log Flume.
• Alexandra teased Alexei about delays on their journey and suggested he build an amusement park in Saint Petersburg.
• Alexandra prepared her paints and clothes for her first lesson with Monsieur Greuze.
• At Greuze's lesson, the other aristocratic girls regarded Alexandra as an uncultured Russian outsider.
• Greuze examined Alexandra's portrait and was impressed by how well she had applied his instruction and by the life in her painting.

Alexandra outpainted her French classmates, then rejected their challenge to prove herself at the Lorraine-Chateau Exhibition. When Clarice and Marissa arrived at the exhibition, their paintings had vanished, while the organizer had secretly removed them to avoid offending Alexandra’s powerful Russian sponsor.

• Mr. Greuze praised Alexandra’s portrait of Joanna and urged Clarice, Marissa, and Stella to learn from it.
• Marissa and the other girls mocked Alexandra’s painting, so Alexandra retorted that they should practice instead of talking.
• Marissa challenged Alexandra to submit a painting to the Lorraine-Chateau Exhibition, but Alexandra refused.
• The exhibition organizer learned of the girls’ dispute and ordered Clarice’s and Marissa’s paintings removed to protect the Russian grand duchess’s family, the exhibition’s main sponsor.
• Clarice and Marissa arrived at the exhibition with other young nobles and found their room empty, with their paintings missing.

Clarice and Marissa discovered that termites had ruined their paintings, while Alexandra attended the exhibition with Alexei and Count Stroganov. Stroganov told Queen Mary that Russia supported a proposal for Russian claims to eastern Sweden, leaving her bewildered by promises Joseph had made without her knowledge.

• Clarice and Marissa found their paintings missing from the exhibition and learned that a termite infestation had damaged them.
• Clarice found her painting stained and ruined, then ran downstairs in tears.
• Alexandra toured the exhibition with Alexei and Count Stroganov before greeting Louis XVI and Queen Mary.
• Stroganov praised Queen Mary’s supposed policies and support for Russia, then raised the Swedish Proposal.
• Queen Mary asked what Talleyrand had promised, and Stroganov said she supported Russia’s claims to eastern Sweden and the Gulf of Finland becoming a Russian inland sea.

Russian Ambassador Stroganov urged Queen Mary to ally with Russia, claiming the two powers could reshape Europe and divide territory between them. Queen Mary mistook his proposals for drunken rambling, while Catherine II’s ambitions threatened to set the continent in upheaval if the proposed royal marriage proceeded.

• Joseph supported Russia's war against Sweden, expecting Britain to help Sweden resist Russian expansion and the conflict to give Poland time to strengthen.
• Stroganov told Queen Mary that Catherine II backed France's ambitions in the Low Countries and could support its advance toward the Rhine.
• Stroganov proposed that France and Russia join forces to divide Europe, with Russia's army crossing Poland after the Swedish war and attacking Austria from the east.
• Queen Mary concluded Stroganov was drunk and politely offered him a resting room, while he assumed she needed time to consider the proposal.
• Stroganov pointed to Alexandra as evidence of Catherine II's sincerity, and the chapter ended with the possibility that choosing her as Crown Princess Consort would plunge Europe into turmoil.

Catherine II chose France as Russia’s best partner, and Queen Mary sent Count Stroganov’s trade proposal to Joseph for handling. In Luxembourg, Viscount Olivier’s expanding Ironworks prospered with Joseph’s hot-blast technology, and news of a planned iron railway encouraged him to consider further expansion.

• Catherine II judged Austria weak, Prussia constrained, and France a useful partner that could distract Europe while Russia pursued its own aims.
• Queen Mary reviewed Count Stroganov’s proposal to develop Russia-France trade and sent it to Joseph.
• Viscount Olivier watched construction of his Luxembourg Ironworks, which used Joseph’s hot-blast technology to produce high-demand Iron Ingots.
• Mr. Grigore worried that war might reach Luxembourg, but Viscount Olivier reassured him that the government was investing in a railway to Verdun.
• The General Manager of Wilhaury Steel reported that the railway would use iron rails, prompting Viscount Olivier to consider borrowing money to expand his Ironworks.

Joseph led the Royal Guard Legion out of Luxembourg on a secret march toward Antwerp, bypassing Blücher’s forces and leaving the Hanoverian Army behind. As the troops began crossing the mountains south of Aachen, Napoleon learned that Joseph planned to use an “Encirclement and Interpenetration” tactic to disrupt the enemy’s defensive line.

• The rail connection between Luxembourg and Verdun enabled direct freight transport, and Joseph’s government began planning public fundraising for Wooden Railway construction.
• Joseph rejected Berthier’s advice to stay in Luxembourg City and insisted on accompanying the Royal Guard Legion into enemy territory.
• The soldiers cheered Joseph and vowed to protect him as the army marched north from Luxembourg.
• Napoleon realized the legion was not heading to intercept the Hanoverian Army and asked Colonel Dumont about their destination.
• Colonel Dumont told Napoleon that the target was Antwerp and explained that Joseph had proposed an “Encirclement and Interpenetration” tactic to unsettle the enemy’s defenses.

Colonel Dumont explained to Napoleon how the Crown Prince planned to use encirclement and interpenetration to draw Karl II away from the Prussians and avoid a costly direct battle. In the Southern Netherlands Parliament, news that the French Army was approaching Antwerp prompted Van der Noot to urgently seek Karl II’s help.

• Colonel Dumont told Napoleon that threatening Antwerp would force Karl II to turn back, but withheld the rest of the secret deployment.
• Joseph’s Royal Guard Legion prepared to use the Southern Netherlands’ local support and the enemy’s need to defend key locations to avoid a head-on fight.
• Onck’s Conservative faction defended its decision to keep the Southern Netherlands army out of the fighting, citing its secret agreement with France.
• An officer burst into the Parliament hall and reported that the French Army was less than ten miles from Antwerp.
• Van der Noot called for an urgent request for aid from Karl II.

Van der Noot and the Southern Netherlands Parliament scrambled to respond as French forces advanced, while Karl II turned the Hanoverian-Netherlands Allied Forces back toward Antwerp. Joseph learned that the enemy had returned north and prepared to march for Ghent, using paid local supply collection to spread French bank notes.

• Van der Noot sent another messenger to seek Karl II’s help and proposed that General Witt return to Brussels with the National Guard and conscript six thousand soldiers.
• Conservative parliamentarians confronted Onck, who claimed France was targeting the Netherlands and urged cooperation with the French to weaken Austrian influence.
• Karl II ordered the Hanoverian-Netherlands Allied Forces to turn back toward Antwerp, but the difficult reorganization delayed their march until evening.
• Joseph learned that the Allied Forces had returned north toward Brussels, and Berthier ordered the supply units back before the Royal Guard Legion marched for Ghent.
• Joseph’s troops paid local farmers above market price, mainly with French Reserve Bank notes, to extend the use of paper money in Southern Netherlands.

Joseph led the Royal Guard Legion into Ghent Province while using paid local procurement and avoiding a premature attack on the compact Hanoverian Army. As the French repeatedly changed direction, Karl II pursued them toward Ghent and then Liège, leaving the Dutch Army behind and believing the French were targeting the Prussians.

• Joseph explained that the legion would pay for local supplies and approved Major Mason’s decision not to attack the compact Hanoverian formation.
• Napoleon deduced that the legion’s real objective was to destroy the rebel main force at Ghent rather than attack Brussels directly.
• Karl II ordered the Hanoverian Army west toward Ghent after learning the French were heading there, and the Dutch Army followed.
• The Southern Netherlands rebels at Ghent received news of the French advance and prepared their defenses.
• After the French turned southeast, Karl II realized they were heading for the Prussian Army at Liège and ordered the Hanoverians there, leaving the Dutch several kilometers behind.

Joseph used misleading reports and quick movements to disrupt the Hanoverian and Dutch armies while Karl II tried to protect the Southern Netherlands Parliament. Karl II turned his army back toward Antwerp, and his detached regiment suffered a French ambush.

• Joseph accepted Viscount Flotte’s oats and intelligence, then decided to return toward Antwerp instead of rushing into battle with the Hanoverian Army.
• Major Mason confirmed the Dutch Army was near Waterloo and ordered a forced march to attack it.
• General Bronckhorst halted his Dutch column to confront the French, whose skirmishers struck the supply wagons and vanguard before withdrawing.
• After hearing of the attack, Karl II sent an infantry regiment and three cavalry squadrons to support the Dutch, then turned his main army north when told the French had returned to Antwerp.
• Karl II learned that the French had ambushed his dispatched regiment, costing it several hundred men.

Joseph and Berthier planned an encirclement and interpenetration attack against Karl II’s dispersed Hanoverian forces near Antwerp. The Royal Guard Legion struck before the Hanoverians could regroup, while Karl II struggled to defend his main force and scattered troops.

• Karl II sent reinforcements to the Dutch and Hussars to scout after Mason’s forces ambushed the Dutch and withdrew toward Antwerp.
• Berthier mapped the Hanoverian positions, and Joseph approved a plan to cut between Karl II’s main force and its scattered regiments.
• After a forced march, Joseph’s Royal Guard Legion attacked southeast of Antwerp and separated Karl II from the legion he had sent to reinforce the Dutch.
• Karl II ordered Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt to hold a defensive line and told other troops to regroup and recover supplies and artillery.
• The Royal Guard Legion’s horse artillery and dragoons cut through the gap between the Hanoverian main force and its rear artillery, while the main force attacked three scattered Hanoverian regiments.
• The Hanoverian regiments broke apart under the Royal Guard Legion’s assault before they could fire a volley.

The Royal Guard Legion broke the Hanoverian line while Mura’s cavalry pursued the fleeing soldiers, and Lacoste’s Horse Artillery stalled enemy reinforcements with repeated attacks. As Joseph considered how to assault Ogechina Village, he learned the Horse Artillery had struck the Hanoverians north of it.

• The Royal Guard Legion split the Hanoverian Infantry Line, prompting soldiers and officers to flee as Mura led the cavalry in pursuit.
• Lacoste positioned his Horse Artillery north of Ogechina Village and ordered it to delay Hanoverian reinforcements while the French cavalry attacked their rear.
• The Horse Artillery repelled an assault by Hanoverian Skirmishers, then repeatedly fired on the enemy flank before moving away.
• Joseph and Berthier weighed the danger of storming Ogechina Village against the time required to go around it or cross the river.
• Hussars reported to Joseph that the Horse Artillery battalion had attacked the Hanoverians north of the village.