Chapter Summaries

Joseph discovered Jouffroy’s Poroskafi paddle wheel ship and moved to develop it into a mass-produced inland cargo vessel. The chapter ended with Joseph ordering plans for a shipyard and aiming for high production to transform river transport.

• Joseph asked Jouffroy to demonstrate the Poroskafi, and Jouffroy explained that it needed five days of repairs he could not afford.
• Jouffroy showed Joseph the Poroskafi’s design drawings, and Borda judged its structure reasonable enough to adapt into a small cargo ship.
• Joseph ordered an experienced designer to help Jouffroy prepare a production-ready design within three months.
• Joseph offered 1.5 million francs to establish a shipyard, while promising Jouffroy ten percent of its shares and ownership of the new ship’s patent.
• Joseph explained that paddle wheel steamships could sharply reduce inland transport times and costs, then ordered Borda to summon professionals and plan the shipyard.

Boulton and Watt struggled to secure investment as their Steam Engine company fell behind French high-pressure technology, while Boulton proposed hiring John Sander to obtain it. After Leopold II's death, Earl of Rhinefels reported the failed Rhine-Seine River Treaty negotiations to Franz II, who faced Austria's continuing trade troubles.

• Boulton urged Watt to promote high-pressure Steam Engines to investor Sir Falkner, despite Watt's opposition to the technology.
• Falkner rejected their initial offer, but agreed to invest 75,000 pounds if Boulton recruited John Sander to bring high-pressure Steam Engine technology to the company.
• Earl of Rhinefels received news that Leopold II had died and felt relieved that Vienna might pay less attention to his failed treaty negotiations.
• Earl of Rhinefels told Franz II that French military exercises had pressured Hesse, Augsburg, and other states into opposing the Rhine-Seine River Treaty.
• Franz II asked Baron Thugut whether Austria's finances would remain burdened by trade, as Baron Walter denounced the French.

Franz II reversed his plan to accommodate France after his mother urged him to rule more forcefully. He sent Earl of Rhinefels back to France with a tougher strategy for revising the Rhine-Seine River Treaty, then received a financial report from Baron Thugut.

• Baron Thugut and Earl of Rhinefels advised Franz II to negotiate separate tariff quotas with France to stabilize Austria's trade revenues.
• Ludovica told Franz II to punish the failed diplomat and confront France rather than yield to it.
• The next day, Franz II fined Earl of Rhinefels half a year's annuity and rejected the previous negotiation plan.
• Kolinek proposed using Austria's influence over the Italian states to threaten France's access to their markets, while Earl of Rhinefels suggested joint military exercises with Tuscany.
• Franz II approved a tougher diplomatic plan and again assigned Earl of Rhinefels to travel to France.
• Baron Thugut stayed behind and gave Franz II a written report on the empire's finances.

Franz II reviewed Austria’s heavy debts and ordered Polish troops withdrawn from suppressing the Serbian Rebellion. In Wallonia, police crushed British-backed attempts to stir an uprising, forcing Captain Pickering to suspend the plan.

• Franz II learned Austria’s debt had reached 110 million florins, but dismissed Baron Thugut’s proposal to implement paper money until after his coronation.
• Franz II ordered the Polish troops sent home and directed the Royal German Legion to take over suppressing the Serbian Rebellion, while withholding the Poles’ unpaid wages.
• Walloon police ambushed gun smugglers near Mons, raided an uprising meeting south of Ghent, and intercepted an armed group outside Namur.
• Captain Pickering reported to George Kevin that nearly all of the British operation’s more than two hundred men had been lost and the plan had to be suspended.
• George Kevin learned that the plan to provoke conflict between Wallonia and Flanders had failed because Walloon police repeatedly defeated the British-backed groups.

Kevin uncovered France’s extensive investment in Wallonia’s police forces and industries, giving Lord Grenville new leverage over the region. Meanwhile, Austria demanded major changes to its trade agreement with France and backed its demands with military exercises in Tuscany.

• Kevin learned that Wallonia had more than four thousand police officers and ordered an investigation into their recruitment, training, and funding.
• Kevin reported to Lord Grenville that France funded thousands of Walloon police and controlled much of the region’s commerce and industry.
• Grenville concluded that the intelligence offered Britain more effective ways to influence the young emperor in Vienna.
• Earl of Rhinefels demanded higher Austrian tariffs and new restrictions on French goods, while Bayei rejected the demands.
• An official informed Bayei that Austria had gathered thirty thousand troops for exercises in Tuscany as pressure for trade renegotiations.

Joseph responded to Austria’s trade threats by ordering France to strengthen its position in Italy, while Russian troop and supply movements warned that Poland faced a coming war. A week later, French envoy Count Segur tried to secure Modena’s cooperation, but Duke Ercole III said several Italian states were already leaning toward Austria.

• Bayei reported that Austria demanded a renegotiation of the treaty and threatened punitive tariffs, while sending troops to Tuscany for exercises.
• Joseph told Bayei to stall Austria’s foreign minister and ordered General Berthier to plan French military exercises in Italy.
• Fouche reported Russian troops and supplies gathering near Ula and Kiev, and Joseph discussed Poland’s preparations with Berthier.
• Joseph sent Count Segur to Modena, where Duke Ercole III warned that Venice and Tuscany supported Franz II’s proposal and Parma and the Two Sicilies were considering it.

Count Segur secured Modena’s cooperation with France by offering military support and a furniture factory, then French forces staged an exercise that threw the Austrian Army into confusion. General Kaim discovered the next day that the press had reported the incident as thirty thousand Austrians fleeing in panic.

• Count Segur persuaded Ercole III to sign a secret military agreement with France by promising protection and a share of French furniture business.
• Four days later, General Kaim led the Austrian Army through Parma as it returned from its exercises.
• Modena’s officials told Kaim that France and Modena would hold military exercises, but he dismissed the warning.
• French cannon and gunfire struck near the Austrian column, and a cavalry charge caused soldiers to scatter in panic.
• Reporters questioned Kaim and the Austrian soldiers, then a newspaper headline claimed that five thousand French troops had sent thirty thousand Austrians into panicked flight.

General Kaim suppressed his anger after the French embarrassed his army, while reports of the incident spread across Italy and weakened Austria’s trade negotiations with France. After Franz II’s coronation, he worried over Austria’s finances and military, then met William II of Prussia, who raised Austria’s financial troubles.

• General Kaim recalled the French Royal Guard Legion’s strength, abandoned thoughts of attacking, and ordered his officers not to mention the incident again.
• Italian newspapers spread exaggerated stories about the Austrian Army’s panic, while Parma and the Two Sicilies reconsidered tariff increases on France and Tuscany imposed only modest ones.
• The Earl of Rhinefels learned that France would not revise the Rhine-Seine River Treaty, and Bayei firmly rejected further negotiations.
• After his coronation in Prague, Franz II blamed the Earl of Rhinefels and ordered Kaim to manage a warehouse, then worried about the money needed for trade and military reforms.
• Bathurst arranged a meeting between Franz II and William II, who visited the emperor and brought up Austria’s financial troubles.

William II urged Franz II to partition Poland, promising Austria Lesser Poland and proposing that Prussia expand eastward with British support. In Warsaw, Prince Poniatowski learned that Poland faced an impending invasion involving more than just Russia.

• William II described Austria’s financial troubles and proposed that Austria acquire fertile Lesser Poland to improve its finances.
• Franz II objected that Austria had never claimed Polish territory and had upheld Poland’s integrity, but William II argued that the land’s silver mines and Austria’s military ambitions made it valuable.
• William II said Prussia had secretly agreed with Catherine II on a division of Polish territory and offered British involvement as a check on Russia.
• Franz II postponed a decision until after his coronation, while William II said he would await his answer.
• In Warsaw, Prince Poniatowski questioned Sieyès about reports of Russian troop movements and whether they signaled a full-scale war.
• Sieyès assured Prince Poniatowski that Poland would face an unprecedented invasion within six months, and that Russia would not be the only attacker.

Sieyès learned that Poland was poorly prepared to resist Russia and warned Joseph that its defenses and army were inadequate. Joseph summoned Prince Poniatowski to Paris, where the prince arrived in May 1792 and marveled at the city’s transformation.

• Sieyès warned Prince Poniatowski that Prussia might attack Danzig while Russia invaded, but Poniatowski trusted the alliance and described Poland’s military preparations.
• Prince Poniatowski told Sieyès that Poland could recruit only twenty thousand more soldiers and planned to defend a shortened eastern line while abandoning much of its southeastern territory.
• Sieyès reported Poland’s weak war preparations to Joseph, who concluded that Poland might only delay its eventual partition by one or two years.
• Joseph ordered Berthier to recall the French military advisory group and arranged for Prince Poniatowski to come to Paris with Polish officers as his entourage.
• On May 15, 1792, Prince Poniatowski traveled through Paris and admired its streetlights, shops, public carriages, clean roads, and other improvements.

Prince Poniatowski met Joseph at Versailles to discuss France’s support for Poland as the country prepared for war. Joseph offered investments in Gdańsk Port and a Warsaw ordnance factory, while insisting Poland remove Prussian officers from its army.

• Prince Poniatowski visited the Polish athletes in Paris before hurrying to Versailles, where he met Joseph in the Royal Armory.
• Joseph told Prince Poniatowski that Poland needed to transfer its Prussian officers out of the army so French military advisers and volunteers could assist without them.
• Joseph offered to invest four million francs in Gdańsk Port, and Prince Poniatowski agreed to have Małachowski oversee the deal.
• Joseph proposed building a Warsaw ordnance factory to make Charleville flintlock muskets and artillery, with confidential low-interest loans, craftsmen, and technicians supplied by France.
• Joseph specified that both investments would be made with franc paper money.

Joseph and Prince Poniatowski settled France’s support for Poland, then joined Polish and French officers to discuss the looming Russian invasion. Joseph rejected Poland’s plan to give up the eastern territories and promised a different strategy, which Berthier began explaining.

• Prince Poniatowski agreed that Poland would use francs and said he would reassign the Prussian officers to training duties.
• Joseph proposed helping Poland establish a military academy after criticizing the outdated Prussian training methods.
• At the operations conference, Berthier warned that 120,000 to 150,000 Russian soldiers might invade Poland while other countries could also intervene.
• Joseph marked the Volhynia-Minsk defensive line on the map and challenged the Polish officers over the prospect of abandoning half their homeland.
• Prince Poniatowski explained that Poland lacked the strength to stop Russia on the eastern frontier, while Kościuszko and the other officers vowed not to surrender Polish territory.
• Joseph promised another way to fight, and Berthier began presenting the French General Staff’s operational plan.

Joseph urged Poland to adopt an aggressive plan against Russia, and Poniatowski committed to the fight after Poland won a sports competition. In the Caribbean, British General Brand negotiated with French envoy Brisot for help suppressing the Bahamas rebellion.

• Joseph presented Poland’s officers with an aggressive plan to hold the eastern provinces, and Kościuszko volunteered to command the Central Route Army.
• Joseph told Poniatowski to expand the army and mobilize Poland’s citizens, while hinting that he had another powerful weapon for a critical moment.
• At the Paris Royal Sports Stadium, Natolski won the discus event for Poland, and Poniatowski decided to fight the invaders.
• On Barbados, Brisot demanded one hundred thousand pounds, a ship, and supplies in exchange for French troops helping Brand suppress the rebellion in the Bahamas.

Brisot arranged weapons and funding for Jones to continue the abolitionist struggle in Barbados, while a French force landed in the Bahamas under a secret arrangement with the rebels. The French began their assault on Nassau, but bugles sounded from both of their rear flanks.

• Brand agreed to let France intervene in the Bahamas, with the British paying for its assistance.
• Brisot met Jones aboard the Smile and offered him a thousand flintlock guns and fifty thousand Pound Sterling to continue fighting slavery.
• Brisot sent Jones and the promised supplies toward Barbados, believing the freedom movement would spread across the Caribbean.
• Half a month later, four thousand French soldiers landed in the Bahamas, and the Provisional Parliament authorized Toussaint Louverture and Liddington to gather troops.
• Gallisonière encircled Nassau and launched an assault the next day while British adviser Gardner watched.
• As the French Infantry Line advanced, bugles sounded from the rear flanks on both sides of the French Army.

Black soldiers staged a victory over the French in the Bahamas to draw foreign forces into a planned campaign, while the French fortress of Magua fell to Auge. Brand joined English and Spanish troops in landing on the Bahamas, and the allied armies prepared to attack Nassau again.

• Black soldiers ambushed the French, drove them back, and made Gallisonière believe his army had suffered heavy losses.
• Gallisonière sent for help from Jamaica and Saint-Domingue, while a messenger reported that rebels had breached Magua Fortress.
• Auge captured the French Expeditionary Force at Magua, and Brand agreed with Mabli and the Spanish officer to head for the Bahamas.
• Brand landed 3,700 English and Spanish soldiers on the Bahamas and persuaded the French to join an attack on Nassau before returning to Saint-Domingue.
• Gallisonière insisted that the English lead the main assault, and the allied armies surrounded Nassau from three directions.

The Bahamian National Army defeated the English at Nassau after French forces staged a retreat that opened the way for a three-sided assault. The Republic of the Bahamas elected its first president, Saint-Domingue began its own election, and Auriol assembled another army in Jamaica.

• Gallisonière ordered the French forces defending the flanks to withdraw, leaving the Bahamian National Army to attack the English directly.
• Louverture’s forces struck the English from the sides and rear, forcing thirteen hundred English soldiers to surrender and Brand to flee with fewer than a thousand men.
• Bahamas Parliament arranged public speeches crediting France with helping the rebels, aiming to build goodwill toward France among the new Caribbean nations.
• The Republic of the Bahamas held an election, and Kenneth Liddington became its first president while Louverture declined the vice presidency.
• Saint-Domingue began its election, where Auge was expected to win, as Auriol gathered another fifteen hundred men in Jamaica.

Auriol and Jones exploited British troop movements to renew attacks across the Caribbean as the British, French, and Spanish commanders argued over their defeats. Saint-Domingue elected Vincent Auge as president, and Brisot offered military support in exchange for exclusive licensed rights to buy its sugar for ten years.

• Auriol used 50,000 pounds sterling from the Abolitionist Alliance to buy supplies, then led his army into Kingston as the Governor of Jamaica sent troops to the Bahamas.
• Jones returned to Barbados with 50,000 pounds sterling, gathered several hundred Black soldiers, and attacked sugar cane plantations after English troops departed.
• Brand, Gallisonière, and Cortes blamed one another for the British and Spanish setbacks in the Bahamas and Maguey.
• Vincent Auge became president of Saint-Domingue, and he and his officials met with Brisot to discuss military and financial support.
• Brisot promised Saint-Domingue its surrendered Expeditionary Force's weapons, help obtaining more arms, and a five-million-franc loan with interest waived if it sold its sugar for ten years only to buyers with the Crown Prince's trade license.

Joseph planned to profit from Saint-Domingue’s independence through loans, sugar plantations, and French influence, while Brisot helped the new republic organize its government and promised French recognition if it defeated Britain. Brisot then warned Juan Island’s governor that Spain could not protect the island from abolitionist unrest and urged him to contact Saint-Domingue.

• Joseph expected Saint-Domingue’s loans to be repaid through mortgaged plantations and planned to promote a Sugarcane Franc while cultivating the new nations’ gratitude and hostility toward England.
• Brisot offered to negotiate with Spain for Saint-Domingue and arrange French experts, judges, ministers, and teachers to help its inexperienced government.
• Brisot warned Auge and the officials that France would recognize the republic if it defeated the British Expeditionary Force.
• A week later, Brisot told Governor Cristobal de Rojas in Havana that British mistakes had destabilized the Caribbean and that France might abandon Saint-Domingue to secure the return of captured French soldiers.
• Brisot warned Rojas that Juan Island’s small garrison could not suppress abolitionist unrest and advised him to make contact with Saint-Domingue.

Auge established the Caribbean Military Committee as a step toward creating a Caribbean Confederation, while Brisot urged Juan Island's governor to seek an agreement with the Abolitionist Movement. In Constantinople, Talleyrand returned to negotiate a much larger trade deal with Grand Vizier Melek Mehmed.

• Brisot advised Marquis de Rojas to improve conditions for Juan Island's Black slaves and seek cooperation with the Abolitionist Movement.
• Auge called for a Caribbean Military Committee to unite the island forces against the 6,500 English soldiers expected to arrive.
• The Bahamas, Jamaica, Saint Vincent, and Barbados agreed to join the committee, while Juan Island remained outside it.
• Auge celebrated the alliance and aimed to use it as the foundation for a Caribbean Confederation backed by France.
• Talleyrand returned to Constantinople and told Melek Mehmed that France would become his biggest customer as they discussed a larger trade deal.

Talleyrand persuaded Melek Mehmed that French steamships could transform Ottoman trade and challenge English shipping in the Mediterranean. Melek Mehmed recognized their commercial threat but warned that England's fleet would oppose a French monopoly.

• Melek Mehmed rejected Talleyrand's warning about England and defended the Ottoman decision to align its trade with the English.
• Talleyrand argued that English ships faced high costs resupplying rowers and used Ottoman coffee prices to illustrate the expense of slow transport.
• Talleyrand claimed French steamships could reach Constantinople in six days without rowers and cost only slightly more than ordinary galleys.
• Melek Mehmed was shaken by the prospect that faster steamships would draw Ottoman cargo away from galleys and make France the empire's leading trading partner.
• Melek Mehmed warned that England would use its fleet to prevent France from monopolizing Mediterranean shipping.