Chapter Summaries

Joseph celebrated the precision of France’s new milling machine and learned that New Primary School’s teaching materials had made it popular with noble families. He decided to charge the new aristocratic campus higher tuition to help fund additional low-cost schools.

• Joseph learned that Lenoir’s milling machine had achieved a maximum tolerance of 0.19 millimeters and ordered a machine for the Royal Workshop after United Steam Engine Company reserved the prototype.
• Joseph returned to Versailles Palace and noticed New Primary School’s new Saint-Honoré Street campus, which Viscount Dibisson said Marquis Belmont had lent rent-free.
• Dibisson explained that nobles were enrolling their children because the school’s phonetic system and textbooks taught spelling effectively and cost less than private schools or tutors.
• Dibisson said school profits and donations could support more campuses, and Joseph raised the planned annual tuition at the noble campus from 200 to 600 Francs.

Joseph planned fee-based schools for nobles to fund free primary education, and devised education reforms to expand his influence and improve teacher standards. He then explained a new canned-food preservation method to Mirabeau and Venio and ordered them to keep it secret.

• Joseph set the noble schools’ tuition at six hundred Francs and appointed Viscount Dibisson to oversee nonprofit education work under the Ministry of Interior.
• Joseph planned more fee-charging campuses, shared textbooks, school competitions, Normal Schools, and a Teacher Certification Exam to strengthen secular education.
• Joseph summoned Mirabeau and Venio and described a method for preserving food by steaming it in sealed iron boxes.
• Mirabeau and Venio doubted the simple process until Joseph explained that heat killed microorganisms and said canned food would stay fresh for over a year.
• Mirabeau noted that canned food would delight sailors who rarely had access to fresh meat and vegetables.

Joseph planned industrial production for canned food, while Louis XVI became eager to see a precision milling machine and used it to complete a revolver. The chapter ended with the King showing Joseph the finished weapon.

• Joseph explained the need for rolling, cutting, tinning, and can-seaming equipment to establish industrial canned-food production, and Mirabeau agreed to seek designs and suppliers.
• Joseph told Venio to choose a factory site near the Seine and discussed plans for additional coastal factories to can seafood.
• Louis XVI summoned Joseph to dinner, learned the milling machine was at the Academy of Sciences, and hurried there with him after the meal.
• At the Academy, Louis XVI watched Lenoir operate the machine and gave him parts and drawings to reproduce.
• Lenoir returned three finished components, which Louis XVI assembled into a revolver and showed to Joseph.

Joseph watched Louis XVI test a revolver made with the new precision milling machine and learned that Louis’s steam forging machine project had also advanced. The revolver fired six accurate shots in under eight seconds, while Joseph left the development of breech-loading cannons to professional teams.

• Louis XVI showed Joseph how the milling machine produced a revolver cylinder with a tighter fit than a hand-filed one.
• Joseph considered the possibilities of breech-loading cannons but decided their development should be handled by the Engineering Design Institute and the Royal Armory.
• Louis XVI told Joseph that his team had built a full-scale, low-power steam forging machine prototype and was exploring improvements.
• Louis XVI took Joseph to a shooting range and had a test shooter fire the revolver.
• The test shooter hit the target with all six shots in less than eight seconds, breaking the wooden target in half.

Joseph and Louis XVI tested the rapid-firing Joseph 1797 Model Pistol before Joseph began planning a breech-loading cannon with engineers. After realizing that breech-loading weapons and cartridges would be difficult to produce, Joseph remembered the Minié Ball and devised a way to manufacture it in large quantities.

• Louis XVI tested the revolver, and he and Joseph named it the Joseph 1797 Model Pistol.
• Court Guards arrived after Queen Mary heard the gunfire, and Joseph sent them back with an explanation.
• Joseph recruited Lazare Carnot and other experts to begin designing a breech-loading cannon.
• Joseph concluded that breech-loading rifles and cartridges would be too difficult to develop with current manufacturing methods.
• Joseph decided to mass-produce Minié Balls using precision molds, molten lead, and his father's forging machine.

Cano proposed an iron breech-loading cannon with an Alloy Steel inner layer, and Joseph brought the team together to assess whether it could be cast safely. Vedrina explained the problem of uneven cooling, and Joseph suggested circulating cold water through the mold to preserve the barrel’s strength.

• Cano presented Joseph with a blueprint for a one-piece iron cannon barrel and breech, arguing that iron would make the breech joint more reliable than bronze.
• Cano proposed using Alloy Steel for the inner barrel and wrought iron outside to keep the cannon strong without making it heavier than a bronze cannon.
• Vedrina warned that uneven cooling could weaken thick steel barrels and said heavy cannons might need walls 15% to 20% thicker.
• Joseph suggested drilling passages through the casting mold and running cold water through them to keep the inner barrel cool during casting.

Joseph advanced plans for iron cannon and Minié Ball production, then the chapter left him overseeing a busy industrial workshop where several Crown Prince-backed projects competed for machinery time.

• Vedrina confirmed Joseph's water-cooled mold casting method, and Joseph told him to keep the technique within the Breech-loading Cannon project team rather than patent it.
• Cano proposed using steel and iron for traditional cannon to save copper, and Joseph assigned casting experts to study the method with Vedrina.
• Joseph summoned Arnaud Georges Soul and instructed him to design a rifle bullet and steel molds, explaining that a Steam Forging Press would squeeze excess lead from the molds.
• Half a month later, Cano bribed Murdoch with a bottle of wine to secure limited Milling Machine time for his unfinished design work.

At Madame Adenauer’s salon in Western Prussia, industrialists learned that Prussia planned to re-equip its army with British-supported Percussion Cap Guns while preparing for a major war against France. Ramsdorf argued that new communications and military technology would help Prussia retake the Rhineland and lead the North German Confederation.

• A young speaker at Madame Adenauer’s salon called for German unity under Prussian leadership.
• Ramsdorf told Honecker that Stendal would receive a large gun factory and that Prussia planned to re-equip its army with Percussion Cap Guns.
• Honecker and Ramsdorf discussed joining with Baron Hahnenmann to compete for contracts to supply copper percussion caps.
• Ramsdorf said Britain would provide eight hundred thousand Pound Sterling in annual aid if war broke out, and linked war against France to reopening the Rhine trade route.
• Honecker worried about French seed supplies for Sugar Beet farmers, and Ramsdorf suggested using old seeds or switching some fields to Potato.
• Ramsdorf claimed Prussia could defeat France with Percussion Cap Guns, Shap Signal Towers, and proposed Hot Air Balloons.

Prussia prepared to fight France with British support, while Lord Hawkesbury tried to persuade Austria to join the war by exploiting public unrest and promising military aid. Kobzl remained unconvinced, warning that France and its allies also possessed extensive colonies.

• Ramsdorf argued that a hot-air balloon would help monitor French movements and declared that Prussia and its allies could defeat France.
• Kobzl and Count Bellegarde waited in Vienna for Lord Hawkesbury and discussed Austria’s reluctance to enter another war while reforms were underway.
• Hawkesbury defended Britain’s position in Gibraltar, and Kobzl mocked the British over their captured warships and France’s control of Mantua.
• A British-funded Radical march called for Austria to reclaim territory and reject war reparations, prompting Kobzl to order its dispersal.
• Hawkesbury offered Prussia annual British military aid of 800,000 pounds and warned Austria that the German states might unite around Prussia if Austria stayed out of the war.
• Kobzl doubted that victory was assured and pointed out that France and its allies also had colonies.

Lord Hawkesbury persuaded Kobzl and Franz II that Britain could tie down France and Spain in the Americas and Italy while offering Austria territorial gains and military support. Franz II welcomed the alliance, but Count Bellegarde revealed that Austria had already developed a weapon superior to Britain’s proposed Percussion Cap Gun: the Wind Gun.

• Lord Hawkesbury described plans to arm the United States and João’s Royal Guard to attack French and Spanish holdings in the Americas.
• Kobzl questioned how France’s forces in North Italy would be countered, and Lord Hawkesbury said Sardinia and Naples would join a powerful anti-French country there.
• Lord Hawkesbury proposed recruiting and training troops in the German Territories, and Kobzl approved the idea.
• Lord Hawkesbury told Franz II that Britain would recognize his rule over North Italy, support direct imperial rule over the Rhineland, and seek a Baltic port for Austria.
• Lord Hawkesbury offered Austria a 700,000-pound loan and British weapons technology, but Count Bellegarde said Austria had already developed the Wind Gun.

Lord Hawkesbury refused to fund Austria’s Wind Gun project but urged Franz II to compel Saxony to join the war. The chapter also showed the United States preparing to seize Louisiana, João struggling with British demands in Brazil, and a Persian army approaching Tabriz.

• Lord Hawkesbury rejected Count Bellegarde’s request for British investment in the Wind Gun and suggested Franz II use imperial law to force Saxony into the war.
• Jefferson persuaded Washington that the United States should take the Mississippi Basin from France, and Washington signed the Anglo-American Secret Agreement.
• Washington ordered Tennessee and Kentucky to recruit troops and told Jefferson to keep attacks west of the Mississippi separate from federal responsibility.
• João canceled the opening speech for Rio de Janeiro’s first Library and ordered Duke Alves to recruit five thousand soldiers, excluding Caboclos.
• A Persian army marched past Tabriz as a small cavalry unit rode to the Governor’s Mansion, where the Azerbaijani officials left by the Russians had disappeared.

Abbas Mirza’s Persian army seized Tabriz, defeated Shirvan’s forces, and besieged Tbilisi while Russia struggled to send reinforcements. After the Russian relief force was ambushed and driven back, Barclay and Zubov were left hoping the defeat would prompt Paul I to commit more troops.

• The Persian officer took control of Tabriz and ordered a purge of Russians and their supporters.
• Abbas Mirza sent Kuram to attack Baku, where a Tat Tribe rebellion weakened Askar’s army and helped Kuram defeat it and gain Shirvan soldiers.
• The Persian army occupied Baku, secured supplies, and advanced north to surround Tbilisi.
• Barclay failed to persuade Kutuzov to help Georgia, as Paul I had only allocated two thousand troops and Russia was preparing its expedition to India.
• Abbas Mirza ambushed the Russian relief force as it crossed the Caucasus Mountains, forcing it to retreat after losing more than half its men.
• Barclay suggested the defeat might persuade Paul I to send more troops, as Count Osterman and officers arrived complaining about negotiating with Persia.

Count Pahlen persuaded Crown Prince Alexander Pavlovich that Paul I planned to replace him with Prince Eugene of Württemberg and urged him to accept a coup. Angered by Paul’s policies and punishments, senior officials and officers gathered to plan the Tsar’s forced abdication and Alexander’s accession.

• Count Osterman told Zubov that Paul I had chosen to negotiate with Persia over Transcaucasia, and Zubov and Barclay left the palace without trying to change the Tsar’s mind.
• Russia’s envoy arrived in Ganja to negotiate with Abbas Mirza while Tbilisi remained under siege and faced a shortage of supplies.
• Count Pahlen told Alexander Pavlovich that Paul I intended to marry Princess Catherine to Prince Eugene and make him Crown Prince, then urged Alexander to support Paul’s abdication.
• Alexander rode away after telling Pahlen to handle the matter as he saw fit, while claiming he had heard nothing.
• At Pahlen’s villa, Zubov, Duke Yashvili, Nikola Zubov, and other officials condemned Paul I’s spending, plans to surrender land to Persia, and corporal punishments.
• Pahlen told the gathered conspirators that Alexander had agreed to their plan to force Paul I to sign an abdication decree, and named General Algamakov and General Sablukov as supporters.

As Pahlen and Zubov prepared a coup against Paul I, Alexander watched their plans while Count Bobrinsky learned of suspicious activity and set out to warn the Emperor. In Paris, Joseph assessed the approaching coalition threat and ordered France to expand and better equip its forces as his generals considered likely enemy offensives.

• Count Pahlen outlined the coup plan, and the conspirators swore to risk their lives for Russia’s future while leaving Alexander out of the operation.
• Alexander told Vladislav to watch Count Pahlen and privately hoped the conspirators would succeed, recognizing that he was using them too.
• A merchant informer told Count Bobrinsky that Pahlen, Zubov, and officers had been in contact, and Bobrinsky went to see Paul I.
• Joseph reviewed intelligence showing a possible enemy force exceeding 600,000 troops and approved a plan to raise French troop strength to around 270,000 within three months.
• Joseph ordered strict training and faster weapons production as Berthier reported that Minié Ball output would rise to 70,000 rounds per day next month.
• Moreau discussed strengthening local forces, and Berthier began outlining possible enemy offensives, starting with an advance from Württemberg into Baden.

Joseph rejected General Staff Headquarters’ defensive plans and ordered France to drive the war into Germany, aiming to destroy the enemy forces along the Danube and in Hanover. News of a powerful new steam engine then led him to send Trevithick to Brest to help advance steam warship development.

• Berthier outlined enemy invasion options and General Staff Headquarters’ defensive responses.
• Joseph declared that France should invade Germany and defeat the enemy on the Danube and in Hanover; Berthier promised to revise the deployment.
• Mirabeau reported that the United Steam Engine Company had tested a 98-horsepower engine, with further optimization potentially raising its output to 115 horsepower.
• Joseph considered the engine’s potential for trains and warships, then ordered Trevithick to go directly to Brest Shipyard to assist with steam warship work.
• Eman reminded Joseph that Berthier and the other generals had been waiting more than forty minutes for lunch.

Joseph convened France’s leaders to prepare for an expected war against England, Prussia, and Austria, ordering emergency mobilization and major transport and weapons production efforts. The meeting ended with plans to expand canned-food production while the government awaited a machine needed to manufacture metal cans.

• Joseph told the assembled officials that war could begin within four to six months and that France had to win.
• Baron de Breteuil presented the Wartime Special Act, which authorized supply requisitions, personnel registration, public mobilization, news controls, and temporary powers for local governments.
• Joseph ordered Mirabeau to replace the Paris–Verdun wooden railway tracks with iron rails, plan an extension toward Strasbourg, and roughly double Ordnance Factory capacity.
• Joseph instructed Minister of Agriculture Venio to raise glass-bottle canned-food production above three thousand per day and double the prize for inventing a Rolling Machine.

Joseph tightened news controls and directed French newspapers to denounce the Anti-French Coalition, bolster confidence, and plant misleading reports about French defenses. He then reviewed France’s available funds for wartime preparations and chose government bonds over raising taxes, though the finance minister warned that selling more would require higher interest rates.

• Joseph ordered Mr. Denico to enforce stricter news controls, condemn England, Prussia, and Austria, and publish misleading fragments about French military deployments.
• After lunch, Joseph discussed plans for Mediterranean Security Organization members to cooperate by sending troops.
• Gaudin reported that France could draw on treasury funds, the Industrial Development Fund, suspended public works, loans, and government bonds to raise about 340 million Francs by June.
• Joseph calculated that military costs and railway construction would leave little money for prewar preparations.
• Gaudin suggested temporary taxes, but Joseph rejected them and chose government bonds, prompting Gaudin to warn that higher interest rates might be needed.

Joseph arranged France’s wartime preparations and planned a Government Bond sale, then exchanged Christmas gifts with Alexandra before leaving for Brest. The chapter ended with Count Pahlen and Count Zubov beginning their Russian expedition toward India.

• Joseph told Gaudin to prepare a 130-million-Franc Government Bond sale and gave broad wartime instructions to government departments.
• Queen Mary and Louis XVI offered Joseph millions of Francs, and Joseph suggested they use the money to buy Government Bonds.
• Joseph decided to leave for Brest Shipyard at dawn, and Alexandra gave him an apple and silk gloves for Christmas.
• Joseph gave Alexandra a six-shot pistol, and she excitedly embraced and kissed him.
• On January 4, 1798, Count Pahlen wished Count Zubov good luck as the Russian corps entered Bukhara on its expedition to India.

Alexander Pavlovich led his loyal guards to force Paul I to abdicate, while Zubov and the conspirators were stopped by Count Bobrinsky outside the Tsar’s room. Alexander arrived with armed men and ordered the guards killed, shocking Bobrinsky.

• Zubov and more than twenty officers entered Gatchina Palace with a forged pass from General Algamakov.
• Count Bobrinsky confronted the conspirators at the door to Paul I’s room and stopped them from entering.
• Alexander learned that Bobrinsky had blocked the conspirators and gathered his trusted guards.
• Alexander led his guards to the Tsar’s room to make Paul I abdicate.
• Alexander ordered his men to kill several Royal Guards soldiers, and Bobrinsky asked why he was there too.

Alexander seized power after shooting Paul I as the Tsar tried to escape through a hidden passage, then began reversing his father’s policies and issuing military orders. In Brest, Joseph asked warship designer Sane whether an iron shell could be fitted over a wooden hull.

• Alexander faked his own death to trap Count Bobrinsky, then led his men into Paul I’s bedroom.
• Alexander ordered a Captain to shoot Paul I as the Tsar fled into the hidden passage, and the Captain’s shot killed him.
• Alexander took the throne, abolished the Secret Police, exiled Count Pahlen, pardoned officers punished by Paul I, and issued new orders to his ministers.
• At Brest Shipyard, Sane described a steam warship design to Joseph, who asked whether an iron shell could be added to a wooden hull.