Chapter Summaries

France and Prussia signed a military alliance that ceded Prussian territories in exchange for French support and promised gains in Hanover and Sweden. Joseph learned that William III was near death and planned to send French doctors with penicillin, while the news of Berlin's surrender left Archduke Karl collapsing in shock.

• Queen Luisa agreed to sign a treaty with France after Baron Stein and Prince Heinrich argued that Prussia had little choice and could escape its British loans.
• France and Prussia signed the Treaty of Berlin on February 17, with Prussia surrendering several territories and France promising to help it acquire lands in Hanover and Sweden.
• Joseph praised Charles for negotiating the treaty, then learned from him that William III was gravely ill from an infected wound.
• Joseph decided to send French doctors and penicillin to save William III, despite the scarce supply and his intention to charge a hefty medical bill.
• Archduke Karl learned that Berlin had surrendered and allied with France, then collapsed in shock.

Archduke Karl recovered from an epileptic seizure and ordered the Allied Forces to focus on breaking the Baden Line, while the Duke of York demanded that he protect Hanover. Massena routed the English and Russian forces near Karlsruhe, and their surrender left Joseph with more than twenty thousand prisoners to put to work building railways.

• Archduke Karl woke after being unconscious for more than half a day and ordered the troops heading for Amberg recalled so the Allied Forces could concentrate on breaking the Baden Line.
• The Duke of York demanded that Archduke Karl send the Wellesley Corps to defend Hanover, but Archduke Karl said it was too late and insisted on concentrating their forces.
• Kossakov ordered reinforcements after the Zagachev Corps was routed, but Massena’s Royal First Army Corps overwhelmed the Russian forces and drove them toward Frioltzheim.
• Massena bypassed the Allied positions and advanced toward Frioltzheim, where the French had already prepared defensive lines; Kossakov fled south while the other generals submitted to Graham’s command.
• After more than two days of fighting, Graham surrendered seven thousand English troops and more than twenty thousand Russian troops, whom Massena and Joseph planned to use for railway construction.

Joseph planned a decisive campaign against the Allied Forces while arranging a secret mission to Warsaw and an operation involving Russian prisoners. In Berlin, Doctor Carrière’s treatment improved William III’s condition, though the costly potion required further injections.

• Berthier reported that Oudinot had reached Strasbourg with the Prussian prisoners and that the Allied Forces were advancing through Nuremberg.
• Joseph approved a plan to confront the Allied Forces in Bavaria, with Massena moving toward Regensburg and the Surt Legion operating near Bayreuth and Nuremberg.
• Joseph ordered Augereau’s Corps to defend Prussia, sent Brunswick’s troops to Oudinot, and assigned Blücher’s Legion to attack Freiburg.
• Joseph instructed Sieyès to deliver a secret letter to Stanisław II and told Lavalette to prepare documents for Sieyès and begin an operation with 800 Russian prisoners.
• Doctor Heinemann told the Prussian nobles that William III’s fever had subsided after treatment by Carrière, who cleaned the King’s wound and gave him another potion injection.

While receiving costly French treatment, William III learned about France’s military advantages and became convinced that France could not lose the war. When Prince Heinrich reported that Prussian troops would be sent to fight Austria, William accepted the order and began asking about French hot-air balloons.

• William III received an intravenous injection from Dr. Carrière and learned that Type 1 Antibiotic could treat several illnesses.
• Viscan described French military technologies, including quick-launch Hot Air Balloons, supply Trains, Rifled Guns, Bulletproof Inserts, and Shap Signal Vehicles.
• William III concluded that France was certain to win and felt fortunate that he had sided with France.
• Prince Heinrich reported that the Joint General Staff planned to send Duke of Brunswick’s 40,000 Rhine Army troops to Nuremberg to fight the Austrians.
• William III approved the transfer and asked Prince Heinrich how quickly French Hot Air Balloons could take off.

Gaayar captured Hanover with little resistance and discovered letters that revealed a possible Russian coup plot, which Lefebvre said could earn him a medal. Meanwhile, Surt’s French army surprised the Allied Milius Corps near Coburg and began attacking the Austrian forces.

• Gaayar and Lefebvre discussed burning the British King’s palace and learned that soldiers were being given Potassium Iodide to treat lead poisoning from canned food.
• Gaayar led five thousand Walloon soldiers into Hanover, where the small defending force fled and the French took Leine Palace.
• Gaayar ordered his soldiers to prepare to march on Verden, while Lefebvre said Hussars were already pursuing Karl Louis.
• A Major found the Governor of Hanover’s hidden letters, and Lefebvre discovered correspondence from Charles Whitworth describing a suspected Russian coup plot.
• Two farmers watched Surt’s army near Coburg as the French seized high ground, flanked the Austrian forces, and opened fire from three directions.

French forces advanced through Bavaria, defeating Austrian troops at Wassertrüdingen as the Allies discovered France had amassed far more soldiers than expected. At Nuremberg, Allied commanders argued over whether to attack or retreat before learning that French troops had occupied Augsburg.

• Milius escaped east after more than 10,000 men of his vanguard were surrounded and annihilated.
• French troops marched through Nördlingen, where locals learned that Bavaria had openly joined France against Austria and Saxony.
• Davout's Sixth Army Corps broke through Prince Schwarzenberg's Austrian line near Wassertrüdingen, and the French took the town before Brunswick's corps arrived.
• Archduke Karl and the Allied commanders realized that French forces across the theaters totaled about 330,000 men, while Werneck urged an attack and Kutuzov and the Duke of York argued for withdrawal and consolidation.
• A staff officer delivered a report that 40,000 French troops had occupied Augsburg the previous morning.

The Allied commanders recognized that the French were closing on Nuremberg and feared an advance toward Austria, so Archduke Karl ordered a retreat to Passau. After Joseph decorated Moreau for holding the Allied army at bay, Berthier reported that Massena had defeated an ambush but was approaching the Allies’ defenses at Passau.

• Kutuzov mapped out a French encirclement of Nuremberg, and Archduke Karl concluded the Allies had at most five days before the attacks began.
• Archduke Karl considered the threat to Passau and ordered the Mikhalevich Legion to Landshut, the Duke of York to defend Erlangen, and the Allied army to retreat toward Passau.
• Kutuzov refused to send his exhausted Russian troops to intercept the French, while Archduke Karl assigned Prince Schwarzenberg to leave a rearguard behind.
• Joseph awarded Moreau the Gold Iris Medal and promoted him to General for holding more than two hundred thousand Allied troops with his legion.
• Berthier reported that Massena had routed an Allied ambush near Landshut but was advancing toward Passau, where the Allied army had begun establishing defenses.

Joseph ordered the exhausted French armies to rest and contain Passau rather than attack immediately, while planning a future strike into Austria with reinforcements. He then opened the Stuttgart Summit, where representatives from German states and neighboring territories gathered to discuss a new European order.

• Moreau proposed reinforcing Massena at Passau, but Berthier argued that the exhausted troops needed rest.
• Joseph ordered Massena to contain Passau without assaulting it and told the army to prepare its troops and supplies while awaiting reinforcements.
• Joseph said he would return to Stuttgart to hold meetings, leaving the generals to manage the army during the pause in fighting.
• On March 19, 1799, rulers and representatives from German states, Baden, Bavaria, Augsburg, and the Netherlands assembled at Stuttgart's New Palace.
• Joseph welcomed the delegates and called for a new order founded on equality and shared prosperity to prevent the war from returning.

Joseph proposed distributing North German territories without administration among the German states, drawing monarchs into debate over ownership while some quietly opposed France. At the next summit meeting, Archbishop Muzarelli announced that the Pope had approved the elevation of Baden and Bavaria to kingdoms.

• Joseph outlined plans to rebuild order in North Germany, guarantee the states’ security and independence, and support their development, while monarchs voiced fears about French rule.
• Joseph showed a map of territories without administration and invited the monarchs to submit proposals for their allocation; many states quickly put forward claims.
• William IX secretly gathered a group of people who opposed France after the meeting, while Earl of Fuh received dozens of territory proposals.
• Archbishop Muzarelli presented the Holy See’s approval and the Pope’s investiture decree elevating the Grand Duke of Baden to King.
• Muzarelli announced that the Pope had also approved the Grand Duke of Bavaria’s elevation to King.

Joseph convened the North German monarchs to vote on dividing unclaimed territories, while announcing that French troops were withdrawing and encouraging the states to break free of Austria’s influence. After no territorial proposal passed, Viscount Flavian approached Ludwig X with an offer from the French Crown Prince.

• Joseph congratulated Frederick and Theodore on becoming kings and suggested Ludwig X and Eugen might also seek royal status.
• Joseph invited Archbishop Muzarelli to the assembly and announced that proposals to divide unclaimed lands would require approval from more than two-thirds of the participating nations.
• William IX criticized the French role, but Joseph and Franz Ludwig confirmed that French troops were withdrawing from North Germany.
• The monarchs voted on proposals to distribute territories, but none received enough support before Joseph postponed voting until the next day.
• Viscount Flavian met Ludwig X privately and asked whether he wished to restore the glory of Philip I.

Ludwig X agreed to France’s plan to reunite Hesse under Darmstadt, while Joseph looked for a way to weaken the Archbishopric of Cologne. As North German rulers failed to settle the division of vacant lands, Franz Egon considered shifting his family’s support from Vienna toward France.

• Flavian promised Ludwig X French weapons, officers, and diplomatic backing, and Ludwig X agreed to reunite Hesse and remain firmly aligned with France.
• Talleyrand explained to Joseph that Cologne’s bishoprics were bound by Habsburg, English, and Hanoverian interests, including Protestant Archbishop Friedrich’s rule over a Catholic diocese.
• Joseph spotted Friedrich’s religious mismatch as a potential opening and asked Eman to invite Archbishop Muzarelli.
• North German rulers failed to agree on dividing the ownerless lands and turned to Talleyrand for mediation.
• Franz Egon told his confidants that the Filsen Family needed a new ally and said the French had warned that Münster would soon face a crisis.

Talleyrand secured support for France by promising territorial gains and political favors to North German rulers, including a plan to make Friedrich Karl von Erthal’s son Mainz’s ruler. Summit decisions then redistributed unclaimed lands across the region, with Prussia gaining most of Hanover and France’s allies receiving substantial territories.

• Franz Egon revealed that Talleyrand had suggested the Holy See might make him Cardinal Archbishop, and an argument broke out before Ferdinand was expelled and a confidant hurried to Paderborn.
• Talleyrand promised Frederick William of Nassau Düsseldorf and southern Westphalia in exchange for Nassau joining the Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement and supporting France.
• Talleyrand proposed secularizing Mainz and having Parliament elect Count Lothar Franz as ruler, winning Friedrich Karl von Erthal’s support for the plan and the trade agreement.
• From the seventh day of the Stuttgart Summit, proposals for unclaimed lands passed rapidly and altered the balance of power in North Germany.
• Baden received extensive territories, while Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Wurzburg, Brunswick, Prussia, and the Netherlands also gained land.

After the Stuttgart Declaration redrew North Germany’s borders, Joseph secured broad support for a trade agreement that would give France influence over negotiations. On the journey home, Archbishop Friedrich of Osnabrück was detained by Papal Guards acting on the Holy See’s accusations, while his diocese descended into upheaval.

• The North German states signed the Stuttgart Declaration, whose effective date was secretly set two months later to give Hesse-Darmstadt time to act.
• Joseph proposed the Stuttgart Trade Agreement, and nearly all North German states except a few, including Cologne and Hesse-Kassel, signed letters of intent that night.
• After the Stuttgart Summit, most monarchs traveled to Karlsruhe for the King of Baden’s coronation while trade representatives continued negotiations.
• Archbishop Maximilian, Archbishop Friedrich, and Archbishop Franz Egon discussed opposing France’s trade agreement and forming an alliance against it.
• Papal Guards stopped Friedrich’s carriage near Aschaffenburg and accused him of illegally usurping the Diocese of Osnabrück.
• Friedrich was held under guard near a remote village as the Mainz government ignored the incident and the Diocese of Osnabrück erupted into turmoil.

Security Bureau agents stirred a religious revolt in Osnabrück that crippled Archbishop Maximilian, while Ludwig X and Hesse-Darmstadt conquered Hesse-Kassel and secured recognition from North German states. The chapter ended with Ludwig X welcoming former Hesse-Kassel prisoners who believed he had rescued them from William IX.

• Security Bureau agents spread pamphlets and stirred Catholics in Osnabrück to demand Friedrich's punishment and elect a new Archbishop.
• Franz Egon arrived with soldiers and Bishop Campanella, blamed Archbishop Maximilian for Friedrich's rule, and helped provoke a standoff with Maximilian's troops.
• Riots spread to Münster and Cologne, forcing Maximilian to withdraw his troops as North German states condemned him and refused to help.
• Baron Schlieben led Darmstadt troops toward Kassel, and Ludwig X declared war on Hesse-Kassel; Marmont's forces captured Kassel and William IX fled.
• Bavaria, Nassau, and other North German states recognized Ludwig X's claim, and William IX signed the Treaty of Kassel and went into exile in Prussia.
• Ludwig X welcomed more than ten thousand returning Hesse-Kassel prisoners, who believed he had freed them from William IX's rule.

The Archdiocese of Cologne lost control of Osnabrück, Paderborn, and Münster amid escalating protests, while Mainz announced secularization reforms. In Poland, Stanisław II began preparing for war, and three retired veterans summoned to Zalesna Manor discovered a vast Polish military mobilization.

• Opstern and Franz Egon led Osnabrück and Paderborn in breaking away from the Archdiocese of Cologne.
• Maximilian ordered his guards to fire on Münster's protesters, killing more than ten people and wounding dozens, but the crowds and armed supporters grew.
• Friedrich reappeared in southern Hesse and condemned his kidnapping, but Maximilian fled to Lippe as soldiers and protesters turned against him.
• Frederick Karl announced that Mainz would secularize and form a Parliament, prompting Münster's demonstrators to call for a secular government too.
• Stanisław II joined Sieyès and Kościuszko in planning Poland's fightback, while Warsaw ordered recently hired civil servants to register for their salaries.
• Woronowicz, Zlatopol, and their companion reported to Zalesna Manor and found thousands of people assembling in Polish Army uniforms.

Poland secretly mobilized an army with French support and launched an invasion of Austrian territory. The Polish forces advanced toward Kraków and met Austrian troops outside the city.

• Woronowicz and thousands of recruits trained at Zalesna Manor while the Polish Government supported their families.
• General Karol Kniaziewicz briefed Sieyès and the Polish commanders on a plan to retake Kraków and march toward Erzgebirge in coordination with the French Army.
• The Polish General Staff assigned Marshal Kościuszko 45,000 soldiers for the Erzgebirge attack, General Zawisza 10,000 for a feint toward Vienna, and left small forces to defend Poland.
• On April 21, 1799, more than 50,000 Polish soldiers, led by 4,000 Winged Hussars, marched south without alerting the Allies.
• Polish resistance fighters attacked the Austrian garrison near Kraków, drawing its commander into the countryside, where the Austrians encountered the Polish Winged Hussars.

Kościuszko’s army gained local recruits and supplies as it marched into Austrian territory, capturing Olomouc Fortress after a costly assault. As the Polish forces advanced toward Nachers Pass, Zawisza captured Neuhäusel, prompting Franz II to send Archduke John and the Vienna Garrison to intercept him.

• Tarnowskie Góry miners told Kościuszko they had retaken the silver mine and offered more than five hundred armed miners to join his army.
• Kościuszko’s forces marched toward Olomouc, while Zawisza led 10,000 soldiers through Durac Pass into Austria.
• Wilczek ordered more than three thousand Winged Hussars to attack Olomouc Fortress on foot, and they seized the outer wall after heavy losses.
• Polish infantry and artillery arrived the next morning and broke through the fortress’s inner walls, capturing Olomouc by noon.
• Kościuszko marched toward Nachers Pass, while Zawisza’s regiment captured Neuhäusel and advanced to within 140 kilometers of Vienna.
• Franz II ordered Archduke John to take the 13,000-man Vienna Garrison to Neuhäusel and intercept Zawisza.

Archduke Karl reacted to setbacks in Germany and a Polish invasion by shifting troops from Passau to defend Vienna. Meanwhile, Surt’s French forces advanced through Saxony and attacked Dresden, where August III’s envoy arrived to seek an armistice.

• Archduke Karl learned that Ludwig X had occupied Kassel and that William IX had fled into exile in Prussia.
• Werneck reported that Poland had declared war on Austria and attacked Neuhäusel and Olomouc, so Archduke Karl ordered recruits and troops recalled to defend Vienna and nearby cities.
• Surt told Lannes that Dresden had fewer than 3,000 defenders and learned that the Kościuszko Legion had captured Olomouc.
• Surt’s forces attacked Dresden three days later, and August III’s armistice envoy arrived before the French skirmishers deployed.

The French Army’s artillery demonstration drew Austrian reinforcements away from the southern fortresses, allowing Kościuszko’s Polish Army to seize Joseph Fortress and cripple Theresia Fortress. As the French prepared to attack Saint Peter Fortress in earnest, Polish soldiers began flooding its southern slopes.

• Lannes ordered Drouot to bombard Saint Peter Fortress to frighten its Austrian defenders into requesting reinforcements.
• After learning that nearly a thousand Austrian soldiers had left Joseph Fortress, Kościuszko rallied his troops and led nearly forty thousand Poles against the southern forts.
• The Polish Army captured Joseph Fortress before nightfall and destroyed much of Theresia Fortress’s artillery.
• Kościuszko walked among the fallen Polish soldiers the next morning and mourned their sacrifice.
• After hearing cannon fire from the south, Surt ordered Lannes to launch a real attack on Saint Peter Fortress.
• Polish soldiers advanced up the southern slopes of Saint Peter Fortress despite Austrian cannon fire.

The Polish Army repeatedly attacked Saint Peter Fortress to exhaust its cannons, then launched a final assault when Kościuszko spotted the Austrian guns overheating. The chapter ended as a Polish cannon reached firing position and a Major led his men toward the fortress after it fired.

• Kniaziewicz withdrew Polish battalions after Austrian cannon fire inflicted heavy casualties on their first attack.
• The Polish Army launched repeated assaults against Saint Peter Fortress while lacking enough artillery to suppress its defenders.
• Kościuszko detected that the fortress cannons had overheated and ordered Kniaziewicz to begin the final assault.
• Woronowicz and his comrades dragged a Twelve-Pound Cannon uphill under fire, while Zlatopol urged them not to retreat.
• A Major sent Grójec and two companies to shield the cannon crew, then led his men toward the fortress once the cannon reached firing position and fired.