Chapter Summaries

Kościuszko and Saint-Cyr planned to exploit a month of Russian logistical delays by concentrating the Polish Army on retaking Kiev. Meanwhile, Mikhalevich sought reinforcements to encircle the Basel Rebels in the Jura Mountains, then learned that captured rebels included relatives of prominent Parma families.

• Saint-Cyr explained that Russian supply lines would delay Kutuzov’s major offensive, and Kościuszko agreed to use the time to retake Kiev.
• Saint-Cyr urged Kościuszko to concentrate all forces on Kiev, arguing that its capture would force the Russians besieging Mozyr to surrender.
• Mikhalevich ordered Major Dressler to halt pursuit of the Basel Rebels, fearing that Austrian troops would be lost in the Jura Mountains.
• Lieutenant Colonel Lazar Ilich proposed sealing the mountain passes, and Mikhalevich calculated that the operation would require thirty-seven thousand soldiers.
• Mikhalevich wrote Marshal Wurmser to request twenty thousand reinforcements, hoping to earn a promotion by resolving the Basel revolt.
• A staff officer told Mikhalevich that seven captured rebels were Parma People, including the nephew of Marquis Busto.

Austria’s leaders debated reinforcing their costly campaign against the Basel Rebels as the rebellion attracted foreign volunteers and aid. The meeting ended with Hungary offering increased tax payments in exchange for permission to reconvene its Parliament.

• Mikhalevich released the foreign noble volunteers and ordered them escorted back to Italy as the Basel Militia continued attracting supporters from across Europe.
• Latour proposed sending 20,007 more soldiers to Zurich, and Franz II approved reinforcements after Metternich argued that suppressing the rebellion would defend the Empire’s dignity.
• Franz II learned that Austria faced a major budget shortfall, while Metternich proposed issuing more Paper Money to cover military expenses.
• Stadion pressed for higher tax revenue, and Metternich revealed that Hungary, Bohemia, and Slovakia had agreed to increase their taxes.
• Metternich told Franz II that Hungary would raise its payments by 15% if the Emperor allowed its two-tier Parliament to reconvene.

Franz II agreed to convene the Hungarian Parliament to secure additional tax revenue, while Joseph planned propaganda and diplomatic moves to stabilize Poland and draw Bavaria into the conflict in Switzerland. Joseph then departed with Alexandra to meet Karl Friedrich for a medical examination.

• Metternich persuaded Franz II to summon the Hungarian Parliament so the Empire could raise nearly eight million Florins in taxes.
• Joseph instructed Beaumarchais and Denico to send theater troupes and print comics that emphasized Polish victories and heroic soldiers to calm public anger.
• Joseph told Talleyrand to seek Bavarian troops for Switzerland and have Württemberg publicly condemn Austria.
• Alexandra reminded Joseph that he was late to meet Karl Friedrich, and he changed into his new formal outfit before leaving with her.
• Alexandra asked whether the medical examination equipment was impressive, and Joseph explained that Karl Friedrich was worried about his health.

Joseph explained modern medical examinations and stroke prevention to Alexandra while traveling to Fontainebleau, where the sanatorium had drawn a growing crowd and spurred a construction boom. At a banquet, Karl Friedrich asked for French industrial assistance and discussed whether Baden should join a war against Austria; Joseph advised him to wait for Bavaria’s position before he and Alexandra went for checkups.

• Joseph explained blood pressure, blood lipids, and how modern instruments could detect stroke risks to Alexandra, who recalled her grandmother’s death from a stroke.
• Joseph arrived at Fontainebleau and found the palace surrounded by a vast construction site as craftsmen and visitors gathered around the sanatorium.
• Karl Friedrich von Zahringen told Joseph that even his VIP status had left him waiting five days for an examination, and Joseph promised to try to help.
• Joseph learned that nobles, merchants, craftsmen, and medical workers had driven Fontainebleau’s population and housing prices sharply upward.
• Karl Friedrich asked Joseph for French chemical technology to develop Baden’s brine mines and a wood-tar refinery, then raised whether Baden should declare war on Austria.
• Joseph advised Karl Friedrich to wait for Bavaria’s position, then took Alexandra to the sanatorium’s examination center the following afternoon.

Joseph and Alexandra underwent extensive medical examinations at the sanatorium, where Joseph learned about its diagnostic methods and cumbersome equipment. The chapter ended with Pinel telling Joseph that Alexandra was very likely pregnant.

• Joseph and Alexandra arrived at the sanatorium, where Jean-Noël Hall showed them the blood-pressure equipment before Doctor Bichat reminded him that Joseph had invented it.
• Hall measured Joseph's blood pressure and found it healthy, then oversaw examinations that included taking a large amount of blood to measure blood lipids.
• Joseph completed a series of examinations and learned that the sanatorium's doctors could detect and help prevent many diseases.
• Duke of Gramont balked at the 1,100 Franc cost of his examination, while King of Baden reacted casually to the blood tests.
• Alexandra privately returned to Joseph with Pinel, who told him she was very likely pregnant.

Joseph learned that Alexandra was pregnant and tried to reassure her about traditional food taboos, then investigated French obstetric care to protect her during childbirth. He discovered that doctors had little recourse for severe bleeding or injuries, but that cesarean sections were already possible.

• Joseph comforted Alexandra after she worried that foods she had eaten might harm their child, and Doctor Pinel took notes on Joseph's medical explanations.
• After Alexandra's examination showed normal results, Joseph ordered the convoy back to Versailles Palace and worried about her future delivery as she listed pregnancy taboos.
• Joseph met with Royal Midwife Jean-Louis Bodlock to learn about French delivery techniques, including infection prevention, improved forceps, and fetal-position correction.
• Bodlock said doctors could only pray when mothers suffered severe hemorrhaging or birth-canal injuries, but confirmed that cesarean sections could be performed.

Joseph guided Bodlock toward safer cesarean techniques, focusing on blood transfusion, infection prevention, and improved suturing tools. Bodlock agreed to research blood types and follow Joseph’s recommendations as he prepared for the Crown Princess Consort’s delivery.

• Joseph rejected Bodlock’s practice of cutting open mothers without suturing them and said he wanted a cesarean method that could save both mother and child.
• Joseph explained that matching blood types could make transfusions possible, and Bodlock promised to research how to identify the types.
• Joseph told Bodlock to use Penicillin against infection during the Crown Princess Consort’s delivery.
• Joseph advised Bodlock to disinfect Catgut and drew a curved design for improved suture needles.
• Bodlock showed Joseph an obstetric forceps and a pelvimeter from his surgical kit.

Joseph assigned the Medical and Health Bureau a six-month effort to advance surgery, including ether anesthesia, blood transfusions, wound suturing, and stainless-steel instruments. At a beach party, Queen Mary learned Alexandra was pregnant and hurried back to Versailles, while Charles used the news as an opportunity to leave for Ravenna.

• Joseph told Bodlock to order stainless-steel surgical instruments and needles from the Royal Ironworks and discussed anesthesia with him.
• Bodlock identified ether as a substance already known in France, and Joseph assigned Covisat and other officials to investigate its anesthetic use along with blood transfusions and surgical techniques.
• The Medical and Health Bureau began preparing to retrain and assess France's midwives as surgical practices changed.
• At Queen Mary's beach party, Charles rejected her suggestion that he marry Princess Mary Elizabeth and worried about her intentions.
• Queen Mary read a letter from Joseph announcing Alexandra's pregnancy and decided to return to Versailles the next day.
• Charles avoided the Princess of Baden and told his attendant to prepare a gift before he left for Ravenna.

Earl of Ulfeld learned that his daughter Gloria supported the Liberals and had her beaten after she refused to name anyone who recruited her. As the Stilz Society feared Gloria had been moved to the Hofburg, its members debated an uprising while Liberal groups gained support amid worsening economic hardship.

• Director Bell showed Earl of Ulfeld Gloria’s statement and offered to protect her and the family if she identified a Stilz Society leader.
• Earl of Ulfeld demanded that Gloria name who recruited her, but she defended her belief in freedom and equality, so he struck her and she fainted.
• Lucas grieved for Gloria, and Hirt reported that she had likely been transferred from the East End headquarters to the Hofburg.
• Karl Bergmann urged the Stilz Society to launch an uprising, while Lucas said their previous attempt had failed and Heinrich von Gagern called for more people to join.
• Inflation, tax increases, and corruption fueled public anger, and the Stilz Society and other Liberal organizations gained followers despite Secret Police repression.

After hearing that Gloria had died, Lucas vowed revenge against the Emperor and his servants and pushed the Stilz Society toward revolution. He began organizing a student army and seeking support from sympathetic soldiers, workers, and farmers.

• Lucas rejected talk of waiting for Parliament and rushed to seek help from the Earl of Ulfeld to free Gloria.
• Lucas learned that Gloria had died, and Hirt pulled him away from the Earl's villa before he could expose himself.
• Lucas returned to the Stilz Society and vowed to avenge Gloria, shifting its leadership toward the Radicals.
• Lucas organized Vienna students into a secret student army and urged them to train and find weapons.
• Lucas planned to recruit sympathetic soldiers and spread ideas of freedom and equality among workers and farmers.

Rolf Adorno struggled to feed his family as paper money lost value and the price of bread effectively rose. After witnessing his neighbors’ desperation, he left for work with anger and fear over the hardship surrounding him.

• Rolf Adorno calculated how to divide the bread among Karen, Gretel, and himself, while worrying about their debts and the war tax.
• At Hibbert Bakery, Favre discovered that paper notes bought less bread than silver coins, and Rolf could afford only four pounds and six ounces.
• Rolf hurried home past a doorway where two men were taking down a hanged man, then told his younger son to give Karen the smaller portion and care for her.
• Rolf overheard Siegfried trying to sell his Grand Cross Medal because his military pension had stopped, and heard a buyer offer only ten Florins.
• Rolf left for work, remembering that military boots had once cost fifteen Florins, and his eyes filled with coldness.

Adorno, exhausted and afraid that hunger and a new war tax would further ruin his family, went to a Liberal gathering after hearing that the Empire had suffered a defeat in Switzerland. He listened as a speaker urged the crowd to demand the rights set out in the Declaration of Human Rights, leaving Adorno among people cheering for change.

• After nearly injuring his coworker with an axe, Adorno met a black-clad Liberal who invited him to a cafe meeting in exchange for the promise that people could fight for bread.
• Adorno learned that General Mikhalevich had lost more than seven thousand soldiers in Switzerland and worried the emperor would impose another tax.
• Fearing another tax notice and hoping to find a way to secure bread, Adorno went to the cafe on Mud Tile Street.
• A young man condemned the emperor's spending, taxes, and privileges for the wealthy and nobles.
• The young man read the Declaration of Human Rights aloud, and the crowd cheered after each article.

Adorno listened as Steffens read the Declaration of Human Rights and began to question the injustices he had endured as a serf. When the Secret Police raided the cafe and tried to seize the banned pamphlet, Steffens resisted, and the patrons fought back.

• As Steffens recited the Declaration of Human Rights, Adorno remembered being forced to kneel before a nobleman and Karen’s copper kettle being confiscated for the Emperor’s war tax.
• A warning about the Secret Police interrupted Steffens, who threw the pamphlet into the fireplace as officers burst into the cafe.
• Steffens covered the burning pamphlet with his hands, but the Secret Police chief struck him with a chair and recovered the scorched pages.
• The chief declared everyone in the cafe an accomplice under the Empire’s security decree, and Steffens urged the patrons to fight back.
• A middle-aged woman attacked an officer with a coffee pot, and the leading officer shot her.

After the Secret Police massacre at the Cafe on Mud Tile Street, Adorno learned that his wife Karen had died and joined the growing protests. As tens of thousands gathered outside Schönbrunn Palace, Franz II ordered Kobzl to deploy the Moravian Corps into Vienna.

• The Secret Police fired on the panicked crowd fleeing the Cafe, killing people as Adorno escaped home.
• At dawn, protesters announced that eighty-two people had died, and Adorno discovered Karen had died of her fever.
• Adorno left his son Gretel with a neighbor and joined protesters led by Siegfried, Favre, and several gentlemen.
• Adorno's procession united with other groups and marched toward Schönbrunn Palace as protest crowds gathered across Vienna.
• Count Salazar urged the Imperial Guard commander to disperse the crowd, but Franz II forbade shooting and ordered Kobzl to deploy the Moravian Corps into Vienna.

Adorno and the protesters forced Vienna’s Police to retreat after a confrontation outside Schönbrunn Palace, then surged toward the Hofburg to free prisoners. Meanwhile, Gagern prepared the Student Legion to ambush the Emperor’s troops, but learned that Mr. Scheller had gone to the enemy alone.

• Adorno and nearly twenty thousand protesters waited outside Schönbrunn Palace, rejected Count Salazar’s offer of bread, and demanded punishment for the Cafe killings and political reforms.
• The next morning, Adorno identified the Police as the men who had fired on the Cafe, and the protesters drove the outnumbered Police and Secret Police into retreat.
• Adorno joined the crowd as it headed toward the Hofburg to rescue Steffens and the other prisoners.
• Gagern assembled the armed University of Vienna students to ambush the Moravian Corps, then heard that Mr. Scheller had gone alone to the enemy forces.

Lucas von Scheller persuaded Major Victor Cosport to keep his troops from entering Vienna, and Cosport’s defiance helped the Student Army defeat the suppression force. As the protesters reached the Hofburg, Count Nostitz-Lineck warned them to leave, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Lucas von Scheller warned Major Victor Cosport that the Vienna revolution would triumph and urged him not to send his soldiers into the city.
• Cosport ordered his battalion to move west, and Heffel learned that Cosport intended to avoid slaughtering the people.
• Archduke York’s forces discovered armed rebels, but Cosport’s Dragoon Battalion and the 12th Infantry Battalion disobeyed orders while the 6th Skirmisher Regiment abandoned its post.
• General Mexeri attacked the Student Army, whose left flank began to collapse under the regular army’s assault.
• Cosport’s defecting Dragoons and Skirmishers struck the suppression force’s right wing, helping the Student Army win the battle.
• Tens of thousands of protesters gathered before the Hofburg, where Count Nostitz-Lineck ordered them to leave.

Adorno led the protesters in seizing the Royal Arsenal and using its cannons to storm the Hofburg, where they killed Count Lineck while searching for Steffens. As Adorno was hailed as a hero, Franz II believed the crisis was easing and wrote that everything was fine.

• An old soldier persuaded the crowd to march on the Royal Arsenal, explaining that its guards were few because most had escorted ammunition to Switzerland.
• Adorno charged through the Arsenal’s gunfire, inspiring the crowd to storm the walls and force the defenders to flee.
• Adorno and the protesters opened the warehouses, seized cannons, and dragged three Eight-Pound Cannons toward the Hofburg.
• The protesters fired on the Hofburg gates, broke them open, and killed Count Lineck, but they did not find Steffens.
• The crowd celebrated Lineck’s death and honored Adorno as the first to charge into the Arsenal.
• At Schönbrunn Palace, Franz II saw that few protesters remained and wrote in his diary that everything was fine.

After Vienna’s armed uprising forced Emperor Franz II to issue concessions, he fled the city, and Lucas and the Liberals declared the Republic of Austria. The new government organized a provisional assembly and prepared to defend the revolution.

• Count Salazar told Franz II that Count Lineck had been killed, the Royal Arsenal seized, and armed crowds had filled Vienna, while the Moravian Corps had suffered mutinies.
• Metternich urged Franz II to promise the protesters reforms, and Hirt read the Emperor’s edict granting elections, tax reductions, and pardons to the crowd.
• Adorno returned home to find Mrs. Brandt had left to join the revolution, then learned the next day that Franz II had fled Vienna.
• Lucas urged the Liberals to establish the Republic of Austria, form a National Assembly, recruit a National Guard, and put captured secret police on public trial.
• A week later, the Vienna Constitutional Committee and provisional assembly roster were ready, and the preparatory group announced the Republic of Austria’s establishment to Europe.

The Parliamentary Preparatory Committee argued over whether to seize the former Austrian Government's tax funds, while Adorno fled after being questioned about his qualifications. In Brno, Franz II ordered forces gathered to crush the Vienna rebellion and sent Metternich to seek foreign support.

• Lucas and the Radicals argued for confiscating 3 million Florins in City Bank, but Hirt and the nobles opposed it.
• Vienna citizens demanded that Adorno join the Parliamentary Preparatory Committee, but he fled after Hirt questioned his literacy and knowledge.
• The committee decided to leave the City Bank funds untouched for now, accepting 400,000 Florins from factory owners and merchants and limiting the National Guard to 40,000 recruits.
• Franz II ordered Archduke Karl and troops from Hungary, Bohemia, and Croatia to assemble against the Vienna rebels.
• Metternich urged Franz II to seek diplomatic mediation and foreign support, then proposed approaching the French.

Hungary’s parliament rejected Vienna’s demand to fund troops against the Vienna Rebellion and instead organized a Hungarian National Guard. The Two Chambers passed reforms asserting Hungary’s independence, and more than 60,000 people registered to join the Guard.

• Antal Grassalkovich presented the Emperor’s German-language decree, prompting legislators to protest Germanization and the demand that Hungary raise and fund 40,000 troops.
• Janos, Palffy, and Geza argued that Hungary should raise its own army to defend Hungarian territory and freedom, with Hungarian officers in command.
• Janos proposed a Hungarian National Guard and listed conditions for continued obedience to the Emperor, including ending Germanization, lowering taxes, repaying past military expenses, and recognizing Hungarian self-government.
• Geza predicted the House of Magnates would support the plan because Hungary’s nobles opposed Vienna’s trade restrictions and wanted tariffs restored.
• Five days later, both chambers passed the Hungarian National Guard Act and began drafting the August Decree, including Magyar as the sole official language and the abolition of serfdom.
• More than 60,000 people registered for the National Guard in less than a week, encouraged by the Kuruc organization’s campaign for independence.