A Time of Congresses and Reflections (Part I)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Empire of Austria, September 1814.

Marie Luise and Archduke Karl, sat together upon a luxurious velvet covered couch, in one of the spacious drawing rooms of the palace. They had been able to enjoy -- just the two of them -- a quiet, luxuriant and restful bliss since he had arrived a fortnight ago from Vienna. They had settled comfortably into the couch facing the sun lit windows after an excellent lunch, and sat quietly enjoying coffee together. Both were in understated elegant and comfortable civilian attire, rather then their more customary military uniforms they usually wore, having spent much of the morning either riding in the countryside or shopping in the city of Graz itself.

Karl filled Marie Luise in on the developments of the great ongoing congress in Vienna. There had never been anything quite like it before and perhaps never would again. The series of face to face meetings of political leaders and states in one city, had finally settled all the details of what was hoped to be a lasting peace in Europe, after nearly twenty-three years of continuous warfare. They had been at it for months, since the day of Napoleon's abdication with the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814. Not, of course, without a great deal of intense discussion, often furious and divisive argument and not a few near crisis moments between the states which often had vastly different and conflicting political and territorial objectives.

Joseph Bonaparte had managed to retain his throne in Kingdom of Naples, where he was genuinely popular and the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was not. They would have to be satisfied with retaining their throne in the Kingdom of Sicily. While Joachim Murat had retained his claim to the Grand Duchy of Kleve-Berg. Neither developments were welcomed by the many members of the Congress, but were accepted as a necessary concession to settle the affairs of Europe as peacefully as possible. The Kingdom of Holland had been returned to the rule of the House of Orange-Nassau, and it's seven Dutch provinces had been linked together with Flemish Flanders and Limburg. France, once again a kingdom under the leadership of a Bourbon king, had received French speaking Walloonia in exchange for this as well as many but not all it's former overseas colonial possessions, though they were allowed to retain the island of Corsica. Spain also had regained it's independence and was once again under the rule of the House of Bourbon. Sweden had gained Norway and it's island dependencies from Denmark but had to accept Russia's permanent annexation of Finland and the Aland islands. Sweden declared itself the Empire of Scandinavia (after unifying the thrones of Sweden and Norway) in consequence and it's king was now an emperor. Which was accepted by the other powers at the congress, although albeit reluctantly.

The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy had been broken up once again into the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont (consisting of the island of Sardinia, and the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont, and the Republic of Genoa), the Kingdom of Venetia-Lombardia, the Papal States, the Serene Republic of San Marino, the Grand Duchy of Parma, the Grand Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily respectively. Austria had effectively annexed Venetia-Lombardia, Parma, Modena and Tuscany to it's empire. The principality of Monaco, had been elevated to the status of kingdom, with the addition of some adjacent french territory and the whole of the previously Italian Duchy of Nice. The moribund Confederation of the Rhine had been repurposed into the German Confederation, which included practically all the German states: the Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg, the Electorate of Hessen-Kassel, the Grand Duchies of Luxembourg, Oldenberg, Nassau, Kleve-Berg, Baden, Anhalt, and Brunswick, the Duchies of Saxe-Lauenburg and Holstein, the Grand Principalities of Waldeck, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold,, the Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Luebeck and Hamburg, and the City-state of Frankfurt-am-Main. Only the Duchy of Schleswig was not formally included, as it had been joined in personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. The Grand Principality of Hohenzollern (the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Haigerloch) had been reconstituted largely to please Prussia, out of the formally annexed territories of Baden and Württemberg. Much to their irritation, although they acquiesced to it with much ill grace. The Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt now renamed Hessen und bei Rhein, had lost all of it's lands north of Frankfurt-am-Main to Hessen-Kassel but had received in compensation the formally Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate to amalgamate itself into a more coherent state.

Switzerland and Andorra had their territorial borders and permanent neutrality statues conferred by the Congress, though not without a little argument in the case of Switzerland, which lost portions of it's eastern and southern cantons, the St Gall and Ticino, to augment the territory to the Austrian crownlands of Liechtenstein and Venetia-Lombardia. It also lost the Basle Canton and virtually the entire Schaffhausen Canton to Baden. By way of compensation, the formally independent and French allied canton of Neuchâtel was added to the Swiss Confederation.

The German island of Heligoland in the German Bight had nearly caused a war between Great Britain and the German Confederation, as Britain claimed it, although they had singularly failed to occupy it despite several attempts when it had been part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 on wards. It was decided again after a great deal of heated argument and discussion to give it to either Prussia or Oldenburg, although the actually details of occupation had yet to be worked out. Saxony had lost nearly half it's northern territory, to the Prussians as the price for it's loyalty to Napoleon, although the intervention of several of the Great Powers had prevented it's total annexation by Prussia. Since Prussia had received virtually the entire former Kingdom of Westphalia as well as other territories in Western Germany, everyone felt that Prussia had more then enough territory as it was! In compensation, Saxony's previous annexation of the former Thuringian states was agreed to. The titular dynastic link between the Kingdom of Saxony and Kingdom of Poland was however to be permanently severed.

Poland had re-emerged as an independent state under King Stanisław II August, largely due to the political machinations of France, Sweden and some of the other European states. It had nearly triggered another war between the Great Powers, as Russia had been determined to annex Poland outright, which had been opposed by nearly everyone at the Congress. A compromise that satisfied no one involved had been hammered out after much argument. The once again independent kingdom -- under a temporay regency headed by Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski -- was reduced to it's Grand Duchy of Warsaw borders, minus, the Grand Duchy of Poznań, which was re-annexed to Prussia as the province of Posen and much of the Suwałki and Narew pan handle, which was divided between Prussia and Russia. Otherwise, Great Britain had been the greatest benefactor of the Congress's deliberations, retaining much of it's overseas conquests and expanding it's immense economic strength, as well as it's voice in international affairs.

"So much for the great events and political tribulations of nations great and small." Karl remarked dryly after he had finished explained all this. Marie Luise was quite happy that she had had very little to do with the congress, after peace had been declared in 1814 between France and the powers of the Sixth Coalition. She had promptly retired to what she hoped, after so many years of intense activity, was a quiet life in Graz and planned to concentrate her whole attention on he beloved four year old son, Ferdinand Ulrich, and the management of her considerable and diverse estates and properties.

The House of Eggenberg had made it's considerable fortune through diversified commerce, manorial farms, brewery and vineyard ownership, banking and coin-minting operations over the centuries since the Counter-Reformation. The family, which at one time had consisted of some four branches or cadet lines: Radkersburg, Augsburg, Graz, and Ehrenhausen and, possessed business holdings, manorial estates and the titles of baron, count, prince and duke in Bavaria, Bohemia, the Austrian Littoral, Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia. They had even held title over the Princely County of Gradisca since it had been purchased by the Eggenbergs from Emperor Ferdinand III in 1647, until the death of her father. At which point the Princely Count title, and the seat in the Holy Roman Empire's Parliament that went with it, to which she could not inherit, although not all the land holdings attached to it, entailed back to the Habsburgs.

"What of Napoleon?" She asked after a moment.

"Exiled to the Tuscan island of Elba, for life. Whether they can keep him there, remains to be seen of course. He has been granted a generous pension of three million francs a year drawn from France and complete control of the island. Empress Marie Louise, gets one million francs a year by the way. Brother Franz was not at all happy about that. Marie Louise absconding right out from under his nose in Vienna with their son, Napoleon II, to join her husband on Elba caught him totally off guard. Johann and I thought Franz was going to have an apoplexy when we got that bit of news."

Marie Luise enjoyed Karl's amused smile at what must have been as unpleasant as it was unexpected shock to Kaiser Franz I of Austria.

"Does Ferdinand Ulrich, still stand to inherit the Elba principality, under Napoleon's previous will? Assuming of course, the great powers of Europe bother to allow it." Karl asked after a thoughtful moment.

"I am making inquiries about that. No one I have talked to -- in the Foreign Office, or the Imperial Court, the Aulic Council or the Reichskammergericht -- so far, is quite sure. Though, I have not heard anything to the contrary. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III expressed himself to me personally, that he is unbothered by that particular dynastic arrangement and only asked that my son, actually reside in Elba for at least some part of the year when he came into the inheritance. Which is a fair request, as Ferdinand Ulrich will hold aristocratic titles in both Austria and Tuscany. Ferdinand Ulrich does still stand to inherit an special pension from Napoleon, when he reaches his majority. It amounts to about one million francs a year drawn from Napoleon's own family coffers. There is already four millions francs plus accumulated interest deposited in the pension's account." Marie Luise said between sips of coffee.

Karl pursed his lips in surprise and did a few quick speculative sums in his head. It would be a handsome inheritance, when the boy reached his eighteenth year let alone his official legal majority which was twenty-one. Marie Luise watched the wheels turning in Karl's head and nodded.

"The pension has a legal proviso, however that if Napoleon dies before, Ferdinand Ulrich reaches his majority, he will receive whatever has up to that point accumulated in the account, immediately."

"Well at least that part of your son's future estate is settled." Karl remarked blandly. Karl reflected grimly on the legal tribulations that Marie Luise had had to put up with involving Ferdinand Ulrich's inheritance. When he had been born in 1810, she had written a secret codicil which had affected the interpretation of her previous family will. In it she left the entirety of her titles, estates and possessions and all her wealth and businesses to Ferdinand Ulrich, legitimating him as her legal and sole heir. When she had all but killed at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, and reported as such --prematurely as it turned out, the Herbersteins and Schwarzenbergs, had moved to have her will probated. Only to discover the codicil which invalidated their previously assumed inheritance of her estates. They had been furious of course and immediately worked to declare the codicil invalid. The fact that she had augmented the codicil with a new formal will on her deathbed dictated to Graf Sonder and witness by himself, his brother Johann, Eisen and Father Haspringer added still more fuel to the resultant fire. The furious legal uproar this had caused had driven Marie Luise nearly to distraction, and which was saying something considered the original legal troubles she had suffered with them during her pregnancy with Ferdinand Ulrich back in 1810! That legal furor was still rumbling on even now, although it had been greatly tempered somewhat by Eisen angrily threatening to throw the whole of the Herberstein and Schwarzenberg families involved, that he could lay hands on into the Danube! Since he had already thrown, Regimius von Dorzapf, the lawyer of Marie Luise's aunt from a second story window of the Schloss Eggenberg in a fit of rage, and then chased him the length of the estate back in 1810, this was not an idle threat.

Marie Luise nodded, then briefly looked away from Karl before remarking. She hated bringing this up and spoiling what has so far been an enjoyable afternoon.

"I understand, that was not the only thing that has been settled recently."

Karl, looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup. His face absolutely expressionless and still. She had heard then, not surprising, it had been in all the papers and Franz had been only too pleased to make the announcement before the entire Imperial Court in Vienna. He put the cup down and wordlessly, opened his arms, Marie Luise immediately shifted closer and leaned into his embrace, now uncontrolled tears glittering in her beautiful green eyes.

Marie Luise had been absolutely heartbroken and had spent tormented days and sleepless nights fretting, worrying and not infrequently crying when she had received the news. She knew that reasons of state and dynasty, however legitimate they might be in this case, were not the real reason Kaiser Franz had pushed for his brother Karl's marriage. It was Franz's revenge against her, and to some extent also against Karl, and both she and Karl knew it. Karl was for his part, nearly as glum, although he had through long practice controlled his anger, grief and unhappiness, perhaps a little better at least in both public and private, when Franz had sprung that unpleasant surprise on him. Not that Franz, had not received a few unpleasant surprises all is own, Karl thought absently.

Marie Luise wanted to hold onto Karl forever, but the best things in life, the ones that really mattered, did not last forever. Like a dance or beautiful music they could only be enjoyed when and as they happened.

"What...is she... like..." Marie Luise asked after a long moment, her hand entwined tightly in his. Karl, just hugged her close, leaning his head on her's for a long moment, before answering her question.

"Princess Henrietta Alexandrine Friederike Wilhelmine of Nassau-Weilburg, the daughter of Prince Frederick William of Nassau-Weilburg, is young, she's seventeen as of this year, so the actual wedding has been put off til next year. She's a little shorter then I am, which is to say that she is not very tall." They both chuckled softly at that whimsical self-deprecating remark. While both were of slender, fit builds, which caused them to look taller, then either were it was only when they stood in the presence of other people that their lack of height became obvious.

"She has black hair and very light brown eyes. She wears spectacles for reading, of which she does a great deal on a wide number of subjects. She's interested in various charities and nursing associations. She's very pretty, charming and well mannered. Dear God... I am beginning to sound like a catalogue.... " Karl murmured apologetically.

"Oh and she's a Protestant." Karl remarked suddenly. Marie Luise jerked upright in his arms. A Protestant marrying into the staunchly Roman Catholic Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty?! Impossible!

"A Calvinist, to be exact." Karl continued. "She made that pretty plain, after our engagement had been announced some minutes earlier to the assembled court, Franz commented to her in passing about herchanging her religion as if it were already a settled matter. She commented that she would do nothing of the kind."

"She told Franz, myself and Johann, very firmly and with infinite courteousness that while she would marry me, and do so gladly for her own sake and benefit of the Grand Duchy of Nassau and the House of Nassau-Weilburg. She would not abjure the faith that she had been born and raised to for anything, not even an arch ducal crown."

"The Grand Marshall, who was standing next to us, did not help things by commenting that the Habsburg House Laws only stated that the emperor, his wife and children were required by custom to be of the Roman Catholic faith. There being no such requirement for the wife of an archduke and certainly not at all for the heir of the Duke of Saxe-Teschen."

"Johann, of course, really did not help matters by bursting into peals of laughter!" Karl chuckled aloud himself as he remembered the scene. Franz's barely concealed bafflement, then consternation and then impotent rage, as his plans partially unraveled upon him was a something that Karl would treasure. It did not make parting with Marie Luise any easier but at least it would give him and her a certain grim satisfaction in the years to come.

Unconsciously Marie Luise found herself liking this young princess, she had spirit that was clear, and not a little courage, and evidently already quite liked Karl. The match might not be a love match but it looked like it would at least be a friendly, happy one.

"Franz, can not do much about it, even if he wanted to and he does. The marriage contract required a great deal of complicated personal and diplomatic negotiation and is needed to mend political fences, between Austria and Nassau. so Franz can not back out of it, now without causing an uproar in the Confederation." Karl remarked with an expression of mild and amused cynicism.

Storm Clouds 1866 (Part II)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Austia-Hungary, January 1866.

Ferdinand Ulrich Fürst von Eggenberg, emerged from his study in the Schloss Eggenberg, and made his way towards the Great Library of the palace. His mother was entertaining several guests this evening, and Ferdinand Ulrich had excused himself after they had finished an excellent dinner, prepared by the palace staff, to deal with some personal letters that had arrived with the evening post. His wife and children were away in Vienna visiting relations and friends over the remainder of the new year, while he had lingered in Graz at attend to family estate affairs and discuss with his mother, their plans for the coming year. In all it had been a pleasant, contented and quiet yuletide season, although prospects for the new year of 1866, seemed a bit disheartening, due to the ongoing conflicts and arguments between Austria and Prussia within the German Confederation.

Bismarck had caused a major political fuss in the Bundsrat, by trying to bar Denmark from formally entering the Confederation, a move welcoming by almost all the member states, Prussia included. He had been furious of course, when he had been over ruled by the Bundsrat and his own sovereign. So he had gone out of his way to increase the friction between Austria and Prussia over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The diplomatic discussions with Denmark and the Confederation were however ongoing and Bismarck found he could not derail them, they would probably wind up sometime in later in the year or early spring of 1867. Evidently King Wilhelm I, had put his foot down, hard, and Bismarck had had a most unpleasant interview over the matter.

Ferdinand Ulrich, was worried, there was talk throughout the member states of the possibility that the conflict between Austria and the states allied to it and Prussia and it's allies would combust into open conflict, perhaps even outright war. That same worry was in all the papers, the cities and countryside. Everyone hoped it would not be so of course, and the belief that cooler and sensible heads would prevail as it had in the past. Ferdinand Ulrich was not sure that would be the case, he sensed trouble in the wind. Bismarck signing political treaties with both the Kingdoms of Italy and Poland, signaled warning bells in his mind, about the Prussians intentions.

Ferdinand Ulrich rubbed absently at his long, dark brown sideburns as he walked. His childhood had been an unsettled one, he had been born in 1810, one of the rare moments of peace during the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. His birth had caused something of a scandal at the time, and still caused him and his mother trouble from time to time thereafter. That fact that his mother, was unmarried had been part of the scandal, the other part had been caused by who his father was. His mother was of a fresh light complexion with beautiful green eyes. His own eyes, were of a cast of equal parts blue and green, a professional artist would have called them cyan. They sparkled like a bright summer sky. His colouring was darker then his mother's, almost swarthy. This was not all that surprising, given that his father was Napoleone di Buonaparte, also known to posterity as Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The same straight, ever so slightly bent nose, marked his face, as did the same somber and serious expression. There had been no mistaking his parentage as Ferdinand Ulrich had grown up, his resemblence to his half-brother, the Herzog von Reichstadt, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, and head of the Habsburg cadet house, of Habsburg-Bonaparte, or Habsburg -Korsika as it was called, was painfully obvious to all who looked upon him.

Despite the scandal, Ferdinand Ulrich had been loved and adored by his mother, thorough out his childhood. He had nearly become an orphan, in 1813, when his mother had impulsively joined in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Fortunately his mother had survived what was deemed a mortal chest wound by the intervention of two friends, the Prussian general , Graf Sonder and the fellow Styrian, General Eisen. Who had pulled her from the battlefield and managed to save her life. Both men, were to put it bluntly, some of the odds people in the world, let alone the German Confederation! Graf Sonder had been born in th 1600s, had trained as an alchemist and made a number of useful scientific observations and inventions. However he had suffered a catastrophic accident when a chemical experiment he ha been conduction, exploded in his face, leaving his badly injured and blind. He had directed his assistants in rebuilding his ruined face, body and limbs with exotic metals, leathers and woods and strange elixirs. Graf Sonder was now more construct then human, but lived on and his skills and knowledge grew with each passing year. He had served the Kingdom of Prussia for the better part of two centuries now, having achieved a strange sort of immortality through his accident. He was currently the Inspector General of the Federal Army of the German Confederation and had done much serious work in developing a common tactical doctrine, equipment and organization for the Federal Army. His statutes written at various time up to 1864, were the order of things within the various states, although he had suffered some frustrations particularly with regards small arms and artillery establishments. While he had managed to get common agreement on calibers and weights, he had not been able to get a common weapons design into service, three rifles and their carbine and short rifle derivatives were in service. so while their ammunition had been to some extent, at 11-mm cartridges, the ones in Bavaria and Austria, used metallic copper cartridges, the Prussians used paper ones. On top of that three rifle designs were in co-current use: the Prussians and several German States use the Dreyse or Dreyse-Sunder rifles, the Bavarians used the Blitzgewehr rifles, the Austrians and most of the other southern states used the Wanzel or Werndl-Holub rifles. Further the Prussian artillery establishment was the most backward of the German States, due to Bismarck's and Roon's opposition, consequently the Prussians had fewer rifled guns and too many smoothbores, compared to the other artillery establishements, and the Austrian establishment was the most modern of any of them.

Eisen was a mystery in his own right, he had been born in Styria at some time in the past, although he himself was unaware of where, when or the attendant circumstances or even who his parents or creator where. He towered over normal men, being some seven feet and two inches in height, with a long heavily muscled torso, with a metal covered head and metal limbs. He was possessed of immense, almost supernatural strength and stamina. Mother had told him stories of seeing him hurl heavy bronze cannon and supply wagons out of his way, seemingly without an effort at the battle of Aspern-Essling. A 12 pdr cannon ball had struck him in the same battle and had only succeeded in enraging the towering giant. Eisen had served the House of Austria in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars since he had walked out a wood in the 1790s to join an Austrian regiment that was fighting the French, armed only with a old hunting musket and a massive woodsman's axe. Eventually he had become a general officer in Austria's service, but retained a mind of his own, and often took his own course in the wars. He had joined the Tyrolean Insurrectionists against their Franco-Bavarian oppressors and later played a critical role in rescuing Andreas Hofer after his capture by the French and Bavarians. There was a rumour, that Eisen had told Kaiser Franz I to go to hell, when he had re-demonstrated Eisen for taken part in the affair against his orders. Eisen had remarked something to the effect "that sovereigns looked after their vassals, as the vassals looked after their sovereigns.". Ferdinand Ulrich had heard this from his two informal "uncles", the Archdukes Karl and Johann. Both knew his mother extremely well, and were both warm friends and almost an adoptive family to both his mother and himself. His mother had named Archduke Karl and Johann, as legal guardians for Ferdinand Ulrich, following her near death at Leipzig in the event that anything happened to her before he reached his legal majority. Consequently, Ferdinand Ulrich grew up alongside the children of Archduke Karl and the Archduke Johann. Ferdinand Ulrich enjoyed a close friendship with many of them, in particular Karl's eldest son, Albrecht, who had risen to corps command in the Army. Several of the letters he had been reading moments ago, came from Albrecht and the news was unsettling. Albrecht felt that war if is came would be soon and might go badly, he had entreated his "brother" Ferdinand Ulrich to come to his assistance as he had been placed in command of the forming Army of Bohemia (based in Prague) , which would Austria's principal army if it came to a fight. Albrecht assumed that some higher ranking officer, who enjoyed the Imperial and Royal Court's confidence would be named to formal command, soon and he would be slotted into command of one of the Army of Bohemia's infantry corps. He wanted Ferdinand Ulrich with him, in that event.

Ferdinand Ulrich was somewhat wary of the request, he had been in semi-retirement for some time, more interested in scholarship and scientific studies, then serious military duties. Still, he was an accomplished military engineer and artilleryman with a record of competence in peace and war alike, since he's started his military service in 1831 and if both his monarch and his surrogate "brother" needed him, he could not in good conscience turn down the request to serve.

The Library door was ajar when he finally reached it, lost momentarily in his own thoughts.

The angry vocal blast that issued from the half open doors of the Library, jarred him back into sudden awareness of his surroundings. Even the metal construct servitor standing by the doors, jumped in surprise at the Furstin von Eggenberg's outburst. Ferdinand Ulrich steeled himself to knock at the door, to announce himself. Sudden he felt like a young cadet presenting himself for an important inspection, not the accomplished and seasoned man of fifty-six that he was now. A rueful smile touched his lips for a moment. His mother, possessed a smoldering hot temper that had always been charitably described as "fiery" even by her friends. Something that had just been said in the Library had obviously enraged her beyond endurance.

As he entered the Library and joined the people grouped around the fire place, his mother was swearing in a decidedly unladylike manner, using the sort of language generally monopolized by officers grooms in the privacy of the stables or the drivers of a supply wagon train stuck in the mud or a river crossing. Well, mother had been in the Army since 1795, and had learned to swear like a trooper as readily as anyone else, and the Austrian army had plenty of languages to chose from! Ferdinand Ulrich just managed to repress a laugh, when he saw the expression of Feldzeugmeister Graf Baird de Auchmeddan, his dark eyebrows had shot up his forehead in mild surprise and not a little bemused reproof. Which made little difference to his mother as she stood next to the fireplace, pacing back and forth in what seemed a raging fury.

Baird de Auchmeddan, looked up at him briefly from his armchair, and quietly but humourously remarked.

"Eisen, did call her Prinzessin Höllenfeuer (Princess Hellfire), when they first met." A moments pause. "He was not wrong."

Ferdinand Ulrich, felt a pang of sadness at this, neither he or his mother had seen much of Eisen in the past years, he had retreated into the Syrian mountains and forests he loved best and they only heard from him very infrequently in letters he posts to them. The last two years he had been utterly silent, which worried both of them beyond words. There was a distinct possibility that the strange, part mechanical part human Eisen had finally died. Ferdinand Ulrich felt he and his mother owed Eisen a great deal, certainly more then could ever be easily repaid even if one had a life time to do it. He had been a close friend and guardian to his mother and to him after his birth. He had protected them both from danger, and been a quiet confident and friend when they needed in times of stress or trouble. Eisen had never asked anything in return for this, which said much about his generosity of heart and his value of their friendship.

Storm Clouds 1866 (Part I)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Austia-Hungary, January 1866.

Fürstin Marie Luise von Eggenberg, gazed into the flicking and twisting flames of the cavernous fireplace set into the wall of the great library. Winter had not yet released the Styrian countryside from it's grip and the warmth of the roaring fire was most welcome. The glittering lights in the darken room, bathed her in flickering shadows and golden red hues. She wore surprisingly simple garments for one of her rank and wealth, a short grey jacket with grey embroidery, and a high standing green velvet collar. The short jacket merged with an long skirt of jewel toned green, embroidered at the hem with black and silver lace. A frilled, white shirt, was visible at her throat, which was decorated with a black silk stock, and a broach that bore the Eggenberg family's full coat of arms in decorative enamel. Soft beige gloves, encased her hands where they emerged from the jacket's green velvet cuffs.

Marie Luise's green eyes sparkled with the flame light. Her hair, formally a lovely blond, now softened by age into a pleasant blend of silver white and gold tresses was held in place by a mix of braids and a gold, engraved tiara. One of her hands, rested upon the mantle piece, as she continued her silent contemplation of the news that had been brought to her attention tonight.

Three guests sat around the fireplace, with her, either in chairs or upon a nearby settee. Two wore the uniforms of officers of the Imperial and Royal Army, while the third wore the uniform of the Moniteur-Bureau . The two soldiers were Oberstleutnant Friedrich Graf von Beck-Rzikowsky, and Feldzeugmeister Matthias David Graf Baird de Auchmeddan. The third person, a young woman, sat upon the settee silently smoked a cheroot set into a metal and enameled cigar holder, was Dana Ritterin Timková von Krönungsschild.

Marie Luise tapped the stone mantle piece with her gloved fingers several times meditatively, before looking up from the fire place and addressing herself to her guests.

"You think it will come to war, Matthias?" Marie Luise finally said into the quiet that surrounded the small gathering. Matthias looked up from the cup of coffee he was sipping, and considered the question for a long moment. He nodded soberly and silently, his dark brown eyes intensely thoughtful then began speaking in that dry, matter of fact tone that she had learned to expect from him. Matthias Graf Baird de Auchmeddan, came from a very old Anglo-Scottish-Irish family of mercenaries who could be found all over Europe, where various branches of the Baird de Auchmeddan family had gone in previous centuries seeking service. Matthias was nearly fifty years of age, had been born in Austria (like several generations of his forebearers) and had served the House of Habsburg loyally and with courage and quiet competence for all his adult life in it's various wars, insurrections and border disturbances. He had also risen to his current high rank, almost completely on merit, as he had few patrons within the power structures of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was less exceptional then it might have been in other nations, because the Habsburgs (both past and present) often had an eye for talent and were less concerned about where a person was from and what their social background was, then they were concerned about a person's competence and loyalty.

Matthias, wore his dark brown, almost chestnut black hair unfashionable but practically short. His one concession to current fashion was his thick side burns and mutton chop whiskers, which were the same dark colour, although fringed in places with touches of silver. Otherwise, his face was clean shaven and neat of profile marked by a strong jaw and a pleasant mouth more given to smiling then frowning. Gold rimmed glasses rested on his patrician nose. He possesses a high, broad forehead which gave a hint of his keen brain and powers of concentration, his hair line show signs of receding to which he was ruefully indifferent.

"Bismarck, is hounding the cabinet into a corner - has been since the War in '64 - with his 'issues' about the condominium that currently governs and administers the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig. The ability of the government to find a peaceful solution to the crisis he is busy creating is being sharply reduced with each passing day. What's really at stake, is not the two duchies, but who dominates the German Confederation. Austria or Prussia."

"The cabinet, believes it has found a way to side step, Bismarck, and force a final agreement over the duchies. Although I do not think their plan will satisfy Bismarck, in fact I think it will enrage or fluster him into doing something drastic and something he probably does not want to do."

"How so, Matthias?"

"Bismarck I think is gambling on pressuring us, to lay down leadership of the German Confederation, voluntarily so Prussia can take the role. A political or diplomatic victory that gives him both that and possession of the two duchies is what he is after, as I see it. A war amoung the states of the German Confederation is probably the last thing he actually wants, particularly as he will have to take a backseat to the Prussian military and the Prussian king, once the shooting starts."

"I'm afraid, that is more or less also the view within his Majesty's Military Chancellery, the Hofskriegsrat, the Ministry of War and the Cabinet." Beck suddenly said from his nearby chair.

Friedrich Graf von Beck-Rzikowsky, was a much younger man then his companion, being only thirty-six, his family was from the Grand Duchy of Baden rather then Austria proper, but his devotion and competence was just as proven. Beck had served in every conflict or operation undertaken by the Austrian Army since 1848 in a mixture of staff, troop, mapping and geographical expeditions. Beck had also been badly wounded a number of times in his service. Like Baird, he wore his hair short and trim, was good looking in mild, affable way, and wore fashionable side whiskers and a smart moustache. He also possessed one of the most reforming, cunning and calculating minds within the Austro-Hungarian General Staff Corps. Not surprising given he had passed out of the Kriegsschule near the top of his class in 1854.

"What is the cabinet's solution to this?" Marie Luise, asked after she had considered these comments. Baird, nodded to Beck, who looks like he wanted to speak.

"The government is going to throw the matter of the disputed duchies before the Confederation council and the High Court, at the next meeting of the Bundsrat in Frankfurt-am-Main, this coming February. Putting the matter before the member states of the Confederation will put the whole affair outside of Prussia's hands, and ours too." Beck remarked ruefully. "It might not produce a political result we desire but it will definitely create one we can live with, although the Prussians will likely be less happy about it."

"I think, they are wrong, on this being a solution everyone can live with." Timková, finally remarked from the settee. Marie Luise, turned her gaze on the young woman. Like, Beck she was young, although her age was hard to judge, given her finely chiseled, beautiful slavic looks, set off by dark black hair and sparkling amber coloured eyes. Her family was of Austro-German and Slovakian origins. Her service had not been as long or as varied as either Baird's or Beck's but it had been distinguished, both by steady competence and quiet courage. Timková belong not to the regular military branches of the K.u.K Wehrmacht, but to the Moniteur-Bureau. An organization that had overseen and overwatched the Austrian military since it had been formed during the revolutionary and napoleonic wars under the aegis of the Hofskriegsrat.

"The Confederation is split, fractured if you like, on two lines. Those that support us, and those that support Prussia. On our side is the states of the South: Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Free city of Frankfurt-am-Main. In the West and North we have, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Schaumburg-Lippe, and Saxe-Lauenburg. In the Center and East, we have Saxony and Ruritania. The rest of the north German states are firmly in Prussia's camp: Anhalt, Oldenburg, Lippe-Detmold, The Hansa towns, Waldeck, the Mecklenburg Grand duchies, and Brunswick. They also have the lone south German state of Hohenzollern on their side to complicate things. It is anyone's guess who the disputed duchies will support if it comes to a trial of strength. The same can be said of Luxembourg."

"What ever the diplomatic manoveurings of either of Austria or Prussia, this issue is going to come down to a fight, a nasty one and it will be soon."

"How can you be sure?"

"The Prussians have signed an diplomatic agreements with the Kingdoms of Italy and Poland, and I do not have to be a mind reader to guess what that agreement is for and what provisions it contains, particularly the secret provisions."

"She's right, I am afraid." said a voice from the library doorway. A major wearing the uniform insignia of the Imperial and Royal Evidenz-Bureau remarked softy.

A Ghost Amid Ghosts (Part I)

Schlossberg Fortress, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, January 1866.

The Chapel master of the Schlossberg Fortress memorial chapel, an special annex to the fortress's Garrison Church, and like just about everything else on the Castle Hill, was more then half buried in the rock of the Schlossberg. He slowly made his way around the chapel making sure everything was in order. He was not required to do this, but out of long habit, he liked to see that everything was in order, tidy and correct. It was important, both for visitors to the chapel, and to those who were interned here or memorialized by their names on the tablets that decorated the walls or the lines of busts, portraits, statues and reliquaries and memento mori that decorated the chapel. Several of the local Graz flower shops, regularly provided the chapel with flowers and bouquets to decorate the place, and the Chapel master, liked to see that they were all properly attended to and freshened with a little water as might be required.

Most of the soldiers memorialized here had been in the service of one of the regiments or battalions raised or stationed in Graz over the years. A lot of the names were from the Siege of Graz in 1809. The Chapel had a small staff, a few lay care takers, three nuns and several novice priests and a dean and a deacon along with himself. He had been a soldier and then a military chaplain in his time, and did not mind the quiet of the chapel, most of his predecessors had found overseeing the memorial chapel a tedious, solitary and unrewarding task but he found it restful and contemplative, beside at this stage in life, he had no ambitions to raise in the church and he had plenty of time on his hands which he used to further his own education and knowledge.

A heavily cloaked figure silently entered the chapel, the Fortress clock tower was just beginning to ring the midnight hour. The deacon met her at the doorway, and politely inquired as to the person's business within the chapel. Night time visitors to the memorial chapel were by no means unusual, many people came to visit their lost friends, family or loved ones here when circumstances permitted it or the inclination took them. The Chapel master turned his attention back to the collection of splendid roses he was watering, they surrounded the statue that made up the center of the Siege of Graz memorials within the chapel. Votive candles set in ornate carved wood racks or bronze candle holders glowed in the darkness that filled the chapel at this hour.

The life sized statue was that of a young woman, dressed in the uniform of the Styrian Landwehr, medals and decorations adorned her tunic, while a sword was held up right in her hand, as if ready for battle. A pistol was held in the other hand at her side. Her body language and stance was tense and at the ready, while her beautiful features were set in a serious, earnest expression. Long tresses of flowing hair, with a stubborn tendency to curl decorated her head and framed her face. The sum of her features was rather attractive, despite the overall seriousness of the work, the Chapel master thought. She would command the immediate attention of everyone around her in any situation or gathering.

The two Latin mottoes decorated the statue's base "Omni tempore promptus et paratus" and "Primum pugnare, novissimum relinquere". The first stood to the left of the name and ornate coat-of-arms set into the stonework, it read "At all times prompt and ready" while the one to the right read "First to fight, Last to leave". A fair assessment of the woman who the statue memorialized, the Chapel master had thought on more then one occassion. The elaborate crown and raven decorated coat-of-arms was that of the Eggenberg family, a name to conjure with in Styria and especially in Graz. The personal name was another one that could be used to conjure with, for it was Fürstin Maria Ludovika Sophia Nathalia, the Last of the Graz Line of the Eggenbergs. Beneath the name was the her date of birth, December 2nd, 1780, followed by the curious inscription Died October 19th, 1813, Resurrected the day following by the Grace of God to the Imperishable Glory of her House and the People of Styria.

Princess Hellfire Chronicles

Artwork by Pelycosaur24

Working on a new draft of stories, which I am giving the working title of the Princess Hellfire Chronicles after the main character featured in them, set in the Age of Steam, Steel and Iron, in the 1790s through 1860s period. These stories are ment to fill in some of the other background details that have not yet been covered in detail, such as the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars periods as well as later Austro-Prussian War.

These stories are being made in collaboration with Pelycosaur24 of DeviantArt and feature one of her fictional characters, the Fürstin Maria Ludovica (Marie Luise) Sophia Nathalia von Eggenberg, transplanted into my background histories, with some subtle and not so subtle changes to suit the differences between our historical fictions. I hope to be able to post some of this accumulating work in due course.

Sincerely,

Matthew aka LordWorthing-Topper

Flight of the X-2 (Part III)

Royal Airship Works, Cardington, Bedfordshire, Great Britain.

Varley and Turner had suggested an alternative route to the Northwestern Frontier, by basing the X-2 from Malta or Greece and crossing the Ottoman Empire from west to east. The route was shorter then the proposed oceanic route, which recommended it to the Admiralty. The Foreign Office had put it's foot down on that option, with some regret it had to be said. The Ottomans had twigged to the X-2's previous visit to their territory, and a repetition of the dismal failure that was the Austrian mission was all too likely in the Foreign Office's mind. Wedgewood, Varley and Turner had been forced to agree with that assessment, in the present circumstances. Further, such a transit while quicker, would bring the X-2's flight closer to the Russian border and the possiblility of it being noticed by Russian border airships, sky ship flights or aircraft barrier patrols and both ground and aerial watchposts. The option of basing in Greece had been vetoed by both the Admiralty and the Foreign Office as it was a virtual surety that both the French and the Russians, who exerted considerable and powerful influence in the Kingdom of Greece, would find out about it. So the long route, via the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, was the only acceptable one, in view of current political realities.

Captain Turner joined the two men, as the stood gazing up at the massive airship that loomed over them. Of the three, Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred Wedgewood was easily and visibly the oldest. A grizzled, grey haired veteran of the Royal Navy, who had seen action in all nearly it's wars or colonial expeditions since the begining of the century in various capacities. Sharp, deep set flint grey eyes, flashed in a stern, craggy face that was dominated by a great beak of a nose. His face was clean shaven save for a neatly trimmed but still volumnous grey and white beard. Tall, powerfully built, Wedgewood presented an imposing presence in any gathering, he was also intelligent, articulate in both the written word and in speech, he was respected by all who served under him, and esteemed by his peers and superiors alike. Post-Captain Sir Markus Varley was almost a study in contrast, to his commander, being short, he stood only a few inches above five feet in height, of a compact but fit build and moved, thought and spoke with an alarming energy. Like Sir Alfred, he came from an old Anglo-Norman gentry family, although he was from the South of England, while Wedgewood came from the north. Varley had bright blue eyes, set in a remarkablely mobile but partrican face, that sparkled with excitement or mirth, as easily as they flashed with icy fire, when angered. Jet black hair and bristling sideburns framed his face.

Captain Dame Marianne Turner, was by comparison, tall, slender and intensively fit. She bristled with the same crackling energy as Captain Varley, but in her case it was more harnessed and controlled. Her neat and attractive features were framed by pale, almost white hair and set off by pale, glittering eyes. She snapped off, a crisp salute to her superior and collegue as she joined them. Her eyes, followed theirs as they resumed their silent inspection of the HMS X-2. Turner for her part was immensely proud of her ship and it's crew. While neither had the list of accomplishments aquired by the X-1 under Captain Varley, Turner was confident that given time and fair oppertunities, the X-2 would accomplish just as much for her captain and crew to be proud of.

"I do not like all this trimming, backing and falling, we are having to do, Admiral." Varley said suddenly, Wedgewood signed aloud. Political and strategic considerations rarely went hand in hand with tactical ones, in his experience. Someone always had to get their oar in and throw a spanner into the gears. Varley knew that, and so did Turner, but Wedgewood could understand their exasperation at having to plan this scouting mission with all it's attendent security and political requirements, when just the operational and logistical ones required their full and undivided attention.

"There is Nothing to be done about it, Varley. We just have to revise our plans accordingly and execute them as well as we can." Wedgewood responded heavily. He was no happier and had spent many long hours in discussion with Admiralty and Foreign Office officials trying to work out the details of the mission, with as few hangs up for the people who had to carry them out. While he had faced a great deal of officious and bureaucratic obstruction from many within both organizations, he had also received a great deal of support, as well as practical advise and suggestions on how to tackle the spanners that his superiors had thrown in his and his subordinates way.

Varley and Turner both nodded in agreement.

"The sooner you get underway, the happier I will be." Wedgewood remarked after a moments reflection. He offered his hand to Captain Turner. "A Safe voyage and a successful mission, Captain. Come home safe." Turner accepted her commander's hand, with a firm handshake of her own. Varley too offered his hand and a gruff word of encouragement to Turner and her crew.

"Thank you, Admiral. Captain. I'll take my leave and get underway, directly."

Both men watched her go, back to her airship and begin calling out the necessary orders to get airborne. The airship crew and the supporting ground crew began to move with hurried purpose.

Flight of the X-2 (Part II)

Royal Airship Works, Cardington, Bedfordshire, Great Britain.

Wedgewood stopped his pacing as they bow of the rigid airship emerged from the gapping maw of the hanger. The X-2 was as big as a battleship, longer even. Cables attached to the airship's nose went taunt as the windless motors activated to them began to work and assist in drawing the airship out of the hanger. A small battalion of men, held fast to cables hanging from the airship's sides, others held on to brackets and handrails mounted on the command and engine cars. Handling crews were necessary to manovering airships safely in and out of their hangers, although they were sometimes derisively called ground floor acrobats by airship crews. Such contempt was unjustified in Wedgewood's opinion, considering the skill and persistence require by the handling crews to do their jobs, not to mention agility and sheer strength and endurance. An Airship leaving the safety of it's hanger was at it's most vulnerable, rigged to neutral buoncency, airships were at the mercy of air pressure and wind pressure while making the transit into open air. A cross wind across the mouth of a hanger, could smash the airship against the sides of the hanger mouth as it emerged, breaking or buckling structural or engine frames, tearing gas cells, rupture fuel or water tanks or worse, breaking the airship's back if it was a rigid airship.

Wedgewood, pulled the folded map out from his coat pocket to consult it. The X-2 would leave Cardington, today and fly to the Portuguese Azores on the first leg of it's journey to British India. At the Azores, it would take on additional fuel from a collier and then proceed to St. Helena island, from there the X-2 would proceed to the Cape of Good Hope. The Admiralty would have prefered, that the X-2 cut across Southern Africa from St. Helena, but this had been vetoed by the Foreign Office, with some reason, Wedgewood felt. That region was contested by three colonial powers: the British, the Portuguese and the Germans, and the presence of a spy airship would just be akin to throwing a lighted match into a barrel of parafin oil. The Admiralty may have thought it was worth the risks, the Foreign Office did not and had no intention of trying to clean up the political mess it would likely kick off. While the Portuguese were an ally and generally friendly, they could be touchy about anyone snooping around their colonial possessions. The Portuguese, were painfully aware that several of the other European powers, Great Britain included, looked covertously at their foreign holdings in Africa and Asia. The Foreign Office wanted no part of getting on the wrong side of the Germans, either. Kaiser Friedrich was as a rule friendly to Great Britain, and those in the Foreign Office wanted to keep it that way.

So the Admiralty had to accept a detour around the Cape of Good Hope, Madagasgar and the French colonial islands that surrounded it, into the Southern portion of the India Ocean, before the X-2 turned for the island of Ceylon. The X-2 would stay at Ceylon for a few days to effect any repairs or refits of equipement that might be required and top up it's supplies and fuel for the journey to the Indian Northwestern Frontier. A secure airship field and supply base had been prepared there to assist the X-2, for the crossing of the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains. That part of the trip, had Wedgewood geniunely worried, the Hindu Kush and Pamirs were formidble barriers and the weather over them could be bitter and treacherous in the extreme. Captain Varley had also been sufficiently worried about it, that he had offered to transfer members of his crew who had made previous flights in the region to assist Captain Turner's navigation staff. Both Wedgewood and Turner had been happy to accept the generous offer.

Captain Varley walked over to join, his Vice-Admiral, as the X-2 slowly emerged from the hanger, both men uncouciously held their breath and did not expel it till, the X-2 floated safely into the open air. Both men shared a rueful glance, Right, the first real hurdle of this mission, out of the way. Both men, then walked under the shadow of the great airship, it's envelope painted a dull, naval grey for the long voyage to India. British tricolour roundels decorated the nose and bow of the airship, along with the ship's name in large black lettering X-2. Captain Turner jumped down from the forward ventral control car, and came to meet them.