The Austro-Hungarian Connection: Section Two

The Emperor

    A few hours later, in one of the emperor’s private salons, Janos felt a similar terror. A greater one than he’d felt on the racetrack, in truth, albeit not one that was immediately perilous.

    In the long run, though, what the new emperor was contemplating was likely to be far riskier than what he’d been doing a few hours earlier at the controls of an up-time vehicle.

    “Driving,” Janos recalled, was the term Ferdinand III and his American mechanics used to refer to that activity. They did not use the English term, just a derivative from the stout German equivalent verb fahren. In both languages, the verb had the additional connotation of half-forcing, half-cajoling someone or some animal to go somewhere they would not otherwise go.

    In the afternoon, a young, portly, physically quite unprepossessing monarch had driven an automobile with flair. Tonight, he was proposing to drive an empire with the same flair. Indeed, in the full scope of his half-made plans, perhaps a fourth of an entire continent.

    Slowly, Janos lowered the letter the emperor had asked him to read. The letter was a long one, and had been jointly signed by Ferdinand’s oldest sister Maria Anna and her new husband. Don Fernando, that was—had been, rather, since he seemed to have dropped the honorific “Don” along with his former title of Cardinal-Infante. He was the younger brother of the King of Spain and a member of the Spanish branch of the far-flung and powerful Habsburg family.

    Fernando I, King in the Netherlands, as he now styled himself, judging from the signature on the letter.

    “Are you seriously considering this, Your Majesty?” Drugeth asked quietly. He resisted the temptation to glance at the two other men in the room. Whatever else, Janos knew, he had to be able to react to his monarch in this situation without being influenced by the attitude of others.

    “Quite seriously, Janos. Be assured of that. Not that I feel bound by any of my sister and new brother-in-law’s specific suggestions. They face a very different situation than I do, over there in the Low Countries. And while my sister is an exceptionally well-educated and intelligent woman, and was raised here, in the nature of things her knowledge of the Austrian empire was limited in many respects. Quite limited, in some. She has no close knowledge of military affairs, for instance.” The new emperor chuckled, a bit heavily. “Of course, the same cannot be said of her new husband, who could legitimately lay claim to being the most accomplished military leader produced by the family in generations.”

    All that was true enough. Janos had encountered Maria Anna, and had been quite impressed by her forceful personality, as much the product of an acute mind as the self-confidence of a princess. What was even more true was that the situation in Austria and its possessions was quite different—radically different—from the one she now dealt with in her new domain.

    There were but two or three languages in her new kingdom, for instance, and not too distantly related at that. Whereas in the Austrian empire, how many languages were spoken? And not by a handful of foreign émigrés or small groups in isolated pockets, either, but by entire regions and by powerful persons?

    Janos didn’t actually know, for sure. German and Italian, of course. Hungarian. A veritable host of Slavic dialects. Three very different groups of languages, with little similarities at all.

    Maria Anna and her new husband only had to deal with a few religious strains, to name another difference. Catholicism and two brands of Calvinism. Some Jews, a few Anabaptists. Almost no Lutherans. Whereas in the Austrian empire, although they’d been largely driven underground by the harsh policies of Ferdinand’s rigidly Catholic father, there still lurked every variety of Protestantism, Christians who adhered to the Greek church, as many if not more Jews as there were in Holland—and, should the full scope of the successor’s plans come to fruition, a great number of Muslims as well.

    “All of the Balkans?” he asked, managing to keep any trace of quaver from his voice.

    “Constantinople, too,” said the emperor flatly. “The Turks have had it long enough.”

    Privately, Janos made a note to himself to try to limit the emperor’s ambitions in that regard. He could see no real advantage to seizing the southern Balkans, beyond seizing territory for the sake of it. Especially given that the rest of the proposal was already so ambitious.

    “Insanely” ambitious, one could almost say. Ferdinand proposed to overturn centuries of Austrian custom, social institutions and policies at the same time as he expanded Austrian power.

    The older one of the other two men in the room cleared his throat. “I have read many of those same up-time history books, Your Majesty. I feel constrained to point out that, in essence, what you propose to do here in Austria is what another monarch in Russia would try to do at the end of this century.”

    “Yes. Peter the Great.”

    The man—that was Johann Jakob Khiesel, Count von Gottschee, who had served the Austrian dynasty as its principal spymaster for decades—cleared his throat again. “He failed, you know. In the long run, if not in his own time. His Romanov dynasty would be destroyed in two centuries—and, in great part, by the same forces he set loose.”

    The emperor nodded. “I’m aware of that. But simply because he failed does not mean that we shall. We have many advantages he did not possess. And please show me any alternative, Jakob? Given that those same histories make quite clear the fate of our own Habsburg dynasty. We were also destroyed, in that same conflagration they call the First World War.”

    Somewhere in Janos Drugeth’s mind—perhaps his soul—he could feel the decision tipping. Pulled toward the emperor by Ferdinand’s unthinking use of the pronoun “we,” in a manner that made quite clear he was using it in the common form of a collective pronoun, rather than the royal We.

    Although he’d only read some of the up-time accounts of the future history of Russia—which were fairly sparse, in any event—Janos was quite sure that Peter the Great had never done any such thing. The Russian Tsar had tried to transform his realm without ever once contemplating the need to transform himself and his dynasty.

    That… might be enough.

    Even if it weren’t, Janos could not gainsay the emperor’s other point. Drugeth had studied exhaustively every American account he could find—Austria had many spies in Grantville, and good ones, so he was sure they’d found most of them—and the accounts of the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its likely causes, were clear enough. Insofar as anything was ever clear when it came to history.

    If they continued as they had been, they were surely doomed. Not in their own lifetimes, probably, but so what? If a man had no greater ambition than to go through his life satisfying his personal wants and desires, ignoring what might happen to his descendants, Janos thought him to be a sorry sort of man. Not to mention a Catholic in name only.

    The fourth man in the room put the thought to words. “I think we have no choice, father. Like you, I can see all of the pitfalls and perils in the Netherlanders’ proposal. But what choice do we have? And I will point out that if we have advantages that our counterparts in another universe did not have, we also have disadvantages.” A thin smile came to the face of Georg Bartholomaeus Zwickl, the count’s stepson and official heir. “They did not have to face Michael Stearns.”

    Stearns. Mentally, Janos rolled the harsh-sounding English name on his tongue. A former coal miner, now grown into a force that had struck Europe like Attila and the Huns a thousand years earlier. In his impact, at least, if not in his methods.

    Janos had seen him, once, although only at a distance on the streets of Grantville. The man had been laughing at some remark made by his companion, the president of the USE’s State of Thuringia-Franconia. That was Ed Piazza, whom Janos had met briefly and in person in the course of a casual social affair.

    He’d liked Piazza’s friendly and unassuming manner.  Just as he’d liked the look on Stearns’ face when he laughed, for that matter. Being fair, it was hard to imagine such a laugh ever issuing from the mouth of Attila.

    Maybe…

    He filed that possibility away. For the moment, and for the foreseeable future, Austria and the USE were enemies.

    While silence filled the room for a time, Drugeth went back to scrutinizing the letter.

    Very shrewd, many of those suggestions. Janos wondered who had actually originated them? For all their undoubted intelligence, he didn’t think Maria Anna and Fernando would have thought of some of them. Being born and raised in royal families also created limits. They had—must have—at least one adviser who was capable of seeing beyond those limits.

    “You have my full support, Your Majesty,” he said. For the first time since he’d begun reading the letter, he looked directly at von Gottschee. The old man looked tired, more than anything else. As well he might, given that he’d served Austria’s dynasty faithfully and well for so long—and now, almost at the age of seventy, he was being asked to undo much of what he had done.

    Privately, Janos made another note. It was unrealistic to expect the count to do more than maintain Austria’s spy network. Indeed, it might even be dangerous to try to force him to do more. Fortunately, Count von Gottschee had long been grooming his stepson to take his place. Janos got along quite well with Georg Bartholomaeus, who was in his late thirties.

    Granted, their background and temperaments were quite different. For all his aptitude at the covert tasks Ferdinand had set him lately, Janos was still a Hungarian cavalry officer in the way he approached things. A soldier, not a spy, where Zwickl took to his step-father’s trade as if he’d been born to it. Still, he and Zwickl should manage to work together easily enough.

    It might even be best to retire the count formally. Janos would raise that possibility with the emperor in private, at some later time. It would have to be done carefully, making sure that Johann Jakob was genuinely willing and did not resent being forced into retirement. Given the situation, there was probably no single individual who could do more damage to the dynasty, should his allegiances sour. Khiesel knew… almost everything.

    Having made his decision, however, Janos was immediately confronted by his major and immediate quarrel with the proposal.

    “So,” Ferdinand III stated, clapping his hands together. “We’re agreed on the basic points, then? First—which I’ve already had done—repudiate the Edict of Restitution, to as to restore peace in our relations with our Protestant subjects. Second, retake Bohemia. Third—simultaneously, I should say—press forward with the technology transfer from the USE so we can begin the modernization of our economy and our army. Fourth, prepare for an inevitable war with the Turks. Finally, and most important of all, begin the process of drawing all of our peoples and classes into support for our cause. That will necessarily require the introduction of a great deal of popular participation in the empire’s political affairs, although we will strive to keep it under control.”

    That was at least one too many tasks, Janos thought. And he knew, for a certainty, the one that he thought should be eliminated.

    For a moment, he hesitated. Then, bracing himself, spoke it aloud. “Your Majesty, I strongly advise you to seek peace with Wallenstein and a stabilization of the northern frontier, rather than trying to retake Bohemia. I believe Wallenstein has no further designs on our remaining territory, and would agree to such an offer.”

    He was fudging a little, there. Janos was fairly certain that Wallenstein’s ambitions lay to the east, not the south, true enough. But those same ambitions would almost require obtaining at least a part of Royal Hungary, or Wallenstein would have no way to reach the east. Not unless he was prepared to launch a war of conquest on the Polish heartland, at any rate, which Drugeth thought unlikely.

    He was willing to make the fudge, nonetheless, if he could keep the emperor from such a rash and unwise policy. The truth was, so long as Wallenstein satisfied himself with seizing only the northern portions of Royal Hungary, Janos didn’t care. Those lands were mostly inhabited by Slavs, not Hungarians. From a military standpoint, they were more of a nuisance than anything else.

    True, there was an awkward personal matter involved. His own family’s estates were mostly located in that very area. It would be a pity to lose the lovely Renaissance-style residence that his father had build in Hommona. It was only twenty-five years old and had all the modern conveniences a man could wish for. But ceding a small portion of Austria’s northernmost lands, even ones that included Hommona, was a small price to pay to get a stabilization of the northern borders.

    The emperor would most likely find a way to compensate the Drugeth family, for the loss, and what one architect had built another could build as well. But even if the emperor didn’t, Janos would still argue in favor of ceding the northern portions of Royal Hungary. Being of the aristocracy, the way Janos viewed human relations, bound a man to his duties far more than to his privileges. What over-rode all other considerations, certainly mere personal ones, was that fighting the immensely powerful Ottoman Empire over control of the Balkans was going to be a mighty challenge in itself. The last thing Austria needed was to be embroiled simultaneously in a war with Bohemia. Especially since Bohemia was allied to the USE, and they needed to make peace with the Swede also.

    A heavy frown had formed on the emperor’s brow. “Surely you’re not serious, Janos? Wallenstein is a usurper and a traitor, whose claims to Bohemia are specious. Preposterous, rather!”

    “Yes, they are, Your Majesty. But I feel compelled to point out that any war with the Turks will strain us to the utmost. I think it most unwise to get entangled with Bohemia also.”

    “Oh, that’s nonsense, Janos. I don’t propose to fight the Turks any time soon. We need Bohemia’s resources. Surely, we can have it back in our hands within a year or two.”

    Surely we can’t, Janos felt like snarling. He hadn’t been present himself at the second battle of the White Mountain, since he’d been assigned to the Turkish border at the time. But he’d heard many accounts of it from his fellow officers who had been present. Granted, they were junior officers, who, as usual, were quick to criticize the failings of the top commanders in that battle. But the fact remained that while Austria might have won the battle with more capable commanders, it would still have been a savage affair. Nobody in their right mind dismissed Pappenheim lightly—not to mention that Wallenstein had proved himself to be one of Europe’s most capable organizers of armies over a period of years. Any war with Bohemia, even a victorious war that resulted in a reconquest, would surely bleed Austria’s armies badly. And that was the last thing they needed, if they intended to confront the Ottomans.

    It was true that Bohemia had great resources, many of which were absent or scanty in the rest of the Austrian realm. But what good were resources that couldn’t be obtained? By force, at any rate. If they established a stable peace with Wallenstein, Janos was fairly sure the Bohemians would be glad to provide those resources by way of trade—at a far smaller cost than the hideously expensive business of waging war.

    Alas, one of the things those American future histories had contained was a clear record that Ferdinand III—still merely the King of Hungary, in that universe, since his father had lived a bit longer—had been, along with the Cardinal-Infante, the co-commander of the Habsburg army that had inflicted a massive defeat on the Swedes at Nordlingen in 1634.

    That battle had not happened, in this universe, and never would. But the record had been enough to infuse Ferdinand with self-confidence in his abilities as a military leader which were simply premature in this universe. Janos didn’t doubt that his new monarch indeed possessed a talent for military affairs. He was talented in many things. But “talent” and “experience” were not the same thing, in war perhaps more than in any sphere of human affairs.

    “A year or two,” the emperor repeated forcefully. “Watch and see if I’m not right.”

    Janos exchanged a glance with Zwickl. Some subtlety in Georg Bartholomaeus’ expression made his attitude clear. Let it go, Janos, at least for the moment. You’re probably right, but you can’t restrain him now.

    Drugeth decided he was right. As foolish and costly as it might be, Austria’s new ruler would simply have to learn some things for himself.

    And probably more than once, too. The thought would have been a gloomy one, perhaps, had Janos not been a soldier. He’d seen very few officers—and certainly not himself—who’d learned their brutal trade without making mistakes. It was just the way things were.

    “I simply felt it necessary to advance my opinion, Your Majesty,” he said,  trying to sound obedient but not submissive. “That said, in this as in all things, you have my allegiance and support.”

    Ferdinand beamed. “Well, good. In any event, Janos, it’s not something you’re likely to be worrying about. Not directly, at least.” Here, the emperor exchanged a meaningful look with Count von Gottschee. “Since you’ve done so well in Grantville, I propose to hand the entire operation to you. Which Johann Jakob tells me is on the eve of coming to fruition.”

    Janos wondered what the emperor meant by “coming to fruition.” The work that Janos had set underway in Grantville some months earlier was intended to produce a slow and steady stream of technology transfer—including some personnel—from the USE to Austria. It was not the sort of project that ever “came to fruition,” as such.

    Ferdinand rose from his chair and waved his hand airily. “I have an audience I need to attend. The count will explain it to you. But you’d best start packing, Janos. You’ll need to head out for Grantville on the morrow.”

    After Johann Jakob Khiesel explained what had been happening in Grantville over the months since Janos had left for his inspection tour of the fortresses in the Balkans, Drugeth had to restrain himself from snarling again.

    “In other words, in my absence, Henry Gage and Lion Gardiner—the benighted fools—allowed themselves to become cat’s paws for a pack of American thieves.”

    Both Khiesel and his stepson looked startled. “But…” the count began.

    “Don’t you understand, Janos?” said Georg Bartholomaeus. “At one swoop, we will get a far greater transfer than anything we’d envisioned.”

    “And then what?” demanded Drugeth. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that neither the count nor his stepson had any personal acquaintance with Grantville or its up-time inhabitants. For them, as for most people in Europe, the Americans were a mysterious band of wizards. Drugeth had had the same impression himself, until the weeks he’d spent there had made the truth clear to him.

    Grantville was a town, that’s all. A town of people with knowledge and technical skills far advanced from any other in the world, true enough. But still simply a town—not of wizards, but of craftsmen. Simple folk, really, who understood in their bones something that most people who viewed them from a distance did not really understand at all. Their technical wizardry was the product of generations of skills compiled and passed on. Hard work lay at its root, not some sort of preposterous sorcery. There were no “secrets” in Grantville. No compendium of ultimate wisdom. No magic recipes, no magic spells, no magic wands—most of all, no sorcerer’s grimoire that, once seized, opened all technical secrets to the possessor.

    “What then?” he repeated. “By the very manner in which this escapade will take place—there is no way to avoid this—the Americans will surely put in place measures that make any further transfers ten times more difficult.”

    Finally, he did snarl. “Not to mention that we will have done the Americans the great favor of draining the worst sort of people from their midst, and planting them amongst us. For the love of God, these people are traitors and criminals. Who is to say they will not betray us in turn?”

    For a moment, the memory of the three up-time mechanics whom he’d met at the race track earlier that day came to him. Janos was sure they knew far more than they were admitting, about matters that would be of direct benefit to Austria’s power, not simply an emperor’s whimsy. He knew, for instance, that while the three men insisted they were quite ignorant of all “aeronautical matters” that at least one of them, Ronald Sanderlin, had served for months as a mechanic at the USE’s air force base in Wismar. He had to know how to construct at least the engine for a warplane, if not the plane itself.

    But Sanderlin would keep that knowledge to himself, until and unless he became convinced that he could pass it on to Austrians without damaging his own nation. He was neither a traitor nor a thief.

    Damnation! This was insane. They needed to make peace with the Swede and his Americans, not infuriate them. Just as they needed to forget the past and make peace with Wallenstein.  The great foe of Austria was the Ottoman Empire—and would have been, even leaving aside the new emperor’s determination to take the Balkans from them.

    The two spymasters were still staring at him, obviously not understanding his concern. Spies and spymasters had their own limitations, he realized, produced by the very nature of their work. They dealt with criminals and traitors as a matter of course—which made sense, from the standpoint of spying, but made no sense at all from the standpoint of forging a new nation.

    Janos made a note to remember that in the future. Always.

    “Never mind,” he said. “What’s done is done. I’ll be off to Grantville at first light.”