Franco-Austrian War lessons

1. What were the advantages and disadvantages of railroads during the Franco-Austrian War of 1859? During the Franco-Austrian War of 1859 there were both advantages and disadvantages of the railroads. The French were more than able to use the railroads to their advantage, using it to send their fully supplied, peak conditioned infantry soldiers, of 120,000 men to the battle lines of Northern Italy. This gave them a huge advantage against the Austrian reserve, who could not fathom the railroad, and only succeeded in getting themselves lost and as such managed to miss the battle altogether. (Are we sure it was an accident? Cause if it were me, I'd skip that too.)

2. What critical mistake did French commanders make regarding the use of an infantry charge? The one critical error that French commanders made during the Franco-Austrian War was using the infantry charge which was a suicidal idea. The only reason they weren't massacred was because the Slav conscripts couldn't fully use their new rifles or understand their Austrian commanders!