Austro-Prussian War with the French Twist

With a few exceptions I believe the general view, at least on this board, is that if the French tried to get involved in the Austro-Prussian War it is probable that the Prussians can still manage to knock the Austrians out of the war before the French can play a useful part.

But is that really true - I have some serious questions which remain:

1. If France enters the war early does Italy concentrate against Austria? Even when they did they got whipped at Custozza but if the Italians pull troops for a potential French front does that mean the Austrians can redeploy more troops to the Prussian front?

2. What aid, if any can be given the Hanoverians, by France at the early stage? The Hanoverians managed to whip their weight (and more) in Prussians but were effectively outnumbered further, in poor supply, and cut off from ready support from other nations. Can this change with France in the war?

3. How much of a near run thing was Koniggratz? Does the prospect of French intervention (eventually) cause the Austrians (or Prussians) to play the campaign significantly different?

4. If all goes as history in OTL what happens if Austria refuses to quit with the Prussians at the door of Vienna? Does Prussia kick it in and risk the dissolution of Austria or get sucked deeper into the Austrian Empire as the French finally organise and march on Germany proper?

I am trying to consider the impact of a more robust Austrian friendly France on how this whole war might play out...Thanks.
 
If France enters the war early, Italy may back down from the conflict entirely.
Koniggratz was quite a decisive success for the Prussians IIRC, but not destined to happen that way either. The Austrians made some errors in the run-up to battle that could have been avoided, and I understand that different command choices were possible that may hav led to a different scenario. The Prussians are still strategically on the advantage in-theatre I believe, but under even higher pressure to score a quick decisive victory, and march on Vienna if needed. And pressure might cause mistakes.
Prussia would also have to stoke on the fires of German nationalism, possibly creating political shockwaves. Also, what would Russia think?
 
Russia is still pretty raw about the crimean war, they may not be in a position to directly intervene but I'm willing to bet they will do what they can to save Prussia's bacon in the event things go belly up for them as they are pretty mad at France and Austria.
 
If France enters the war early, Italy may back down from the conflict entirely.
Koniggratz was quite a decisive success for the Prussians IIRC, but not destined to happen that way either. The Austrians made some errors in the run-up to battle that could have been avoided, and I understand that different command choices were possible that may hav led to a different scenario. The Prussians are still strategically on the advantage in-theatre I believe, but under even higher pressure to score a quick decisive victory, and march on Vienna if needed. And pressure might cause mistakes.
Prussia would also have to stoke on the fires of German nationalism, possibly creating political shockwaves. Also, what would Russia think?

The prussian victory was a close one OTL. So if France participates in the war, Italy will back down and the outcome of the war will be even closer and may change sides.

If France participates soon enough in the war, then not only will Italy stay and watch but defeat becomes so probable for Prussia that Prussia will probably back down and try to obtain a mediation from Russia and Britain.

An effective participation of Russia in the conflict is, to my opinion, very unlikely because Russia needs a lot of time to mobilize and move its army on the theater of the conflict.
 
Britain was pretty pro-Prussian at this time wasn't it? And France might have to reach an agreement with Italy about Rome before jumping in - since I'd imagine they'd need to pull the garrison they've got in Rome for the war in Germany, wouldn't they?

Also, how do we get Napoléon to go to war? Eugènie and some others convinced him to mass troops on the Rhine as a show of force against Prussia (as a way of being able to get a sign of gratitude from Prussia for not getting involved). The Emperor agreed to send out the order the next morning, bùt by then he'd changed his mind.
 
Britain was pretty pro-Prussian at this time wasn't it? And France might have to reach an agreement with Italy about Rome before jumping in - since I'd imagine they'd need to pull the garrison they've got in Rome for the war in Germany, wouldn't they?

Also, how do we get Napoléon to go to war? Eugènie and some others convinced him to mass troops on the Rhine as a show of force against Prussia (as a way of being able to get a sign of gratitude from Prussia for not getting involved). The Emperor agreed to send out the order the next morning, bùt by then he'd changed his mind.

Britain was pro-balance far more than pro any continental country. If Britain could have foreseen the outcome of the 1864/1871 sequence of conflicts orchestrated by Prussia in order to establish itself as the dominant continental power, it would have put its diplomatic weight in the balance.
 
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