Saphroneth
Banned
In terms of allowing a victory, there are several possibilities. Here's a minor training change which would result in a huge change in the outcome of the war, and a change almost invisible until it actually came up:
In OTL 1859 the French defeated the Austrians, by way of bayonet charges through the "beaten zone" with the Austrian troops firing too high (as they were not well trained in using the rifle-musket).
OTL the Austrians decided the French way of fighting was better, and switched to a shock-action focus.
If in TTL the Austrians decided instead to improve their musketry training, then they'd probably actually win most firefights (as the Dreyse is very short ranged compared to a proper rifle-musket).
See above. A well aimed rifle musket is not inferior to the Dreyse - what made the Prussian Dreyse so effective in the OTL war was a massive programme of accuracy training in Prussia which started in the early 1860s. (The key was that Prussian troops estimated their own range, and Austrian ones had the range fed to them, which made the whole system sluggish - if the Austrians are trained in range estimation instead, they'd have about 2-3 times the effective range of the Dreyse and would win plenty of firefights.)
In OTL 1859 the French defeated the Austrians, by way of bayonet charges through the "beaten zone" with the Austrian troops firing too high (as they were not well trained in using the rifle-musket).
OTL the Austrians decided the French way of fighting was better, and switched to a shock-action focus.
If in TTL the Austrians decided instead to improve their musketry training, then they'd probably actually win most firefights (as the Dreyse is very short ranged compared to a proper rifle-musket).
2. You are quite right when you say the military would require reform, Archduke Albrecht will play big role here as well. IOTL he reformed the Austrian army along a Prussian model and the same should happen in TTL. Crucially the adoption of Dreyse needle guns instead of the muzzle-loaded guns the Austrians used in the war.
See above. A well aimed rifle musket is not inferior to the Dreyse - what made the Prussian Dreyse so effective in the OTL war was a massive programme of accuracy training in Prussia which started in the early 1860s. (The key was that Prussian troops estimated their own range, and Austrian ones had the range fed to them, which made the whole system sluggish - if the Austrians are trained in range estimation instead, they'd have about 2-3 times the effective range of the Dreyse and would win plenty of firefights.)
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