Quote Originally Posted by O'ETAIPOS
As late as 1866 (Battle at Sadova) Austria army used almost exclusively bayonet charge as a mean of winning* battles. This was suplemented by artillery that was supposed to cause disruption. At that time Austrian had 2 balls per year for training. That tells something.
Austrian economy was horrible so they could not afford proper training for their soldiers plus their badly trained soldiers made it easy for the French to charge home in the 1859 war. That just strengthened the Austrian belief that bayonet attacks in massed columns was the best approach.

Some officers changed their mind after the Second Schleswig War of 1864, but it was too late and too little to change anything as the combo of economics and simplicity of the bayonet charge was too alluring.

How economy and time could wash away the tactical lessons learned from earlier wars is incredible really.


CBR