The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1356: Lessons from the Battle of Turin

Franz's first major personnel appointment after Christmas was to appoint his father, Archduke Franz Karl, as Viceroy of Northern Italy.

In a sense, this can be regarded as a kind of compensation for Archduke Franz Karl. Although he may not care about power and money, in Franz's eyes, no one is more suitable to be the viceroy of Northern Italy than Archduke Franz Karl.

This bizarre system of vice kings should have been abolished long ago, but the so-called tradition is not so easy to change.

The so-called viceroy's powers are superficially similar to those of the Governor of Lombardy-Parma-Modena-Venetiana, but in fact he also has to serve as the Consul General and Minister of the Court of Tuscany and the Papal States.

In the past, this was a way to protect the power of the family and share the pressure of the emperor. However, times have changed, and such practices will only aggravate the division of the country and hinder the efficiency of the imperial government.

However, even if Franz was the emperor, if he really carried out drastic reforms endlessly, the outcome would probably not be good.

Therefore, it is definitely a good idea to let Archduke Franz Karl serve as the viceroy of Northern Italy, and set up his office in Tyrol.

Archduke Franz Karl was named Viceroy of Northern Italy to silence many people, even though he had neither ability nor ambition.

But no one can deny that he is absolutely qualified. After all, Archduke Franz Karl is the emperor's father.

The Vice-Prince's palace was set up in Tyrol to provide a place for Archduke Franz Karl to live in his old age, as Northern Italy is a big melting pot.

Even the most determined people find it difficult not to have other thoughts. People with simple minds are more likely to be exploited. Franz doesn't want anyone to disturb the happy life of Archduke Franz Karl.

The Habsburg family was very popular in Tyrol, and Archduke Franz Karl also liked Tyrol very much. It was close to the Alps, which was definitely a paradise for him.

Archduke Franz Karl lived a long life, and after several decades, people had long forgotten about this position, so it would not be difficult for Franz to abolish it.

On the other hand, the war between the Austrian Empire and France on the land of the Kingdom of Sardinia was not as easy as it seemed. The quick victory reported in the newspapers and the great victory spoken of by the government made people ignore the truth of the matter.

In fact, this was a very tragic victory. The French army lost 8.3 people and the Austrian Empire suffered a total of 4.8 casualties. The exchange ratio between the two sides seems to be good.

But before that, the Po River Guard had lost almost all of its combatants. More than 1327 people participated in the battle, but only people survived.

Add to that an unknown number of volunteers, as well as 50,000 Sardinian troops and countless Sardinian civilians, and the number becomes very ugly.

Moreover, the entire war had been designed by Franz from the very beginning. Every step of the French army was within Franz's expectations, and the Italian Corps had also been prepared for this.

Before the two sides officially exchanged fire, the French army was repeatedly weakened by the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Po River Guard. Before they could catch their breath, the Austrian Empire surrounded the French army with several times its strength.

The result turned out like this?

The first thing the Austrian Imperial Military thought of was to shirk responsibility, but the problem was that Marshal Radetzky was definitely a famous general, and the Italian Corps was also elite.

Could it be that the lower-level officers were afraid of death? More than 20 officers died in one battle, nearly % of the total number of casualties.

Did the soldiers lack courage? It was impossible for them to lack courage if they suffered such heavy casualties in less than seven days of attack. This disaster was actually the price the Austrian military paid for its outdated tactics. Facing the French army, which was already at the end of its rope, Marshal Radetzky first razed the defenses outside Turin to the ground.

Then he chose to believe in himself and use the human wave tactics that he was best at. Marshal Radetzky believed that his subordinates were brave and loyal and would never be like those French.

He was also well aware of the progress of the times and that artillery was far more powerful than before, but he felt that it was enough for soldiers to keep a distance of two to three steps between each other.

Historically, the Austro-Hungarian Infantry Drill Manual of 1867 stipulated that soldiers in a skirmish line must be separated by more than one step (0.75 meters). This was formulated after learning the lessons of the failure of the Austro-Prussian War.

However, the Austrian Empire had developed weapons earlier at that time, so their understanding of the skirmish line was also more advanced. However, they still underestimated the speed of weapons development.

Faced with the Austrian army's human wave tactics, the French commander Cavaignac taught the Austrian military a lesson with 30,000 rockets.

Marshal Radetzky finally realized the despair of the French army on the northern front in 1848. The rockets in the sky turned the sea of ​​people into a sea of ​​blood, and the entire battlefield was like hell on earth.

The soldiers of the Austrian Empire launched round after round of fearless charge, but the death concerto composed of artillery shells and rockets finally broke the will of Marshal Radetzky. He did not want his soldiers to continue to make meaningless sacrifices.

So Radetzky adopted a more conservative offensive strategy. However, what he didn't know was that the French army was already at the end of its strength. As long as the attack continued for another hour or two, the French army would collapse first.

But this battle also made the Austrian military understand a truth: the tactics of the Napoleonic era were completely outdated. Whether it was the French or the Austrians, whoever still clung to the glory of the past and refused to let go, then the tragic situation before their eyes would be his final outcome.

After this battle, the weapons experts and infantry commanders of the Austrian Empire were gathered together. After repeated discussions, calculations and practices, they jointly decided that the minimum distance of the skirmish line was 6 steps, or 4.5 meters.

At this distance, the skirmish line can ensure the survival probability of soldiers as much as possible while ensuring firepower output.

Franz also decided to strengthen the connection between the Weapons Development Bureau and front-line commanders, establish the Army Operations Laboratory and the Navy Operations Laboratory, as well as the Joint Operations Laboratory and the Special Operations Laboratory.

In fact, Franz also planned to set up an air force combat laboratory, but at that time no one in the Austrian Empire recognized the air force as a branch of the military.

The army and navy each built their own airships, and they looked down on each other. The army's airships pursued speed and altitude, and their help in war was more to scout the battlefield and deter the enemy.

In fact, the army's airship units can hardly hit the targets they are aiming at, and they will most likely miss even if the enemy's headquarters is close at hand.

Moreover, low-flying airships were no longer safe in this war, and the French developed an extra-long cannon that could hit slow-flying airships.

Franz initially thought that it was the French who had developed the anti-aircraft gun. Before the successful development of the airship, the Austrian military had already been researching anti-aircraft guns under the instruction of Franz.

However, the experimental products developed have various problems, especially some problems that cannot be solved at the current level of technology.

The Austrian Empire also seized several French "anti-aircraft guns", but after testing, it was found that these so-called anti-aircraft guns could not attack targets flying at an altitude of more than 400 meters.

And because of the material problem, it is very easy to explode, which is why the French did not make the barrel longer.

The aiming method is even simpler and more crude, requiring no complicated mechanical principles or mechanical power, and directly using human-animal hybrid power.