Editing Austro-Prussian War (section)

==== Armaments and tactics ====
[[File:Zündnadelgewehr m-1841 - Preussen - Armémuseum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Prussian [[Dreyse needle gun]]]]
Prussian infantry were equipped with the [[Dreyse needle gun]], a bolt-action rifle which could be fired faster than the [[muzzleloader|muzzle-loading]] [[Lorenz rifle]]s of the Austrian army. In the [[Second Italian War of Independence|Franco-Austrian War]] of 1859, French troops took advantage of poorly trained enemies who did not readjust their gunsights as they got closer{{snd}}thus firing too high at close range. By rapidly closing the range, French troops came to close quarters with an advantage over the enemy's infantry. After the war, the Austrians adopted the same methods, which they termed the {{lang|de|Stoßtaktik}} ("shock tactics"). Although they had some warnings of the Prussian weapon, they ignored these and retained {{lang|de|Stoßtaktik}}.

The Austrians were equipped with breech-loading rifled cannon, which was superior to the Prussian muzzle loading smooth bore cannon. Their artillery used a unique rifling system invented by [[Wilhelm Lenk von Wolfsberg]] called the Lenk system. The Prussians, however, by this point had replaced up to 60% of their smooth bore artillery with the technologically superior [[C64 (field gun)]], which had been in production since 1859. However, due to tactical reluctance on the part of Prussian high command to utilise relatively unfamiliar technology, and doctrinal stagnation in the Artillery Corps, the modern [[Krupp]] guns were either sent to reserve units or used in tandem and to the same effect as their smooth bore counterparts, something that massively throttled their effectiveness in the war, and many of the guns that saw combat were the old smooth bore muzzle loaders. The Austrians too, while having standardised the Lenk system of rifling in their cannon, did not use their artillery to full effect. They specifically targeted the Prussian artillery with their own batteries, limiting their impact on the battlefield in regards to Prussian infantry. One notable exception is the use of Austrian artillery to good effect against infantry at [[Battle of Königgrätz]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loch |first=Thorsten |last2=Kesselring |first2=Agilolf |date=31 August 2023 |title=Through Artillery from Thrust to Fire: How Prussian Military Thinking Anticipated Emergent Warfare in 1870 |journal=[[War in History]] |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=128–147 |doi=10.1177/09683445231193878 |issn=0968-3445 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Generals of the Prussian army realized that, in order to stay ahead of their Austrian enemies, they needed to explore new military tactics. They sent officers to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to go and observe the American Civil War. These officers met with high ranking commanders and recorded both Union and Confederate tactics. They wrote about troop movements, artillery positioning, and new methods of attack that worked well for the Americans. These officers then travelled back to Prussia and briefed their generals about these observations. Some officers, such as [[Justus Scheibert]], published their adventures in America for the public to enjoy.