The war that broke out in the spring of 1858 was one of the most destructive conflicts the world had ever faced up to that date. The slaughter that took place stunned the world: the armies of the major powers (now using rifled artillery and "rifled" muskets) had managed to mobilize armies of great size whose soldiers were spurred on by nationalism and imperialism. The commanders, trained in the old school of "decisive battle", couldn't understand why the battle they had just waged failed to give any immediate results, even though they knew that, if the forces in one sector retreated, there were still thousands of young men ready to go into battle to replace the retreaters.