[quote=Pepperm1nts]
Well, that's anti-climactic. Seems like the French are being pretty soft here. I mean, I'm not sure they should have joined the war to begin with, but if you're this far in you might as well commit.
[/quote]
It's pretty logical that they'd want to join this war.

This war is more or less a combination of the Austro-Italian War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War. Austria-France and Prussia-Italy are the logical alliances for an 1861 game unless any of them have particularly unorthodox or alternative ambitions.

At least, that's what makes sense from a pragmatic point of view. Austria and France both have vested interest in preventing from Germany from being established.