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The Prussian Army infantry had 270,000 Dreyse needle guns by the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. [8] The employment of the needle-gun changed military tactics in the 19th century, as a Prussian soldier could fire five (or more) shots, even while lying on the ground, in the time that it took his Austrian muzzle-loading counterpart ...
The early Dreyse needle guns were smooth-bore. Later Dreyse guns adopted by the Prussian army were rifles using self-contained combustible cartridges holding oblong lead balls held in a papier-mâché "sabot". From 1848 onwards the new weapon was gradually introduced into Prussian service.
The gun was the invention of the gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, who, beginning in 1824, had conducted multiple experiments, and in 1836 produced the complete needle-gun. From 1848 onward the gun was gradually introduced into Prussian service, then later into the military forces of many other German states.
The Prussian Army used von Dreyse's breech-loading needle gun, which could be rapidly loaded while the soldier was seeking cover on the ground, whereas the Austrian muzzle-loading rifles could be loaded only slowly, and generally from a standing position. The main campaign of the war occurred in Bohemia.
1740 pattern musket (top), needle gun and Franco-Prussian War era Mauser rifle made at Spandau Royal Arsenal. The 1740 pattern Potzdam Musket, derived from the earlier 1723 pattern, was produced from 1740 to 1760 and used the same standardised parts. [15] The mounts were brass, and the barrel was shortened by 11 inches (280 mm). [16]
The Dreyse needle guns of the Prussian infantry were highly successful against the Austrians, who were defeated at Königgrätz. Under the leadership of Moltke, the Prussian Army then proved victorious over France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870).
Prussian forces totaled around 285,000 troops. [13] Superior training, tactical doctrine and the Dreyse needle gun [14] were instrumental in the victory. Prussian artillery was ineffective [citation needed] and almost all of the fighting on the Prussian side was done by the First Army under Prince Friedrich Karl and one division from the Second ...
Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse (20 November 1787 – 9 December 1867) was a German firearms inventor and manufacturer. He is most famous for submitting the Dreyse needle gun in 1836 to the Prussian army, which was adopted for service in December 1840 as the Leichte Perkussions-Gewehr M 1841 – a name deliberately chosen to mislead about the rifle's mechanism – later renamed Zündnadelgewehr M ...