That he military was a cornerstone of German society in the 19th century is well established German historical opinion. Military habits extended into civil life, military officers were the shining centre of every social event, and military logic influenced political as well as cultural life. I will explore the relation between military and civil society in Germany at the end of the 19th century by analysing correlations between military and civil gun-culture. The existence of a German gun-culture during the 19th and 20th century has only recently come to light; its relation to military points of reference remains completely unresearched. This presentation starts from the common belief that the military sector was predominant in German society: Where, if not on the field of weaponry, can the opinion-forming power of the German military be found?

In 1879 the German army introduced the Reichsrevolver M 79 as ordinance weapon (Ordonnazwaffe). Outside the German military the heavy revolver was considered out of date and technically obsolete. Consequently, German officers mainly chose the much more fashionable French Lefoucheux revolver or English-made weapons over the Prussian dinosaur. Gaining knowledge about modern firearms beyond the military, collecting information about the firepower and potential of modern handguns from friends and a broad variety of public sources, German officers decided against the recommendation of their Secretary of Defence.

In contrast to the widely held view of the opinion-leading function of the military, this paper shows that the Germany military had not determined forms and styles of private arming. It will argue, that the civil German gun-culture was inspired and shaped by international contacts, changing fashion modes of the consumer’s society, advertisements, emotional desires and gender codes. Additionally it will finally explain, how military and civil gun-culture were interlinked and influenced each other in a twofold way and that knowledge on weaponry gained in one sector immediately influenced the other segment. Starting from the artefacts and using a gender sensitive culture analysis, which includes aspects of the new emerging consumer’s society as well as modern developments in the field of weapons technology and transnational entanglements, the paper offers new insights into the relationship between the military and the civil sector of the German society in the late 19th century.