I´m always happy to find figures related to the Bavarian Army. This project was interesting for several reasons. Its a very rare kit and it took me quite a while to get my hands on it, the Franco-Prussian War is usually not represented in our hobby, the gun is very unusual (actually a predecessor of the machine gun) and the real gun was developed and produced in my hometown Augsburg. Several good reasons to get this kit for me! The white metal parts fit quite nicely, only minimal filling and sanding was necessary. Painting the figures was not as easy as i thought, the uniforms are quite complex. After a lot of work i´m very happy with the result and i´m glad this unique gun with the cool looking crew made it into my collection. The Feldl gun was a repeat gun which was used by the Bavarian Army in the Franco-Prussian War, Johann Feldl developed this gun in 1867 by positioning four Bavarian Werder M/1869 rifles next to each other. Firing and loading was controlled by the same handle. The gun could fire 400 rounds per minute and was built in the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg AG (nowadays MAN). The Bavarian Army formed two testing batteries for this gun, but the gun suffered a lot from design faults. The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War (German: Deutsch-Französischer Krieg, French: Guerre franco-allemande), often referred to in France as the War of 1870 (19 July 1870 -- 10 May 1871), was a significant conflict pitting the Second French Empire against the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies in the North German Confederation, as well as the South German states of Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt. The conflict emerged from tensions regarding the German unification. A war against France was deemed necessary to unite the North German Confederation and the independent southern German states, while France was preoccupied by the emergence of a powerful Prussia. Napoleon III seized on a supposed insult in the Ems Dispatch to declare war, which most French leaders expected to win. The German coalition quickly took charge. Its forces were superior, due to much better training and leadership, and more effective use of modern technology. A series of swift Prussian and German victories in eastern France culminating in the Battle of Sedan, saw Napoleon III and his whole army captured on 2 September. Yet this did not end the war, as the Third Republic was declared in Paris on 4 September 1870 and French resistance continued under the Government of National Defence and Adolphe Thiers. Over a five-month campaign, the German forces defeated the newly recruited French armies in a series of battles fought across northern France. Following a prolonged siege, Paris fell on 28 January 1871. The German states proclaimed their union as the German Empire under the Prussian king, Wilhelm I, uniting Germany as a nation-state. The final Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871 gave Germany most of Alsace and some parts of Lorraine which became the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Following defeat, a left-wing revolt broke out in Paris against the new French republic. Known as the Paris Commune, it was a landmark event in the revolutionary seizure of power by the masses, but it was harshly crushed by Adolphe Thiers. The unification of Germany into an empire in its own right, with the new industrialization of the nation, shifted the European balance of power and Otto von Bismarck maintained great authority in international affairs for two decades. France's determination to regain Alsace-Lorraine would subsequently be a major factor in France's involvement in World War I. (Wikipedia) I don´t own the rights for the music in this video. Music: "Badenweiler Marsch" composed by the Bavarian Army musician Georg Fürst in 1914.

• published: 01 Mar 2014
• views: 976