Bavaria was a separate, autonomous state until "union" with Prussia in 1866 (a military pact which formed the Northern German Federation under King Ludwig I). Located in the heart of Europe, Bavaria was bounded by Prussia to the north and west, Czechoslovakia to the east, and Austria to the south and southeast. Bavaria was chronically in the middle of the central European conflicts of the second half of the 19th century. It opposed Prussia in the Danish‑Prussian war of 1864 (see Danish Snider), sided with Austria in Austria’s war with Prussia in 1866 (see:  Austrian Wänzl) following which it joined with Prussia in forming the North German Confederation (the first national German state) and then joined with Prussia in war against France in 1870‑71 after which it became part of the German Empire.  Bavaria became a formal state of the German Empire when Germany was fully unified under Wilhelm I and his extraordinary Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck in 1871.

 

   In 1865, like so many European Powers that were being shocked by the rapid development of arms during the American Civil War of 1961-1865 and concurrent developments in Europe, the Bavarian military also set up a dedicated commission to find an appropriate breechloading, self-contained metallic cartridge,  infantry rifle design for Bavarian adoption.

 

   At that time the Bavarian army was equipped with the M1858 Podewils rifle, a percussion muzzleloader in 13.9mm (.54 caliber), the same caliber as the M1854 Austrian Lorenz.  As interim, stop-gap measures, both of these rifles would shortly be converted to cartridge breechloaders, the Podelils to the M1854/67 Podwils-Lindner (see below), a paper cartridge breech-loader, and the Lorenz to the M1854/67 Austrian Wänzl, a metallic rimfire cartridge breechloader.

 

   The break-out of the Austro-Prussian War (1866, above) temporarily halted the work of the commission, but only briefly.  Bavaria allied with Austria (along with Baden, Hanover, Hesse-Kastle, Saxony, Wurttemberg, and several other minor German states) but was quickly (within seven weeks!) and soundly defeated by the Prussian-lead confederation of the remaining Germanic states.  This ultimately led to the unification of Germany under Prussian leadership, specifically that of the brilliant von Bismarck.

 

   There is little doubt that Prussian military leadership, tactics, logistics and morale were at the heart of their quick victory (as would be shown yet again when moving against the better-armed French, fielding the m1866 Chassepot, an excellent rifle for the day, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71).  Nevertheless, the take-away for most countries was that a key factor in Prussian victory was being armed with their Zündnadelgewehr (the Dreyse “needle-gun”). And thus, after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, every European country (including Luxemburg and the Vatican Papal States!) believed that they needed to adopt a new breechloader.

 

    Bavaria chose to modernize by altering the Podwils as a stop-gap, and to find and adopt a more modern rifle as quickly as possible.  Concurrently with the adoption of the Podwils conversion, the Bavarian Small Arms Testing Commission started evaluating metallic cartridge breechloading designs, including the Werder. (a German word, pronounced:  "vairder").  

 

   In 1869, Bavaria adopted a rifle (also built as a pistol) designed and patented in 1868 by Johann Ludwig Werder to replace the M1867 Bavarian Podewils-Lindner.  The Werder is based on the Peabody rear‑hinged dropping block action, considerably refined to speed up operation. It remained in service as the primary Bavarian arm following conversion of the Werders to the M1871 standard, until finally replaced by the M1871 Mauser beginning in 1877.