System Lorenz

System Lorenz is a comprehensive history of a very misunderstood yet extremely important historic firearm, told in a lively narrative style by the noted Victorian-era arms and ordnance expert, Brett Gibbons. The Austrian M.1854 Lorenz rifle served the Imperial-Royal Army of Emperor Franz Joseph I for many years, and was carried by Austrian soldiers in three wars, including the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Hundreds of thousands of Lorenz rifles were also imported by the Union and Confederacy during the American Civil War, and was one of the most common of all Civil War infantry rifles. Although extensively used, the Lorenz remains shrouded in obscurity, and burdened with an undeserved reputation.

In System Lorenz, Brett Gibbons tells the story of this iconic rifle from its origins in the brilliant mind of its designer, Joseph Lorenz, and through its long service life in the Imperial-Royal Austrian Army and the tumultuous European wars that shaped modern European history. System Lorenz also examines the technology of the rifle, the development of its ammunition, and carefully considers the tactics that defined its role in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The book also addresses the complicated legacy of the Lorenz in the American Civil War.