Vol. XI No. 2

Inventors & Armies: The Difficult Relationship Between Professor Friedrich Hebler and the Swiss Army in the Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century

Stephen Wren

Abstract

This article describes the long and often quarrelsome relationship between Professor Friedrich Hebler and the Swiss Army in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Using contemporary journalism and original archival research, the author examines the achievements and reputation of Hebler and how that reputation was built up by stories of varying degrees of accuracy in newspapers across Europe. The author explores how Hebler actively used the specialist press to criticise the Swiss Army and the development of their new rifle system, and how the military reacted when faced by his challenge.

Issue: Vol. XI No. 2
Published: 31 December, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.52357/armax15445

Peer-reviewed?: Yes

Keywords: Swiss Army, small-bore rifles, Hebler, Rubin, Schmidt, cartridge development

Bibliographic Information

Stephen Wren, ‘Inventors & Armies: The Difficult Relationship Between Professor Friedrich Hebler and the Swiss Army in the Last Quarter of the Nineteenth Century’, Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, Vol. XI № 2 (2025), pp. 23–42, <https://doi.org/10.52357/armax15445>.

About the Author

Stephen Wren is an independent researcher and collector whose research has been published in War in History, as well as in the journals of the Western Front Association, the Royal Armouries, the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association. He has a particular interest in how armies of the late nineteenth century procured, managed, and disposed of weapons and in the bureaucratic and commercial systems that supported that process. He is an enthusiastic haunter of archives.