The end of a decades-long partnership between German arms manufacturers and China was a small lot of Kar98k Mauser rifles sent to Chiang Kai-Shek’s armies in the late 1930s.

Germany’s first smokeless powder design was not without its problems, but still found itself a prolific presence on the battlefields of the Great War.

The Gewehr 98 had served the Imperial Army well in the Great War, but was showing its age by the 1930s. This would lead to a program of modernization, and its product would become the standard service weapon of the Wehrmacht in the Second World War.

Faced with a decision between the Mauser and Mannlicher rifles to replace their black powder Kropatscheks, the Portuguese would instead choose a locally designed hybrid rifle for their forces.

The standard issue rifle of the Imperial German Army during the Great War, the Gewehr 98 is the quintessential “German Mauser”; the progenitor of the most successful bolt action rifle of all time.

The most modern rifle in Ottoman inventory during the Great War was an example of the excellent Mauser 98, with some special features. These rifles would serve as a pattern during the interwar Turkish upgrade program, in addition to receiving minor modifications themselves.

The German Kar88 was the first smokless powder carbine adopted for the Kaiser’s armies, and was a counterpart to the Gewehr 88. It would serve well throughout the Great War.