Potzdam Musket 1723

The Potzdam Musket 1723 or M1723/M1740 was the first standard musket of the German armed forces. It was the rival of the Charleville musket (1717) of France and the Brown Bess (1722) of Great Britain.

Origin of the Name
Potsdam, just outside Berlin, had been Frederick the Great of Prussia's favorite place of residence as well as the city where the musket was made, hence the name.

After Frederick was crowned in 1740, he ordered the then-current Prussian musket, a version from 1723, for his army. The Potzdam musket had already made a name for itself by being the first standard German-made musket, and the 1740 model further solidified Potzdam as the key arsenal for Germany. The muskets were widely used by the Prussians and soldiers of the various German principalities in the 18th century. British-hired Hessian troops of Germany in former British colonies of America also used the muskets against rebels.