What are people's thoughts of a German Gatling Gun replacement? Just throwing that idea out there.
Just gonna copy my answer from another thread her for continuity.
After
@amateurgamer88 asked this, I did a little digging, because I don't know much about 19th century German weaponry.
apparently the Prussians and later Germans were way behind on Gatling and machine gun technologies. In 1941 they introduced the first widely produced bolt action rifles, the Dreyse needle-gun, which gave their infantry a big edge, but by the Franco-Prussian war the French already had a much better rifle with the Chassepot. In all other respects the Germans were playing catchup to other nations' military tech.
With respect to automatic, fast-firing weapons like a gatling gun specifically, the French had the mitrailleuse, but the Germans didn't have anything equivalent. During the Scramble for Africa and colonial wars, the Germans used Maxim guns purchased from the British, until they made their own in-house knockoff in 1908.
If I may be permitted to speak in overly broad generalizations, the Prussian and German military advantage was in well-trained officers, competent leadership, and rapid mobilization, but their equipment and materiel were generally low in both quantity and quality in comparison to other powers.