Most scholarship on the arms trade of the late nineteenth century has focused on the big players in the industry; the ‘Merchants of Death’ whose activities are said to have made war inevitable. However this article focusses on a smaller, but no less troubling, aspect of the arms business: the trade in new and surplus military rifles and on one largely forgotten dealer; Auguste Schriever of Liège. Using contemporary reporting and the order records of the mighty ŒWG at Steyr, I will outline some of the deals that made him a significant figure in the arms trade. He was trusted by Ferdinand Mannlicher and was so respected by his rivals that they felt the need to spy on him. He was also accused of selling rifles to pirates in the far east and to an Emperor who used them to resist colonial powers and enslave his own people. My article begins to shine a light on this enigmatic figure and on to the complex and hidden trade in military rifles in this period.

大多数关于 19 世纪末军火贸易的学术研究都集中在该行业的大型参与者身上。据说“死亡商人”的活动使战争不可避免。然而，本文重点关注军火贸易中一个较小但同样令人不安的方面：新的和剩余的军用步枪的贸易以及一个基本上被遗忘的经销商；列日的奥古斯特·施里弗。我将利用当代报道和斯泰尔强大的 ŒWG 的订单记录，概述一些使他成为军火贸易中重要人物的交易。他受到费迪南德·曼利彻（Ferdinand Mannlicher）的信任，并受到竞争对手的尊重，以至于他们觉得有必要监视他。他还被指控向远东的海盗和皇帝出售步枪，皇帝用步枪来抵抗殖民势力并奴役自己的人民。