I know many will think this an idiotic idea but I thought it was interesting, I was wondering how exactly would you get the Dreyse needle gun (or an American variant of the needle gun) into use in the US army in the first year of the Civil War? Also I was wondering how I could make the American Civil war become a proxy war between European states with rival factions providing either side with weapons, supplies, monetary support, and maybe even "mercenaries" to train and fight along side the forces of which ever side their country supports? I know who would help the South but I wonder could the Union maybe garner Prussian or Russian support? Maybe Spanish or Portugese or Austro-Hungarian? Or all of them? Just think of it Union forces armed with needle guns being led by Prussian and Prussian trained American officers now wouldn't that be a force to be reckoned with? My idea (be it uneducated and childish with little understanding of history) was that the Prussians and other nations could use this to allow their officers to gain experiance in modern warfare so that they would be one step ahead of their enemies in any future conflicts. So what do you think can it be done within reason or is it just another one of my doomed to fail ASB ideas?