The contracts to win the Orient : The interplay of formality and informality in the onset of American–Ottoman small arms business (1869–1873)

In the 1870s, the United States and the Ottoman Empire engaged in a substantial small arms trade as the Empire pursued modernization, and the American industry sought overseas markets. This article examines the American-Ottoman arms business at its inception, from intergovernmental transactions to private enterprises, such as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and the Providence Tool Company. By analyzing the motivations and challenges faced by each actor, and foregrounding the roles of diplomats, intermediaries, and arms manufacturers, the study reconstructs the competitive dynamics for the first major contracts. Drawing on US diplomatic correspondence, corporate archives, Ottoman Archives, and the previously unexplored William de Saint-Laurent Papers, the article shows how an initially low-profile trade partnership gained significance. It particularly emphasizes the roles of official and unofficial intermediaries in navigating public-private boundaries, contributing to debates on informal business networks and infrastructures that supported global capitalism in the nineteenth century.