I cam across this manga, and it seems it could work as a inspiration for a 19th century imagination setting.
Manga
http://mangafox.me/manga/gunka_no_baltzar/v01/c001/1.html (http://mangafox.me/manga/gunka_no_baltzar/v01/c001/1.html)
Summary
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/GunkaNoBalzer (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/GunkaNoBalzer)
Fan review
http://forum.egscans.com/threads/9366-Why-Gunka-no-Baltzar-is-awesome-%28Review%29 (http://forum.egscans.com/threads/9366-Why-Gunka-no-Baltzar-is-awesome-%28Review%29)
Hmm, they do promise a lot. Now Manga and Anime can do a good job with war and politics (Legend of Galactic Heroes, the current Gundam Origins, Vinland Saga, Historie), but many more fail then succeed. From what I saw a bit it has some nice stuff, like the use of weapons
(http://a.mfcdn.net/store/manga/9110/01-001.0/compressed/egunka_no_balzer_v1_ch01_p034.jpg)
but also a lot of the cliches of anime and manga (School setting, some royals are irrational bastards)
Still I am sure you can extract imaginations from it.
With Respect
KTravlos
Some nice ideas there :).
After reading a bit I can fully recommend this
the anime/manga cliches require some acceptance but
this manga covers lots of 19th century themes
national liberalism vs. conservatism
technological innovation in military matters vs. slower change in ideas of how to use it
muzzle loaders vs. breechloaders
the obsolescence of cavalry
realpolitic
zollverins
stosstaktik vs. firepower
the military revolution
free trade vs. tariffs
the social cost and benefits of industrialization
stock markets
industrial action by workers
none of these explored in a deep way, but man it touches on them all. A fairly interesting protagonist helps.