The “Maxim” gun had a water-cooled jacket that stretched round the barrel, holding one gallon of water and while this innovative technology was nothing short of epic, especially in its time, it had one peak pitfall… it weighed a whopping 136.5 pounds. At this time, it released an initial 600 rounds per minute, what would be a detrimental number for the opposition in years to come. This kind of technology was unheard of and it was what prompted this primitive powerhouse to be first demonstrated by the British armed forces. Maxim’s machine gun was completely self-powered and worked by relying on the energy released in the firing cartridge that would then dislodge multiple bullets with nothing more than the pull of a trigger.
Maxim in 1884, the first automatic machine gun was birthed in the United States. The Beginnings of the Machine Gun: Invention and Specs From its bare roots beginnings to the evolution of this iconic weapon that is still in use today, this infographic takes a look at how the machine gun came about, how it managed to almost single handedly change the outcome of WWI and subsequently change the art of war as we know it. The machine gun revolutionized combat efforts and quickly drove out nations with their horse-drawn carriages into submission. In the course of these four long years, one of the most iconic weapons of World War I was responsible for a massive amount of these statistics. By November 1918, the end of the war as we knew it, a staggering 9 million soldiers never came home. Within the very heart of the war, soldiers were expected to fight in harsh, trench conditions, brave wreckage and carnage and do so unwaveringly. Lasting from Jto November 11, 1918, World War I is perhaps the most notable war in the history of mankind and while this war is so famously known for its great conflict, history buffs credit it for being the beginning of military and civilian technology.