Who Actually Invented the First Machine Gun?

I never shall forget the way That Blood upon this awful day Preserved us all from death. He stood upon a little mound, Cast his lethargic eyes around, And said beneath his breath : “Whatever happens we have got The Maxim Gun, and they have not.”This passage, from Hillaire Belloc’s 1898 poem The Modern Traveller, infamously captures the awesome destruction wrought by one of modern warfare’s key innovations: the machine gun. Puttingthe firepower of dozens of soldiers into the hands of just one, this weapon allowed the western colonial powers to conquer half the known world, ground the First World War into a bloody stalemate, helped the Nazis blitzkrieg their way across Europe, and remains a vital part of every army’s arsenal to this day. Yet despite its outsized impact on combat, the modern machine gun is less than a century and a half old. Why did it take so long for this weapon to be developed, and who was responsible for the vitalbreakthrough? Well, lock and load as we delve into the fascinating history of the machine gun.
Author: Gilles Messier
Host: Daven Hiskey
Producer: Caden Nielsen

[@isaackolman2861]

Excellent video Daven, you present good information in a great way. Hopefully this channel starts getting the love it deserves

[@MisterOcclusion]

6:13 I love how it shows the use case of round vs square bullets in the advert That final quote was sobering. Not even the thermonuclear bomb could end war. And, I think, it’s only thanks to excessively expensive technology that we see the smaller armies envisioned by those early inventors. Information Technology has finally made killing efficient to the point of convenience….

[@user-cl9fd6hz6l]

Great presentation. Hope to see many more.

[@TrialzGTAS]

Awesome content! Its really refreshing hearing voice overs and non AI content

[@asmith7876]

Poor Hiram, like Alfred Nobel, didn't want to be remembered as a merchant of death. I was in the Army in the 1980's, the M61 was mounted on top an APC with a radar dish and used as anti-aircraft firing 3000 rounds a minute. Damn was it fun with no one shooting back. The same gun is now called the Phalanx and is used for missile defense on Navy ships.

[@daftwulli6145]

Fun fact the maxim is so good that it is still used in the ukraine war right now. I have even seen several mounted together (either 2 next to each or 4 with another pair right above the other pair) often used to shoot down drones. A gun that after 140 years can still kick butt well enough to be used on the frontline in a modern war is one hell of a resumee for a gun.

[@CC-gg4oj]

Excellent.

[@Rusterman-is7ex]

A weapon that fires by human power by turning a hand crank if done by human power only is NOT legally a machinegun. Such as the Gatlin gun, is legally classified as a semi automatic title one firearm. Now if that hand cranked gun were to be modified to work with an electric drill, then that changes the classification to a title 2 NFA weapon. Hirem Percy Maxim invented the first machinegun in 1884. Incidentally Maxim also holds the patent in US pantent office for inventing the first silencer or suppressor.