Machine Gun

by Anthony Smith - Paperback (2004) - 289 Pages

The machine gun is a uniquely American invention that, more than any other single invention, revolutionized the way in which war is waged. Machine Gun tells the story of the people responsible for the development of the weapon itself: beginning with Samuel Colt's creation of the first mass-produced, rapid-firing revolver; to Dr. Richard Gatling and his Gatling Gun; and Hiram Maxim, whose Maxim Gun was the first truly automatic weapon.

In this engrossing history, Smith traces the uses of the rapid-fire gun and its slow integration into the weaponry of military forces around the world. First used primarily to 'pacify' native populations, the machine gun was not fully integrated into military tactics until after the unprecedented casualties of World War 1 and the resultant social upheaval that utterly changed the very nature of tactical warfare.