The Maxim gun is a
recoil-operated
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the ...
machine gun invented in 1884 by
Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world.
The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian
Martin Gilbert, and was heavily used by
colonial powers during the "
Scramble for Africa". Afterwards, Maxim guns also saw extensive usage by different armies during the
Russo-Japanese War, the
First and
Second World Wars, as well as by
insurgent groups in contemporary conflicts.
The Maxim gun was greatly influential in the development of machine guns, and it has multiple variants and derivatives.
Design
The Maxim gun featured one of the earliest
recoil-operated firing systems in history. Energy from recoil acting on the breech block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one. Maxim's earliest designs used a 360-degree rotating cam to reverse the movement of the block, but this was later simplified to a toggle lock. This made it vastly more efficient and less labor-intensive than previous rapid-firing guns, such as the manually cranked
Mitrailleuse,
Gatling,
Gardner, or
Nordenfelt
The Nordenfelt gun was a multiple-barrel organ gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different c ...
.
The Maxim gun was
water cooled, allowing it to sustain its rate of fire far longer than air-cooled guns. The extra weight and complexity this added, however, made it heavier and less flexible in use.
Trials demonstrated that the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute. Compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. A lone soldier could fire the weapon, but it was usually operated by a team of men, usually 4 to 6. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reload, spot targets, and carry and ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to move or mount the heavy weapon.
Production company
Maxim established the Maxim Gun Company with financing from , son of steel entrepreneur
Edward Vickers. A
blue plaque on the Factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is to be found in
Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London.
Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor,
Nordenfelt
The Nordenfelt gun was a multiple-barrel organ gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different c ...
, to become
Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company. ''The Post Office Directory of trades in London'' of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on page 1579.
Finally, the company was absorbed into the mother
Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...
company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the
Vickers machine gun.
History
Development (1883–1884)
Maxim's first British patents relating to the development of the Maxim gun were granted in June and July 1883. The first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884.
Use in colonial warfare (1886–1914)
A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to the
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1886–1890, under the leadership of
Henry Morton Stanley. More a publicity stunt than a serious military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition,
William Mackinnon, "merely exhibiting" the gun was likely to "prove a great peace-preserver". The weapon was used on several occasions, especially during the expedition's retreat from central Africa, not because of its devastating effects, but as an effective means to scare off attackers. One of the first uses of the Maxim gun by British Forces was in the 1887
Yoni Expedition. The same prototype used by Stanley was brought back to central Africa by
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...
, where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of the
Uganda Protectorate.
The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the expeditionary force led by
Hermann Wissmann which was sent in 1888 by the
German Imperial government to
its colonies in
East Africa to suppress the
Abushiri Revolt. Wissmann was issued one of the first Maxim guns which had reached Germany and used it successfully in his capture of
Pangani
Pangani Town is a historic Swahili settlement located on the south eastern shore of Tanga Region, Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River. It is the headquarters of the Pangani District. Admin ...
.
The
Singapore Volunteer Corps received a Maxim gun in 1889, but it was never used. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the British colony.
The Maxim gun was first used extensively in an African conflict during the
First Matabele War
The First Matabele War was fought between 1893 and 1894 in modern-day Zimbabwe. It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele (Matabele) Kingdom. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, had tried to avoid outright war with the compa ...
in
Rhodesia. During the
Battle of the Shangani, 700 soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just five Maxim guns. It played an important role in the "
Scramble for Africa" in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when African opponents could be lured into
pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put by
Hilaire Belloc, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveller":
However, the destructive power of the Maxim gun in colonial warfare has often been embellished by popular myth. Modern historical accounts suggest that, while it was effective in pitched battles, as in the Matabele wars or the
Battle of Omdurman, its significance owed much to its psychological impact.
A larger-calibre version of the Maxim, firing a one-pound shell, was built by Maxim-Nordenfeldt. This was known in the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...
(in South Africa) as the
Pom-Pom
A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material.
The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a ...
from its sound. The Boers' "one-pounder" Maxim-Nordenfeldt was a large caliber, belt-fed, water-cooled "auto cannon" that fired explosive rounds (smokeless ammunition) at 450 rounds per minute.
The Maxim gun was also used in the
Anglo-Aro War (in present-day
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
) of 1901–1902.
National and military authorities were reluctant to adopt the weapon, and Maxim's company initially had some trouble convincing European governments of the weapon's efficiency. Soldiers generally held a great mistrust of machine guns due to their tendency to
jam. In the 1906 version of his book ''Small Wars'',
Charles Callwell says of machine guns: "The older forms are not suitable as a rule... they jammed at
Ulundi, they jammed at
Dogali, they jammed at
Abu Klea and
Tofrek, in some cases with unfortunate results." However, the Maxim was far more reliable than its contemporaries.
[''Small Wars''. 1906. Callwell, p. 559.] A more immediate problem was that, initially, its position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke that the gun produced (although the same was true of artillery pieces and units of troops that the machine gun was intended to replace or supplement, so this wasn't viewed as a particular drawback by the early users). The advent of
smokeless powder (developed by, among others, Hiram's brother
Hudson Maxim), helped to change this.
The weapon was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of
Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1888. In October that year, he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same
.577/450 ammunition as the
Martini–Henry rifles. Wolseley had previously led military expeditions in Africa (the
Ashanti war and the
Gordon Relief Expedition
The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan ...
in 1884–85) and had a reputation for being a strong subscriber to military innovation and reform, which he demonstrated in Africa. There he used machine guns, explored other unconventional ideas, and founded an Egyptian camel corps.
The gun's design was also purchased and used by several other European countries.
Russo-Japanese War
In 1895, the
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...
purchased a number of Maxims but later decided to standardize on the
Hotchkiss machine gun. The
Imperial Russian Army likewise purchased 58 Maxim machine guns in 1899 and contracted with Vickers in 1902 to manufacture the design in Russia, although manufacturing did not start until 1910.
[, p. 225.] During the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the Russian Army employed the Maxim in combat and placed a rush order for another 450 units from overseas suppliers, which were mostly delivered to front-line troops before the end of the war.
World War I (1914–1918)
By
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British
Vickers machine gun was an improved and redesigned Maxim, introduced into the British Army in 1912 and remaining in service until 1968. Production took place at Erith in Kent, and some models were fitted to early biplanes also fabricated there. The German Army's
Maschinengewehr 08 and the Russian
Pulemyot Maxim were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim.
It also saw use during the
Russian Civil War, which followed the
Revolution in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on a
tachanka, a horse-drawn carriage, along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing
White Army regiment.
Anarchists attribute this mobile setup to
Nestor Makhno.
File:BASA-1221K-1-61-14.jpg, Austro-Hungarian soldiers with a trophy Maxim machine gun in the High Alps, c. 1916
File:Red army soldiers, end of 1920s-beginning of 1930s.jpg, Red Army soldiers with a Maxim machine gun, c. 1930
American use
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
had shown interest in the Maxim machine gun since 1887. Model 1889 and Model 1900 Maxims were used for testing, which lasted for years but not continuously. The gun was finally adopted in 1904 as the Maxim Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904 as the first rifle-caliber heavy machine gun for standard service in the U.S. Army. The design was characteristic for its visually distinctive cage-like muzzle
recoil booster
A muzzle booster or recoil booster is a device fixed to the muzzle of a firearm, intended to harness the energy of the escaping propellant to augment the force of recoil on portions of the firearm. In spite of its name, a muzzle booster does not ...
.
The first 50 guns and tripods were made by
Vickers, Sons & Maxim in the U.K. chambered for
.30-03.
Colt's Manufacturing Company was selected to produce it domestically, but challenges with schematics and specifications delayed its introduction. By the time Colt began production in 1908 (which was also the last year orders were placed for the guns), a total of 90 M1904s were made by Vickers. Colt made their machine guns for the new
.30-06 caliber, and the ones made by Vickers were re-chambered for the new round. A total of 287 M1904 Maxims were manufactured. The U.S. procured other machine guns after M1904 production ended, including the
M1909 Benét–Mercié, the
Colt–Vickers M1915, and the
Browning M1917
The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cool ...
.
M1904 Maxims were issued to infantry companies and cavalry. Each company had four guns with associated tripods, ammunition, and 20
mules to transport the heavy guns. The M1904 was deployed in operations in the Philippines, Hawaii, Mexico, and Central and South America, but never saw much combat use. During World War I, it remained in the U.S. for training.
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Maxim, in the form of the
PM M1910, saw use by both sides during the 2022
Russo-Ukrainian War, introducing modifications to the century-old machine gun that redefined its intended use. These changes included its inclusion on
Technicals and the introduction of
Red dot sights.
Variants and derivatives
* Maxim five-barrel machine gun, fed from overhead inserted magazines and later belt-fed.
*
Vickers machine gun: earlier Maxims had been chambered for earlier British service cartridges, but the Vickers was produced for export available in most of the different calibres and cartridges used by countries around the world, and including a large caliber (.50 inch) as used on
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
warships. The machine gun was lighter and had been tested by the Army in 1909.
*
Maschinengewehr 01, made by
Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM)
*
MG 08
** Derivatives (e.g., MG08/15)
* Chinese Type 24 Heavy Machine Gun (Copies of the Maschinengewehr 1908)
*
Maschinengewehr Modell 1911, made by
Waffenfabrik Bern
''Waffenfabrik Bern'' (Weapons Factory Bern), also known as W+F Bern, was an arms manufacturer in Bern, Switzerland, which was a government-owned corporation producing firearms for the Swiss Armed Forces.
List of W+F weapons
*Vetterli rifle
*S ...
* Russian/Soviet
Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 and lighter variants
Maxim–Tokarev
The Maxim–Tokarev was the first domestic Soviet light machine gun accepted for service. It was developed from the Maxim machine gun M1910 by Fedor Tokarev
History
During World War I and the Russian Civil War, the Soviet army was equipped w ...
and
PV-1 machine gun
* Finnish
Maxim M09/21 and
Maxim M/32-33
* American M1904
* Romanian-made 6.5 mm version, at least 8–12 were produced and were used by the Romanian Danube Flotilla during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
*
MG 18 TuF
The ''Maschinengewehr 18 Tank und Flieger'' or MG 18 TuF, is a German dual-purpose heavy machine gun that was designed to fill both anti-tank and anti-aircraft roles. Developed at the end of the First World War, it fired the same 13.25 × 92mm SR ...
Anti-tank & Anti-aircraft gun
Users
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* :By 1912 the army had 12 maxims; 50 more were ordered during the Balkan wars but it is not know if they arrived in time
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* (1918–1940, .303 and other versions)
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* Used in the Battle of Namasique against the forces of Honduran General
Manuel Bonilla
General Manuel Bonilla Chirinos (7 June 1849 – 21 March 1913) was President of Honduras from 13 April 1903 to 25 February 1907, and again from 1 February 1912 to 21 March 1913. He had previously served as Vice President of Honduras from 189 ...
[Jowett, Phillip, Latin American Wars 1900-1941: Osprey Publishing (2018)]
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See also
*
Caldwell machine gun
The Caldwell machine gun is a machine gun of Australian origin developed by Thomas Frederick Caldwell in 1915.
History
The Caldwell machine gun was designed by Thomas F. Caldwell of Melbourne, who moved to the United Kingdom to bring his inventio ...
*
Fittipaldi machine gun
The Fittipaldi machine gun is a recoil-operated machine gun designed by Rafael Fittipaldi (an Italian immigrant to Argentina) and patented as USPTO number 1,099,245, of June 9, 1914.
Description
The Fittipaldi machine gun uses the barrel of the ...
*
Hotchkiss machine gun
*
Kjellman machine gun
The Kjellman LMG was a machine gun produced in Sweden. It is notable for being one of the first fully automatic weapons ever conceived (if not produced) and one of the first light machine guns as well.
Although the patent dated back to 1870, and ...
*
M1917 Browning machine gun
The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cool ...
*
Nordenfelt gun
*
Perino Model 1908
*
QF 1-pounder pom-pom
*
St. Étienne Mle 1907
The French St. Étienne Mle 1907 (french: Mitrailleuse Mle 1907 T) was a gas operated air-cooled machine gun in 8mm Lebel which was widely used in the early years of the First World War. The "St.Etienne Mle 1907" was not derived from the Hotchkiss ...
Citations
General sources
* Anon., ''Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited: Their Works and Manufactures. (Reprinted from 'Engineering')'' London (1898). It gives plates showing the mechanism of the Vickers Maxim gun and numerous plates showing the variety of mounts available at the end of the 19th century. It also includes numerous plates of the factories in which they were made.
* This is a reprint of the 1906 version.
* (See chapter 3: "Hiram Maxim Changes War")
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External links
''Handbook of the Maxim Automatic Machine Gun, caliber .30, model of 1904, with pack outfits and accessories''. US War Department, July 1916The Maxim Machine Gun Systems Blueprints by 1906Animation of Maxim's prototype machine gun, 1884Animation of Maxim's second prototype machine gun 1885Animation of Maxim's transitional machine gun 1885
{{WWI British Empire small arms
Early machine guns
Machine guns of the United Kingdom
Short recoil firearms
Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1886
Weapons of the Ottoman Empire
World War I infantry weapons of the United States
World War I infantry weapons
World War I machine guns