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 th ...

machine gun invented in 1884 by

Hiram Stevens Maxim Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916) was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hai ...

. It was the first

fully automatic An automatic firearm or fully automatic firearm (to avoid confusion with semi-automatic firearms) is a self-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firear ...

machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian

Martin Gilbert Sir Martin John Gilbert (25 October 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was the author of 88 books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish history inc ...

, and was heavily used by

colonial powers Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an imperialist project, colonialism can also take ...

during the "

Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, conquest, and colonialism, colonisation of most of Africa by seven Western European powers driven by the Second Industrial Revolution during the late 19th century and early 20th century in the era of ...

". Afterwards, Maxim guns also saw extensive usage by different armies during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, as well as 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 Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, for according to Newton's third law the force requ ...

-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 manually operated rapid-firing guns, such as the manually cranked

Mitrailleuse A mitrailleuse (; from French ''mitraille'', " grapeshot") is a type of volley gun with barrels of rifle calibre that can fire either all rounds at once or in rapid succession. The earliest true mitrailleuse was invented in 1851 by Belgian Army ...

of 1851, the

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

of 1861, the

Gardner gun The Gardner gun was an early type of mechanical machine gun. It had one, two or five barrels, was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and was operated by a crank. When the crank was turned, a feed arm positioned a cartridge in the breech, th ...

of 1874, or the

Nordenfelt gun 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 ...

of 1873. The Maxim gun was

water cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...

, 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 in number. 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

In 1884, Maxim began to develop his machine gun in

Hatton Garden Hatton Garden is a street and commercial zone in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, abutting the narrow precinct of Saffron Hill which then abuts the City of London. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourit ...

, London. That November he founded the Maxim Gun Company with financing from , son of steel entrepreneur

Edward Vickers Edward Vickers (1804–1897) was the founder of Naylor Vickers & Co. which became Vickers Limited. He was the brother of Henry Vickers. Career Vickers was a successful miller who invested his money in the railway industry. In 1828 he garnered con ...

. A

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

on the factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is located 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, to become

Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company The Maxim-Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company was the result of a takeover by Hiram Maxim of Thorsten Nordenfelt's Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company in 1888. Rothschild issued worth of shares to finance the merger. Nathan Rothschild r ...

. ''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 in 18 ...

company, leading first to the Vickers-Maxim gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...

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 The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1887 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century. Led by Henry Morton Stanley, its goal was ostensibly the relief of Emin Pasha, the besieged E ...

in 1886–1890, under the leadership of

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

. 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, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong Kong (1907� ...

, where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of the

Uganda Protectorate The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the Br ...

. The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the expeditionary force led by

Hermann Wissmann Hermann Wilhelm Leopold Ludwig Wissmann, after 1890 Hermann von Wissmann (4 September 1853 – 15 June 1905), was a German explorer and administrator in Africa. Biography Born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Wissmann was enlisted in the Prussian Arm ...

which was sent in 1888 by the German Imperial government to its colonies in

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

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 (''Mji wa Pangani'', in Swahili language, Swahili) is a historic town and capital of Pangani District in the Tanga Region of Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, Tanzania, Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River in whic ...

. The

Singapore Volunteer Corps The Singapore Volunteer Corps or the Singapore Special Constabulary, was a militia unit established in 1854 as the Singapore Volunteer Rifle Corps. The Corps underwent several reorganisations and was known by various names throughout its histor ...

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 ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. During the Battle of the Shangani on 25 October 1893, 700 soldiers fought off 5,000 Matabele warriors with just five Maxim guns. It played an important role in the "

" 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 battle A pitched battle or set-piece battle is a battle in which opposing forces each anticipate the setting of the battle, and each chooses to commit to it. Either side may have the option to disengage before the battle starts or shortly thereafter. A ...

s in open terrain. As it was put by

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc ( ; ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a French-English writer, politician, and historian. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. His Catholic fait ...

, 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 The Battle of Omdurman, also known as the Battle of Karary, was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert ...

, 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 (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

(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 Cheerleading, cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, 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, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

) 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 Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

. 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 Ulundi, also known as Mahlabathini, is a town in the Zululand District Municipality. At one time the capital of the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa and later the capital of the Bantustan of KwaZulu, Ulundi now lies in KwaZulu-Natal Province (of whi ...

, they jammed at

Dogali Dogali () is a town in eastern Eritrea. Situated near Massawa, it became famous for the Battle of Dogali, on January 24, 1887, between Italy and the Ethiopian Empire, specifically the lord Ras Alula. Transport The town is served by a station on ...

, 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 Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

(developed by, among others, Hiram's brother

Hudson Maxim Hudson Maxim (February 3, 1853 – May 6, 1927), was an American inventor and chemist who invented a variety of explosives, including smokeless gunpowder, Thomas Edison referred to him as "the most versatile man in America". He was the brot ...

), helped to change this. The weapon was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of

Sir Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

, 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 The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...

rifles. Wolseley had previously led military expeditions in Africa (the

Ashanti war The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan people, Akan interior of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African ...

and the

Gordon Relief Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–1885), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to Sudan to help the Egyptians withdraw their gar ...

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. In January 1899, just before the outbreak of the Philippine-American War, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

had forty-two Maxim guns. An English observer who had seen one of them described it as being "of the most improved type."

Russo-Japanese War

In 1895, the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

purchased a number of Maxims and tested them during the 1895 invasion of Taiwan but later decided to standardize on the

Hotchkiss machine gun The Hotchkiss machine gun was any of a line of products developed and sold by Hotchkiss et Cie, (full name Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie), established by United States gunsmith Benjamin B. Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss mo ...

. The

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

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

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)

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British

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 The MG 08 ( 08) is a heavy machine gun (HMG) which served as the standard HMG of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was an adaptation of Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design, and was produced in a number of variants during the war. ...

and the Russian Pulemyot Maxim were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim. It also saw use during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, which followed the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on a

tachanka A tachanka (Russian and ) was a horse-drawn cart (such as charabanc) or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun mounted on the rear side. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four mules and required a crew of two or three (one driver and a machin ...

, a horse-drawn carriage, along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

regiment.

Anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

s attribute this mobile setup to

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

. 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 primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

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 designed by

Trevor Dawson Commander Sir Arthur Trevor Dawson, 1st Baronet (1 May 1866 – 19 May 1931) was an English businessman who served as managing director of the armaments giant Vickers from 1906 to 1931. Early life and naval career Dawson was born in Dalkeith Ho ...

and J. Ramsay of Vickers. The first 50 guns and tripods were made by

Vickers, Sons & Maxim 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 in 18 ...

in the U.K. chambered for

.30-03 The .30-03 Springfield (7.62×65mm) was a short-lived cartridge developed by the United States in 1903, to replace the .30-40 Krag in the new Springfield 1903 rifle. The .30-03 was also called the .30-45, since it used a 45 grain () powder ch ...

Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt that has become a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is th ...

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. M1904 Maxims were issued to infantry companies and cavalry. Each company had four guns with associated tripods, ammunition, and 20

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s 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 The Pulyemyot Maksima M1910 (), or PM M1910, is a heavy machine gun based on the Maxim gun, that was used by the Imperial Russian Army, Navy and Air Service during World War I, then by the Red, White and Green armies during the Russian Civil Wa ...

chambered in 7.62×54mmR, has been used by both sides of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

of 2022. Many Maxim guns were

retrofitted Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...

to suit the nature of modern warfare, including its installation on

technicals Technicals may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict * TECHNICALS, a clothing brand owned by Blacks Leisure Group See also * Technical (disambiguation) Technical may refer to: * Technical ...

and the mounting of

red dot sight A red dot sight is a common classification for a non- magnifying reflector (or reflex) sight that provides an illuminated red dot to the user as a point of aim. A standard design uses a red light-emitting diode (LED) at the focus of collimati ...

s. At least one documented Maxim gun used by the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

in the

Battle of Bakhmut The battle of Bakhmut was a major battle between the Russian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces for control of the city of Bakhmut, during the eastern Ukraine campaign, a theatre of the Russian invasion of Uk ...

still had its original iron wheels with no visible modifications. A Ukrainian soldier told ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' in March 2023: "It only works when there is a massive attack going on... then it really works. So we use it every week".

Variants and derivatives

* Maxim five-barrel machine gun, fed from overhead inserted magazines and later belt-fed. *

: 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 naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

warships. The machine gun was lighter and had been tested by the Army in 1909. * Maschinengewehr 01, made by

Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken ''Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktiengesellschaft'' (German Weapons and Munitions public limited company), known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book diction ...

(DWM) *

MG 08 The MG 08 ( 08) is a heavy machine gun (HMG) which served as the standard HMG of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was an adaptation of Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design, and was produced in a number of variants during the war. Th ...

derived from MG 01 ** Its export version DWM 1909 commercial, featuring the naval tripod mount of the MG 08 instead of the sled ** German indigenous derivatives (e.g., MG 08/15) * Type 24 heavy machine gun, Chinese variant of DWM 1909 * Maschinengewehr Modell 1911, Swiss variant of the DWM 1909 made by

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. W+F was integrated into RUAG in 1999, which later discontin ...

* Russian/Soviet Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 and lighter variants Maxim–Tokarev and

PV-1 machine gun PV-1 (''Pulemet Vozdushny'', airborne machine gun) is a Soviet air-cooled version of the Russian M1910 Maxim for mounting on aircraft. It was designed between 1926 and 1927. The first prototypes were produced and accepted into service in 1928.Ши ...

* 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

* MG 18 TuF Anti-tank & Anti-aircraft gun

Users

* * * * * * * * Used by

Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; ) was the military of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo from 1885 to 1960. It was established after Belgian Army officers travelled to the Free State to found an armed force in the colony on L ...

* * * * * * * * * * : By 1912 the army had 12 maxims; 50 more were ordered during the Balkan wars but it is not known if they arrived in time * * * * (1918–1940, .303 and other versions) * * : 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 a military officer with the rank of Major General and President of Honduras from 13 April 1903 to 25 February 1907, and again from 1 February 1912 to 21 March 1913. He had pr ...

* : Six 577/450 Maxim guns mounted on Field Carriages Mk I were purchased in 1896; they were converted to .303 after 1899. Two of these took part in the Dog Tax War. 29 .303 calliber guns were purchased from Vickers Sons & Maxim in 1901 on Dundonald Galloping Carriages. In 1910 36 guns were ordered on Mk IV tripods with pack saddlery and stores but only arrived in 1913. When the tripods arrived the carriages were scrapped. However initially due to the delay in converting the guns to tripod mounting only one gun was issued to each of the 29 regiments. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles formed a Maxim Gun Battery with British-supplied guns during the Boer War. New Zealand Forces entered WW I with older Maxim machineguns and 36 new ones. * * * * * *: Metralhadora Pesada Maxim m/906; adopted by the Portuguese Army in 1906, chambered for the

6.5×58mm Vergueiro The 6.5×58mm Vergueiro is a centerfire rimless cartridge designed in 1904 specifically for the Mauser-Vergueiro, chosen as service rifle of the Portuguese Army. It was adopted to replace the rimmed 8×60mmR Guedes and 8×56mmR Kropatschek Corto ...

cartridge *

Qajar Dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

: Had a battery of four guns in the 1890s. Also used during the Constitutional Revolution * * * * * * : Used during the

. * *

Citations

General and cited 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") * * * * *

External links

of the Maxim Automatic Machine Gun, caliber .30, model of 1904, with pack outfits and accessories''. US War Department, July 1916

The Maxim Machine Gun Systems Blueprints by 1906

Animation of Maxim's prototype machine gun, 1884

Animation of Maxim's second prototype machine gun 1885

Animation of Maxim's transitional machine gun 1885
{{Maximgunnavbox 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 Maxim family