Maxim gun

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The Maxim gun was a weapon invented by American-

Maxim gun
British inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1883: it was the
first recoil-operated machine gun.[1] It has been called "the
weapon most associated with the British imperial
conquest",[2] and likewise was used in colonial wars by
other countries between 18861914.

Contents
1 Functionality PM M1910, Russian Maxim gun, Georgian National
2 Production company Museum
3 History
3.1 Development (18831884) Type Machine gun
3.2 Use in colonial warfare (18861914) Place of origin United Kingdom
3.2.1 Adoption by European armies
and navies Service history
3.3 Russo-Japanese War In service 18861959
3.4 World War I (19141918)
Used by British Empire
3.5 American use
4 Variants and derivatives United States
5 See also Belgium
6 References Canada
7 Sources German Empire
8 External links French Third Republic
Russian Empire
Qing Dynasty
Functionality Empire of Japan
Iran
The mechanism of Korean Empire
the Maxim gun Ottoman Empire
employed one of the Kingdom of Italy
earliest recoil-
First Philippine Republic
operated firing
systems in history. Dervish State
The idea is that the Kingdom of Serbia
energy from recoil Paraguay
acting on the breech Argentina
block is used to Republic of China
Illustration of the Maxim Gun in eject each spent USSR
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic
cartridge and insert Spain
Dictionary
the next one, instead Soviet China
of a hand-operated
Nazi Germany
mechanism.
Vichy France
Maxim's earliest designs used a 360-degree rotating cam to
reverse the movement of the block, but this was later Poland
simplified to a toggle lock. This made it vastly more Finland
efficient and less labor-intensive than previous rapid-firing North Korea
guns, such as the Mitrailleuse, Gatling, Gardner, or Albanian Kingdom
Nordenfelt, that relied on actual mechanical cranking. It Wars Chaco War, Mahdist War, Dervish
also decreased the gas buildup in the barrel, allowing the Resistance, First Sino-Japanese
gun to fire more bullets over an extended period of time War, Second Boer War, Boxer
without overheating the barrel. The Maxim gun design Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War,
required water cooling, giving it the ability to maintain its Herero War,Philippine Revolution,
rate of fire for far longer than air-cooled guns. The
Finnish Civil War, Balkan Wars,
disadvantage of this was that it made the gun less flexible in
World War I, Russian Civil War,
attack than the lighter air-cooled weapons.
PolishSoviet War, Second Sino-
Trials demonstrated that the Maxim could fire 600 rounds Japanese War, World War II,
per minute.[3] Compared to modern machine guns, the Chinese Civil War, Korean War,
Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. A lone soldier others
could fire the weapon, but it was usually operated by a team
Production history
of men, usually 4 to 6. Apart from the gunner, other crew
were needed to speed reload, spot targets, and carry and Designer Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim
ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to Variants Vickers machine gun, MG08, PM
move or mount the heavy weapon. M1910, M32-33, M/09-21
Specifications
Production company
Weight 27.2 kg (60 lb)
Maxim established the Maxim Gun Company with Length 107.9 cm (42.5 in)
financing from Albert Vickers, son of steel entrepreneur Barrel length 67.3 cm (26.5 in)
Edward Vickers. A blue plaque on the Factory where
Maxim invented and produced the gun is to be found in Crew 4
Hatton Garden at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in
London. Cartridge .303 British

Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later Action Recoil-operated
joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt, to Rate of fire 550 rounds/min
become Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Muzzle velocity 744 m/s
Company. The Post Office Directory of trades in London of
1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on Feed system 250-round canvas belt
page 1579. Sights Iron sights

Finally, the company was absorbed into the mother Vickers company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun
and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun.

History
Development (18831884)

Maxim's first patents related to the development of the Maxim were registered in June and July 1883.[4] The
first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884.[5]

Use in colonial warfare (18861914)

A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 18861890,
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".[6] In fact the gun 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 native attackers. The same prototype was brought back to central Africa by Frederick Lugard, where it
played an instrumental role in the establishment of a British protectorate over present-day Uganda (then
Buganda), which is a strong testament to the sturdiness and reliability of the weapon and its prototype.[7]
The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the Singapore
Volunteer Corps in 1889. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on
the then-British island.

The Maxim gun was first used by Britain's colonial forces in the 1893
1894 First Matabele War in Rhodesia. During the Battle of the
Shangani, 700 soldiers fought off 5,000 warriors with just four Maxim
guns. It played an important role in the swift European colonization of
Africa in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to
devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when native
opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was 1895 .303 caliber tripod-mounted
put by Hilaire Belloc, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem Maxim machine gun
"The Modern Traveller":

Whatever happens, we have got

The Maxim gun, and they have not.[8]

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 war
or the 1898 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 (in South Africa) as the Pom-Pom from its sound and was used on both sides.
The Maxim gun was also used in the Anglo-Aro War (in present-day Nigeria) of 19011902.

Adoption by European armies and navies

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 the book Small Wars, the author 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." [9] However, the Maxim was significantly more reliable than its
contemporaries.[10] A more practical problem was that, initially, its
position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke that the gun
A large-bore Maxim on the USS
produced. The advent of smokeless powder (developed by, among others, Vixen ca. 1898
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[11] using the same .577/450 ammunition as the Martini
Henry rifles. Wolseley had previously led military excursions in Africa (the Ashanti war and the Gordon Relief
Expedition in 188485) 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 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.[12] During the Russo-Japanese War of 19041906, the Russian Army employed the Maxim in combat[13]
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.[12]

World War I (19141918)

By World War I, 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.

American use

The United States Army had shown interest in the Maxim machine gun Austro-hungarian soldiers with a trophy
since 1887. Model 1889 and Model 1900 Maxims were used for testing, Maxim machine gun in the High Alps,
which lasted for years but not continuously. The gun was finally c. 1916
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 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 Red Army soldiers with a Maxim
after M1904 production ended, including the M1909 BentMerci, the machine gun, c. 1930
ColtVickers M1905, and the Browning M1917. 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.[14]

Variants and derivatives

Maxim 5-barrel machine gun, 5-barrel variant fed from overhead inserted magazines and later belt-feed.
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 warships. The
machine gun was 20 pounds (9 kg) lighter and had been tested by the Army in 1909.[15]
Maschinengewehr 01, made by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM)
 MG 08
Derivatives (e.g., MG08/15)
Maschinengewehr Modell 1911, made by Waffenfabrik Bern
Russian/Soviet Pulemyot Maxima PM1910 and lighter variants
MaximTokarev and PV-1 machine gun
Chinese Type 24 Heavy Machine Gun (Copies of the
Maschinengewehr 1908)
Finnish Maxim M09/21 and M32/33
American M1904

See also Swiss Maschinengewehr System

Maxim Ord 1894 chambered in the
7.5 mm GP11 round
QF 1-pounder pom-pom
Caldwell machine gun
Kjellman machine gun
M1917 Browning machine gun
Nordenfelt gun
Perino Model 1908
Fittipaldi machine gun
Hotchkiss machine gun
St. tienne Mle 1907

References
1. Encyclopdia Britannica: Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/37041
9/Sir-Hiram-Stevens-Maxim)
2. Gilbert, Martin (1997), A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume One; 19001933 (1st US ed.), New
York: William Morrow and Company, p. 11, ISBN 0-688-10064-3
3. Stevenson, David (2004). 19141918: The History of the First World War. Penguin Books. p. 8. ISBN 0-
14-026817-0.
4. McCallum, p. 46.
5. McCallum, p. 49.
6. Iain R. Smith : The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, p. 86.
7. Blaabjerg, Morten (2007), Uhyret der sagde puh! puh! Maxim maskingevrets logistik i det mrkeste
Afrika, fra Gordons fald til slaget ved Omdurman 18851898 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/14690805/Uh
yret-der-sagde-puh-puh-Speciale) (in Danish), University of Southern Denmark
8. The Modern Traveller (http://www.colonialwargaming.co.uk/Inspiration/Poetry/Newbolt/Traveller.htm)
colonialwargaming.co.uk.
9. Callwell, p. 440.
10. Small Wars. 1906. Callwell, p. 559.
11. McCallum, p. 67.
12. Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. Scarecrow. ISBN 0-8108-
4927-5., p. 225.
13. Gilbert, Martin. p. 93.
14. U.S. Maxim Model 1904 (http://sadefensejournal.com/wp/?p=265) SAdefensejournal.com, 15 August
2013.
15. Graham, Dominick (December 1982). "The British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and the Machine Gun".
Military Affairs. 46: 190193. doi:10.2307/1987613 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1987613).

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.
 Callwell, Colonel C.E. (1990). Small Wars, a Tactical Textbook for Imperial Soldiers. London: Greenhill
Books. ISBN 1-85367-071-5. This is a reprint of the 1906 version.
Chivers, C. J. (2010). The Gun. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-7076-2. (See chapter 3: "Hiram
Maxim Changes War")
Ferguson, Niall (2004). Empire. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-100754-0.
Goldsmith, Dolf F. (1989). The Devil's Paintbrush. Sir Hiram Maxim's Gun. Collector Grade
Publications, Toronto. ISBN 0-88935-056-6.
McCallum, Iain (1999). Blood Brothers. Hiram and Hudson Maxim: Pioneers of Modern Warfare.
London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-096-5.
Ellis, John (1976). The Social History of the Machine Gun. London: Pimlico.

External links
Handbook of the Maxim Automatic Machine Gun, caliber .30, model of 1904, with pack outfits and
accessories. US War Department, July 1916 (http://www.allworldwars.com/Handbook%20of%20the%20
Maxim%20Automatic%20Machine%20Gun%20Model%201904.html)
The Maxim Machine Gun Systems Blueprints by 1906 (http://ru.scribd.com/doc/150309753/The-Maxim-
Machine-Gun-Systems-Blueprints-by-1906)
Animation of Maxim's prototype machine gun, 1884 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1SbcZQ0N5
A)
Animation of Maxim's second prototype machine gun 1885 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiFGK
WPSaas)
Animation of Maxim's transitional machine gun 1885 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1CpLaVfnq
8)

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