Maxim Gun

By Sophie
 01
INVENT
 Invent
• First Maxim gun was developed
by Hiram Maxim in about 1844.

• “I was in Vienna, where I met

an American whom I had
known in the States. Hang your
chemistry and electricity! If you
want to make a pile of money,
invent something that will
enable these Europeans to cut
each other’s throats with greater
facility.”
 02
IMPACTS
 IMPACTS
• Historians have hotly debated
whether or not the Maxim killed
more people than any other gun in
history. And while it would be
hard to prove or disprove that
theory, by all accounts, it definitely
left its mark.

• As John Ellis wrote in his

masterful work The Social History
of the Machine Gun, “without
Hiram Maxim, much of subsequent
world history might have been
different.”
 03
DEVELOP
 DEVELOP

The U.S. Army had heard tell of the awesome power of

the Maxim as early as 1887. Eventually, it experimented
with 1889 and 1900 models as possible infantry weapons.
Testing lasted for some time before the Maxim was
adopted in 1904 as the .30 Caliber Model 1904.

Russia was also a major customer. Already in use there at

the time of the country’s 1904 to 1905 war with Japan,

03
once hostilities were underway, the Tsar’s generals placed
a rush order 450 additional Maxims from overseas
manufacturers.

The Maxim enjoyed substantial longevity with the

improved Vickers machine gun model being introduced
into the British Army in the early 1900s. The redesigned
Vickers model possessed a maximum firing range of
4,500 yards and had a 500-round rate of fire. It would
remain in service until the late-1960s.
 04
OPINION
OPINION
 Resources
https://militaryhistorynow.com/2017/10/24/machine-gun-how-hiram-maxims-rapid-fire-invention-
changed-history/#google_vignette

https://www.britannica.com/technology/MG42
THANKS