Product Description

A fascinating history of the men who invented the machine gun - and the devastating impact it had on the course of war Why did the British start the First World War with only 264 machine guns, far fewer than the other great powers? Why were the generals so disdainful of them, despite the way the Maxim gun had decimated native armies in numerous colonial wars? In the First War, the British had to learn the hard way, with 20,000 men mown down by machine guns on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Around 80 percent of all the casualties in that war were caused by machine guns. Anthony Smith explores this extraordinary paradox in his important new book; he also tells the story of the remarkable men who invented and developed the machine gun - men like Samuel Colt, Richard Gatling and Hiram Maxim. Gatling's gun was first used in the American Civil War; but it was Maxim, with his barnstorming salesmanship to all the leading military powers, who did most to create a deadly new form of warfare. Filled with fresh insights and vivid eye-witness accounts, Machine Gun is history at its most readable and provocative.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #549703 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Too much 'people' not enough 'Gun'
A good read as far as background info is concerned on the inventors, but little related to the technologies or development cycles of the various types of weapon evolved. I did find it irksome that the Author insisted on calling Sam Colts early offerings 'six shooters' when they in fact mostly carried 5 chambers. This book would be better referred to as a comparison between the lives and driving forces behind, Colt, Gatlin, and Maxim, with passing mention of others.
It is to be regretted that the development of other engineering and technology could not be given anything more than a passing mention, Metalic cartridge manufacture and development largely enabled the machine gun [and repeaters in general] to evolve so efficiently.

This book ably drags the student of these weapons to the point of realisation that his interest is in machines that are designed, and do the job very well, of killing and maiming his fellow men. This point being frequently returned to by the Author, especially as it related to World War I

Having raised the above, and there are further points upon which I would take issue, this book is well worth a read as basic background information on the inventors of 'Efficient defence' or 'Automated misery' depending upon your viewpoint, behind the trigger, or in front of the muzzle.