Machine gun and the great war part one The machine gun was a product of the "second industrial revolution". Its development was started by the invention of Hiram Maxim (1840-1916), born in the United States, of the first automatic firearm in 1883. Harnessing the energy released when firing a cartridge, Maxim produced a weapon capable of firing multiple bullets by simply activating a trigger. Their innovation fueled broader development of automatic firearms. Since the late 1880s, their military potential was hugely improved by the availability of small-caliber smokeless shells. In 1914, the major combatant nations had provided their armies with machine guns of similar scale. Russia, Germany and Britain used weapons based on the Maxim system, while France and Austria-Hungary used indigenous designs: the 1907 model "St Etienne" and Schwarzlose respectively. Power of Fire Direct The German army had late become powerful with machine guns, but its tactical employment in 1...