The Machine Gun Story

Warfare truly entered the industrial age with the invention and adoption of the machine gun. Armed with a machine gun, one or two men could potentially hold off a whole company of enemy soldiers, and inflict terrible losses while doing so. The Machine Gun Story describes how Hiram Maxim’s invention in the late 19th century went on to transform the ways that armies and also air forces fought. Each stage in the technical development of machine guns is clearly explained, and the book also explores how submachine guns developed as a more portable offshoot, with their own set of consequences. While the tactical implications of machine guns are explored, the book never shrinks from the dark history of how machine guns have been used, whether fired from a trench on the Western Front in WWI or from a helicopter circling over the jungles of Vietnam. Chris McNab has written widely on the development and use of weapons in warfare throughout history.