History 16/01/20 who first fired the machine gun “Maxim”
the Maxim Gun, named after its inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim, was the ancestor of all automatic weapons. In Russia, Maxim has been actively used during the Russian-Japanese war. However, the first machine gun was introduced in 1894 by the British.
inventor of the inhaler and weapons
In fact, the first effective machine gun an American, Hiram Maxim invented back in 1873. However, as the authors of the encyclopedia “Military equipment” Vladislav Isaev and Alexey Zakharov, the debut model was a failure, and Maxim devoted himself to other inventions. He designed the traps, fire extinguishers and even inhalers. In the box of Hiram was and various electrical devices. For example, the bulbs of which Maxim sued Edison. However, the court, he lost, and soon, leaving everything behind, moved from the States to the UK.
Settled in England, Hiram Maxim went back to the weapons: in Europe it was possible to make good money. According to Dmitry Brusilov, the author of the book “Arms and equipment of the First world war”, the first truly effective sample Maxim managed to create in 1883. However, the debut of the test, the weapon was only 2 years later. If you believe V. G. Fyodorov, the author of the book “Evolution of small arms”, it happened in the English city of Enfield. However, a more extensive “practice” gun was a colonial expedition.
the Gun against copies
Semyon Fedoseyev and Alexei Ardashev on the pages of his book “100 best guns”” write that the first combat use of the Maxim gun are the collision groups known to the organizer of the British colonial expansion of Cecil Rhodes with the rebels of the people of the matabele, who lived on the territory of present-day Zimbabwe, in November 1894. “Architect of apartheid” has supplied his armed forces with the most modern weaponsm – Maxim machine gun. It is clear that matabeles their assegai (a kind of spear) are unable to provide decent resistance to the guns.
So, just 700 British soldiers under the command of major Forbes, armed with only five guns, defeated the army of king Lobengula, consisting of 80 thousand soldiers. It is noteworthy that in the unequal fight with the British side killed only 4 people, and matabele lost 2.5 thousand brethren. No wonder the poet Hilar Bellocq, whose words are quoted in the book “House of Rothschild” by Niall Ferguson, believed the Maxim gun, the main tool of European hegemony. It belongs to the Belloc line: “every question has a clear answer: we Have a Maxim, and they don’t have it!”
an Unsuccessful dance Mlimo
However, despite this balance of power, matabele tried to resist the colonizers. At least, in 1896, they had hope for a new spiritual leader Mlimo. As Yulia Latynina writes in his book “Jesus. Historical investigation,” Momo promised people that through the magic of dance he is able to transform the bullets of the enemies into the water, and shells in egg shells. Mlimo said that when white is finished, there will be a drought on the land again are a good leader of Lobengula who had just died, and according to others, fled the country. However, magical rites did not help. Moreover, Mlimo was killed by the British during the regular dances.
the Maxim Gun has not changed and continued to be actively used in military conflicts. In the middle of the 1890-ies of the United Kingdom first introduced the guns in all field troops. Following Albion on this weapon drew the attention of other States, including Russia. The popularity of this gun in our country can be judged by the fact that in the period from 1897 to 1904-the year Russians purchased 300 guns. At least, such data results in the book “the Winning weapon of Russia” David Szarkowski. According to Tarkovskogo, the most active guns Maxim began to be used during the Russo-Japanese war.
Yulia Popova
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