Maxim gun
Encyclopedia
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun
, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir
Hiram Maxim
in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".
to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one. This made it vastly more efficient and less labour intensive than previous rapid-firing guns, such as the Gatling
, Gardner
, or Nordenfelt
guns, which relied on actual mechanical cranking.
Trials demonstrated the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute, equivalent to the firepower of about 30 contemporary breech-loading bolt-action
rifles. Compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. Although a lone soldier could fire the weapon, it was usually operated by a team of men. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reloading, spot targets, and carry and ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to move the weapon.
at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London.
Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt, to became Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company
. The Post Office Directory of trades in London of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on page 1579.
Finally, the company was absorbed into the mother Vickers
company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun
.
A prototype of the Maxim gun was given by Hiram Maxim to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
in 1886-1890, under the leadership of Henry Morton Stanley
. More a publicity stunt than a serious military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition, William Mackinnon, "merely exhibiting" the gun was likely to "prove a great peace-preserver". And in fact the gun was used on several occasions, especially during the expedition's retreat from central Africa, not because of its devastating effects, but as an effective means to scare off native attackers. The same prototype was brought back to central Africa by Frederick Lugard
, where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of a British protectorate over present-day Uganda (then Buganda), which is a strong testament to the sturdiness and reliability of the weapon and its prototype.
The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the Singapore Volunteer Corps
in 1889. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the then-British island.
The Maxim gun was first used by Britain's colonial forces in the 1893-1894 First Matabele War
in Rhodesia. During the Battle of the Shangani, 50 soldiers fought off 5,000 warriors with just four Maxim guns. It played an important role in the swift European colonization of Africa
in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when native opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put by Hilaire Belloc
, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveller":
However, the destructive power of the Maxim gun in colonial warfare has often been overegged by popular myth. Modern historical accounts suggest that, while it was effective in pitched-battle situations such as the Matabele war or the 1898 Battle of Omdurman
, its significance owed much to the psychological impact the weapon had.
A larger-calibre version of the Maxim, firing a one-pound shell, was built by Maxim-Nordenfeldt. This was known in the Second Boer War
as the Pom-Pom
from its sound and was used on both sides. The Maxim gun was also used in the Anglo-Aro War
of 1901-1902.
National and military authorities were reluctant to adopt the weapon, and Maxim's company initially had some trouble convincing European governments of the weapon's efficiency. Soldiers generally held a great mistrust of machine guns due to their tendency to jam
. In the 1906 version of the book Small Wars the author says of machine guns: "The older forms are not suitable as a rule... they jammed at Ulundi
, they jammed at Dogali
, they jammed at Abu Klea
and Tofrek
, in some cases with unfortunate results." The Maxim was significantly more reliable than its contemporaries, however. A more practical problem was that, initially, its position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke the gun produced. The advent of smokeless powder
(developed by, among others, Hiram's brother Hudson Maxim
), helped to change this.
The weapon was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1888. In October that year he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same .577/450
ammunition as the Martini-Henry
rifles. Wolseley had previously led military excursions in Africa (the Ashanti war and the Gordon Relief Expedition in 1884-85), and had a reputation for being a strong subscriber to military innovation and reform, which he demonstrated in Africa. There he used machine guns, explored other unconventional ideas, and founded an Egyptian camel corps.
The gun's design was purchased and used by several other European countries too. The Maxim gun saw action in the Russo-Japanese War
, where it was employed by the Imperial Russian Army
.
By World War I
, many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British Vickers machine gun
was an improved and redesigned Maxim, introduced into the British Army in 1912 and remaining in service until 1968. Production took place at Erith in Kent and some models were fitted to early biplanes also fabricated there. The German Army's Maschinengewehr 08
and the Russian Pulemyot Maxim
were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim.
It also saw use during the Russian Civil War
which followed the Revolution
in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on tachanka
, a horse-drawn carriage along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing White Army regiment. Anarchists attribute this mobile setup to Nestor Makhno
. Some socialist realist propaganda art even features Lenin manning the gun himself, but it is very unlikely that he ever did so.
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir
Sir
Sir is an honorific used as a title , or as a courtesy title to address a man without using his given or family name in many English speaking cultures...
Hiram Maxim
Hiram Stevens Maxim
Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim was an American-born inventor who emigrated to England at the age of forty-one, although he remained an American citizen until he became a naturalized British subject in 1900. He was the inventor of the Maxim Gun – the first portable, fully automatic machine gun – and the...
in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".
Functionality
The mechanism of the Maxim gun used the energy from the recoilRecoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one. This made it vastly more efficient and less labour intensive than previous rapid-firing guns, such as the Gatling
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
, Gardner
Gardner gun
The Gardner gun was an early type of mechanical machine gun. It had one or two barrels, was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and was operated by a crank. When the crank was turned, a feed arm positioned a cartridge in the breech, the bolt closed and the weapon fired...
, or Nordenfelt
Nordenfelt gun
The Nordenfelt Gun was a multiple barrel machine gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth. It was produced in a number of different calibres from rifle up to 25 mm...
guns, which relied on actual mechanical cranking.
Trials demonstrated the Maxim could fire 600 rounds per minute, equivalent to the firepower of about 30 contemporary breech-loading bolt-action
Bolt-action
Bolt action is a type of firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech with a small handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon...
rifles. Compared to modern machine guns, the Maxim was heavy, bulky, and awkward. Although a lone soldier could fire the weapon, it was usually operated by a team of men. Apart from the gunner, other crew were needed to speed reloading, spot targets, and carry and ready ammunition and water. Several men were needed to move the weapon.
Production company
Maxim established the Maxim Gun Company with financing from Albert Vickers, son of steel entrepreneur Edward Vickers. A blue plaque on the Factory where Maxim invented and produced the gun is to be found in Hatton GardenHatton Garden
Hatton Garden is a street and area near Holborn in London, England. It is most famous for being London’s jewellery quarter and centre of the UK diamond trade, but the area is also now home to a diverse range of media and creative businesses....
at the junction with Clerkenwell Road in London.
Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt, to became Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company
Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company
The Maxim-Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company was the result of a takeover by Hiram Maxim of Thorsten Nordenfelt's Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company in 1888.-History:The company produced a range of light artillery, machine guns and ammunition....
. The Post Office Directory of trades in London of 1895 lists its office at 32 Victoria Street SW (London) on page 1579.
Finally, the company was absorbed into the mother Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun
Vickers machine gun
Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army...
.
Development (1883-1884)
Maxim's first patents related to the development of the Maxim were registered in June and July 1883. The first prototype was demonstrated to invited guests in October 1884.Use in colonial warfare (1884-1914)
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha, General Charles Gordon's besieged governor of Equatoria, threatened by Mahdist forces...
in 1886-1890, under the leadership of Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
. More a publicity stunt than a serious military contribution, in view of the main financier of the expedition, William Mackinnon, "merely exhibiting" the gun was likely to "prove a great peace-preserver". And in fact the gun was used on several occasions, especially during the expedition's retreat from central Africa, not because of its devastating effects, but as an effective means to scare off native attackers. The same prototype was brought back to central Africa by Frederick Lugard
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC , known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong and Governor-General of Nigeria .-Early life and education:Lugard...
, where it played an instrumental role in the establishment of a British protectorate over present-day Uganda (then Buganda), which is a strong testament to the sturdiness and reliability of the weapon and its prototype.
The first unit in the world to receive the Maxim was the Singapore Volunteer Corps
Singapore Volunteer Corps
The Singapore Volunteer Corps was a militia unit established in 1854 as the Singapore Volunteer Rifle Corps. The Corps underwent several reorganisations and was known by various names through its history...
in 1889. This was a civilian volunteer defence unit on the then-British island.
The Maxim gun was first used by Britain's colonial forces in the 1893-1894 First Matabele War
First Matabele War
The First Matabele War was fought in 1893-1894 between the British South Africa Company military forces and the Ndebele people. Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, avoided outright war with the British settlers because he and his advisors were mindful of the destructive power of the European weapons...
in Rhodesia. During the Battle of the Shangani, 50 soldiers fought off 5,000 warriors with just four Maxim guns. It played an important role in the swift European colonization of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in the late 19th century. The extreme lethality was employed to devastating effect against obsolete charging tactics, when native opponents could be lured into pitched battles in open terrain. As it was put by Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist...
, in the words of the figure "Blood" in his poem "The Modern Traveller":
- Whatever happens, we have got
- The Maxim gun, and they have not.
However, the destructive power of the Maxim gun in colonial warfare has often been overegged by popular myth. Modern historical accounts suggest that, while it was effective in pitched-battle situations such as the Matabele war or the 1898 Battle of Omdurman
Battle of Omdurman
At the Battle of Omdurman , an army commanded by the British Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad...
, its significance owed much to the psychological impact the weapon had.
A larger-calibre version of the Maxim, firing a one-pound shell, was built by Maxim-Nordenfeldt. This was known in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
as the Pom-Pom
QF 1 pounder pom-pom
The QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom, was an early 37 mm British autocannon. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light anti-aircraft gun. The name comes from the sound it makes when firing....
from its sound and was used on both sides. The Maxim gun was also used in the Anglo-Aro War
Anglo-Aro War
The Anglo-Aro War was a conflict between the Aro Confederacy in present day Eastern Nigeria, and the British Empire. The war began after increasing tension between Aro leaders and British colonialists after years of failed negotiations....
of 1901-1902.
Gradual adoption by European armies and navies
Firearm malfunction
A firearm malfunction is the partial or complete failure of a firearm to operate as intended. Malfunctions range from temporary and relatively safe situations, such as a casing that didn't eject, to potentially dangerous occurrences that may permanently damage the gun and cause injury or death...
. In the 1906 version of the book Small Wars the author says of machine guns: "The older forms are not suitable as a rule... they jammed at Ulundi
Battle of Ulundi
The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on 4 July 1879 and was the last major battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. The British army finally broke the military power of the Zulu nation by defeating the main Zulu army and immediately afterwards capturing and razing the capital of...
, they jammed at Dogali
Battle of Dogali
The Battle of Dogali was fought on 26 January 1887 between Italy and Ethiopia in Dogali near Massawa, in present-day Eritrea.On his own initiative, Ras Alula Engida, then governor of Emperor Yohannes IV, had attacked the Italian-controlled town of Sahati on the day prior...
, they jammed at Abu Klea
Battle of Abu Klea
The Battle of Abu Klea took place between the dates of 16 and 18 January 1885, at Abu Klea, Sudan, between the British Desert Column and Mahdist forces encamped near Abu Klea...
and Tofrek
Battle of Tofrek
The Battle of Tofrek was fought between the British forces under the leadership of General Gerald Graham and General John McNeil, against the Mahdist forces led by Osman Digna in the deserts of eastern Sudan.-Details:...
, in some cases with unfortunate results." The Maxim was significantly more reliable than its contemporaries, however. A more practical problem was that, initially, its position was easily given away by the clouds of smoke the gun produced. The advent of smokeless powder
Smokeless powder
Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of propellants used in firearms and artillery which produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the older gunpowder which they replaced...
(developed by, among others, Hiram's brother Hudson Maxim
Hudson Maxim
Hudson Maxim , was a U.S. inventor and chemist who invented a variety of explosives, including smokeless gunpowder. He was the brother of Hiram Stevens Maxim, inventor of the Maxim gun and uncle of Hiram Percy Maxim, inventor of the Maxim Silencer.Maxim was a man of many talents...
), helped to change this.
The weapon was adopted by the British Army under the guidance of Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1888. In October that year he placed an order of 120 rifle-calibre Maxims using the same .577/450
.577/450 Martini-Henry
The .577/450 Martini-Henry was a black powder, centerfire round used by the British and British Empire militaries prior to the adoption of the .303 calibre cartridge used in the Lee-Metford, Martini-Enfield, and Lee-Enfield series of rifles alongside the Nepalese Bira gun...
ammunition as the Martini-Henry
Martini-Henry
The Martini-Henry was a breech-loading single-shot lever-actuated rifle adopted by the British, combining an action worked on by Friedrich von Martini , with the rifled barrel designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry...
rifles. Wolseley had previously led military excursions in Africa (the Ashanti war and the Gordon Relief Expedition in 1884-85), and had a reputation for being a strong subscriber to military innovation and reform, which he demonstrated in Africa. There he used machine guns, explored other unconventional ideas, and founded an Egyptian camel corps.
The gun's design was purchased and used by several other European countries too. The Maxim gun saw action in the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, where it was employed by the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
.
World War I (1914-1918)
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, many armies had moved on to improved machine guns. The British Vickers machine gun
Vickers machine gun
Not to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army...
was an improved and redesigned Maxim, introduced into the British Army in 1912 and remaining in service until 1968. Production took place at Erith in Kent and some models were fitted to early biplanes also fabricated there. The German Army's Maschinengewehr 08
Maschinengewehr 08
The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adoption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim Gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 remained in service until the outbreak of World War II due to shortages of...
and the Russian Pulemyot Maxim
Russian M1910 Maxim
The PM M1910 was a heavy machine gun used by the Russian Army during World War I and the Red Army during World War II. It was adopted in 1910 and was derived from Hiram Maxim's Maxim gun, chambered for the standard Russian 7.62x54mmR rifle cartridge...
were both more or less direct copies of the Maxim.
It also saw use during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
which followed the Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
in 1917. A picture of the period depicts a Maxim gun mounted on tachanka
Tachanka
The tachanka was a horse-drawn machine gun platform, usually a cart or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun installed in the back. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four horses and required a crew of two or three...
, a horse-drawn carriage along with the gunner, firing backwards at a pursuing White Army regiment. Anarchists attribute this mobile setup to Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
. Some socialist realist propaganda art even features Lenin manning the gun himself, but it is very unlikely that he ever did so.
Maxim gun variants and derivatives
- Vickers machine gunVickers machine gunNot to be confused with the Vickers light machine gunThe Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled .303 inch machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army...
: earlier Maxims had been chambered for earlier British service cartridges, but the Vickers was produced for export available in most of the different calibres and cartridges used by countries around the world, and including a large caliber (.50 inch) as used on Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
warships. - Maschinengewehr 01, made by Deutsche Waffen und MunitionsfabrikenDeutsche Waffen und MunitionsfabrikenDeutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft , known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when Ludwig Loewe & Company united its weapons and ammunition production facilities within one company...
(DWM) - Maschinengewehr 08Maschinengewehr 08The Maschinengewehr 08, or MG08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adoption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim Gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 remained in service until the outbreak of World War II due to shortages of...
- Derivatives (e.g., MG08/15)
- Maschinengewehr Modell 1911MG 11The Maschinengewehr Modell 1911 or MG 11 is a Swiss heavy machine gun which was introduced before and during the First World War. The MG 11 has a narrow constructive relationship with the German MG 08 heavy machine gun.-History:...
, made by Waffenfabrik BernWaffenfabrik BernWaffenfabrik Bern, also known as W+F Bern, was an arms manufacturer in Bern, Switzerland and was a government-owned corporation.-List of W+F weapons:*Vetterli rifle*Schmidt M1882 1882 revolver. Chambered in 7.5 Swiss Ordnance... - Pulemyot Maxima PM1910Russian M1910 MaximThe PM M1910 was a heavy machine gun used by the Russian Army during World War I and the Red Army during World War II. It was adopted in 1910 and was derived from Hiram Maxim's Maxim gun, chambered for the standard Russian 7.62x54mmR rifle cartridge...
- Skoda M1909 machine gunSkoda M1909 Machine gunThe Skoda M1909 is a Machine gun of Austro-Hungarian origin and was manufactured by the Škoda Works in Plzeň. Although it was unable to compete with the more reliable Schwarzlose m/07, it was used in the same period, albeit mostly with reserve and home guard battalions within the Austro-Hungarian...
- Maxim Tokarev
- Chinese Type 24 Heavy Machine Gun (Copies of the Commercial 1909)
- Finnish Maxim M/09-21
- The Maxim gun also popularized tripods and belt-feed. Earlier machine guns were usually mounted on horse carriages like small artillery pieces and fed from a hopperHopperHopper may refer to:-Mechanical parts:* A general term for a chute with additional width and depth for temporary storage* Hopper , a large container used for dust collection* Part of a combine harvester...
.
See also
- QF 1 pounder pom-pomQF 1 pounder pom-pomThe QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom, was an early 37 mm British autocannon. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light anti-aircraft gun. The name comes from the sound it makes when firing....
- Kjellman machine gunKjellman machine gunThe Kjellman LMG was a machine gun produced in Sweden. It is notable in being one of the first fully automatic weapons ever conceived and one of the first light machine guns as well....
- M1917 Browning machine gun
- Nordenfelt gunNordenfelt gunThe Nordenfelt Gun was a multiple barrel machine gun that had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth. It was produced in a number of different calibres from rifle up to 25 mm...
- Perino Model 1908
- PM M1910
- Hotchkiss machine gunHotchkiss machine gunHotchkiss machine gun:*Hotchkiss M1909, light machine gun also known as the "Hotchkiss Mark I" in British service*Hotchkiss M1914, medium machine gun*Hotchkiss M1922, light machine gun*13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun, heavy machine gun...
Further reading
- Anon, Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited: Their Works and Manufactures. (Reprinted from 'Engineering') London (1898). It gives plates showing the mechanism of the Vickers Maxim gun and numerous plates showing the variety of mounts available at the end of the nineteenth century. It also includes numerous plates of the factories in which they were made.
- Callwell, Colonel C.E. : Small Wars, a Tactical Textbook for Imperial Soldiers. 1990 Greenhill Books, London, Lionel Leventhal Ltd. ISBN 1-85367-071-5. This is a reprint of the 1906 version. (See chapter 3: "Hiram Maxim Changes War")
- McCallum, Iain : Blood Brothers. Hiram and Hudson Maxim : Pioneers of Modern Warfare, Chatham Publishing, London, 1999
- Ellis, John : The Social History of the Machine Gun, Pimlico, London, 1976