Machine Guns Affects on War
Although machine guns play a very large role in today's battlefields, they did not really impact war until World War One. Machine gun impact during WWI was the most significant yet, they brought a new element to warfare. Machine guns and their affects on World War One Changed warfare as we know it. “Machine guns have long played an important role in modern warfare” (Dague, Everett). The machine gun has evolved since pre-WWI, and then made its impact in WWI and then the display of its power in WWI and post WWI.
Warfare and guns before WWI were mostly semi-automatic and took long amounts of time to reload, and had very low fire rates or RPM (Rounds per Minute). Before Machine guns warfare was fought with sides standing across from one another and would fire back and forth at each other missing a lot of the time this was a very inefficient way of firing upon one's enemy. Early machine guns were created but were very inefficient the Gatling gun and others like it were thought up but most failed in battlefield situations. This caused weapon makers to attempt to make the “ultimate” battlefield weapon the machine gun, but it would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs came into existence. “Modern machine guns are classified as heavy, medium or light” (Zabecki) before WWI machine guns did not have any classification at all they were just called machine guns.
The first machine gun or first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle on May 15, 1718. The London lawyer called it “The Puckle Gun”. The Puckle Gun was a revolver like cannon which could fire nine shots before having to reload. The next “Machine Gun” was created in 1777; Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a “New improved gun”, this gun could fire twenty shots in five seconds, and was capable of being loaded by a Cartridge. They asked if Belton if he could adjust 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this
Warfare and guns before WWI were mostly semi-automatic and took long amounts of time to reload, and had very low fire rates or RPM (Rounds per Minute). Before Machine guns warfare was fought with sides standing across from one another and would fire back and forth at each other missing a lot of the time this was a very inefficient way of firing upon one's enemy. Early machine guns were created but were very inefficient the Gatling gun and others like it were thought up but most failed in battlefield situations. This caused weapon makers to attempt to make the “ultimate” battlefield weapon the machine gun, but it would not be until the mid-19th century that successful machine-gun designs came into existence. “Modern machine guns are classified as heavy, medium or light” (Zabecki) before WWI machine guns did not have any classification at all they were just called machine guns.
The first machine gun or first known ancestor of multi-shot weapons was created by James Puckle on May 15, 1718. The London lawyer called it “The Puckle Gun”. The Puckle Gun was a revolver like cannon which could fire nine shots before having to reload. The next “Machine Gun” was created in 1777; Philadelphia gunsmith Joseph Belton offered the Continental Congress a “New improved gun”, this gun could fire twenty shots in five seconds, and was capable of being loaded by a Cartridge. They asked if Belton if he could adjust 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this