There were several inventors who started and improved on the design of the machine-gun, principally Americans - Sam Colt, Richard Gatling (of the Gatling gun) and the inventor of the first truly automatic machine-gun, Hiram Maxim.
Hiram Maxim was born in Sangerville, Maine, in 1840 and followed a career in coach building. Among his other inventions were a hair-curling iron, a gas generator and a locomotive headlight, and in the 1890s he was experimenting with ideas for aeroplanes. Maxim came to live and work in London and developed his machine-gun in 1884. While he was at Paris for a exhibition he met a man who told him: "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." This man
Maxim was knighted in 1901. He died in 1916 just as the Battle of the Somme was ending. His machine-guns had mown down thousands on both sides. He is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, south London.
Machine-guns came to be used by all the major powers and First World War battlefields were dominated by them from the beginning. However, in 1914 the Germans had 20 times as many machine-guns as the British and the British were trying to catch up throughout the war. Amazingly, the British generals - French and Haig in particular - disliked the weapon. They were cavalry officers for whom the charge was the most impressive form of attack. The machine-gun required a completely different strategy, being primarily a counter-attack weapon. The British learned its devastating power the h
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