'WE HAVE THE MAXIM'

Early machine guns were used by British forces during the 'Scramble for Africa' but the British Army was slow to fully realise their lethal potential

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The quest to create a rapid-firing gun had been underway since medieval times but it was not until the 19th century that machine guns came into being. In 1861, American inventor Richard Gatling patented the Gatling gun, which was the first firearm to offer controlled, sequential firing with mechanical loading. Gatling guns were first used in the American Civil War (1861-65) and Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).

The British Army deployed the Gatling gun for the first time in what is now Ghana during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War (1873-74). A British force commanded by General Sir Garnet Wolseley utilised new technologies such as telegraph lines, rockets and Martini-Henry rifles against Ashanti warriors, although it appears that his Gatling guns were not extensively used.

The Gatling became a part of the British Army’s arsenal during subsequent colonial conflicts. This included the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80) and – most significantly – the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Although most famous for the Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, the most decisive battle was the concluding engagement at the Zulu capital of Ulundi.