The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun

Martin Pegler author Peter Dennis illustrator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:20th May '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun cover

Sir Hiram Maxim’s deadly self-powered machine gun became a potent symbol of Victorian colonialism, while its descendants – the British Vickers, German MG 08 and Russian PM M1910 – dominated the battlefields of World War I and remained in service for decades afterwards.

Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork, this story tells of the Maxim and its descendants, the innovative rapid-fire weapons that saw combat with British, German, Russian and other forces in the late Victorian era and throughout the world wars.The world’s first self-powered machine gun, the Maxim gun became a potent symbol of Victorian colonialism in the closing years of the 19th century. It was the brainchild of Sir Hiram Maxim, the American-born firearms inventor who founded the company bearing his name with financing from Albert Vickers, who became the company’s chairman; Maxim’s company was absorbed by Vickers, Sons and Company in 1897. Subsequent variants in British, German and Russian service – the .303in Vickers (1912), 7.92mm MG 08 (1908) and 7.62mm PM M1910, respectively – dominated both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War I and soldiered on into World War II, while the Vickers remained in front-line British service essentially unchanged until 1968. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and written by a noted authority, this is the engaging story of the Maxim and its descendants, the innovative rapid-fire weapons that saw combat with British, German, Russian and other forces in the late Victorian era and throughout the world wars.

ISBN: 9781780963822

Dimensions: 248mm x 184mm x 7mm

Weight: 305g

80 pages