... per minute.2 By 1889, the Maxim machine gun was firing 500 rounds per minute. At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Vickers machine gun could fire 600 rounds per minute. Modern machine guns such as the 5.56mm small machine gun used by the British Army can fire 1000 rounds per minute. These machines automated war. More than that, they fundamentally changed the way in which wars were fought. In the days prior to the machine gun, it was single shot guns and rifles which were the most used weapons in person versus person combat. Being single shot, using a rifle meant singling out your target before shooting. To some extent, one had control over where they shot their victim. There may have been eye contact made in the second before the bullet was fired. As far as is possible in warfare, it was human. Machine guns removed ...

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