Morale Versus Technology: the Case of the Machine Gun in World War One

Machine guns transformed warfare by vastly increasing infantry firepower. The experience in European colonial wars of the last century strongly suggested that greater firepower made it too costly for massed infantry or horse cavalry to cross a killing zone only a few hundred meters wide. The immense advantage of weapons such as the one produced by Hiram Maxim moved Hilaire Belloc to quip:
Thank God that we have got
The Maxim gun and they have not
The lethal firepower of six Maxim guns explains why the British suffered only 48 dead at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 while the Dervishes lost over 11,000. As Edward Arnold noted, “In most of our wars it has been the dash, the skill, and bravery of our officers and men that have won the day, but in this case the battle was won by a quiet scientific gentleman living in Kent.” Although Sir Edward realized the implications of what had happened, many did not.

MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. IMHO there is nothing morale when you're facing an AK-47 (ChiCom Type 56), DP machine weapons, or RPGs. As one weapons instructor told us, if they come at you with a knife, you bring a firearm, if they bring a firearm, you bring a Law, if they bring an RPG you fire howitzers, etc. This is a phrase we probably all heard in some phase of weapons training. Morality is the absence of war. As George S. Patton once said, "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making some other poor dumb bastards die for his country.

Lt Col Charlie Brown

Completely changed warfare.