A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire bullets in rapid succession from an ammunition belt or magazine. It was notably utilized during World War I and II.
Imagine you're at an arcade playing whack-a-mole. The moles pop up quickly and randomly, just like enemy soldiers might appear on a battlefield. Now imagine if instead of one mallet hitting one mole at a time, you had multiple mallets hitting several moles simultaneously - that's what using a machine gun in battle is like!
Automatic Weaponry: Firearms that continuously fire rounds as long as the trigger is pressed or held and there are still rounds left in the magazine or belt.
World War I & II: The two global wars where machine guns played significant roles in changing warfare tactics.
Gatling Gun: An early form of machine gun with multiple barrels rotating around central axis by manual crank mechanism.
Study guides for the entire semester
200k practice questions
Glossary of 50k key terms - memorize important vocab
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.