On 4 November 1862, Richard Jordan Gatling, a visionary American inventor, forever altered the landscape of warfare by patenting the Gatling gun in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This revolutionary weapon was capable of rapid fire through a hand-cranked mechanism, launching bullets at an unprecedented speed and efficiency.
Unlike traditional firearms of the era, which required laborious reloading, the Gatling gun’s multiple barrels rotated in a synchronized fashion, allowing for sustained fire.
Originally intended as a means to reduce the need for large armies and thereby minimise wartime suffering, Gatling’s invention inadvertently accelerated the arms race and set the stage for future developments in automatic weaponry.
