A pair of Gatling guns, 1879

Photograph, Zulu War, 1879.

Although it did not automatically reload under its own power the Gatling gun is considered by many to be the first modern machine-gun. The gun's multiple rotating barrels were turned by a hand crank. Each barrel fired a shot, ejected its cartridge and then loaded a new round.

From photograph album compiled by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilfred Turner Anderson.