Montigny mitrailleuse
The Montigny mitrailleuse was an early type of crank-operated machine-gun developed by the Belgian gun works of Joseph Montigny between 1859 and 1870. It was an improved version of the "Mitrailleuse", () invented by Belgian Captain Fafschamps in 1851 which was a fixed 50-barrelled volley gun.
History of weapons
As well as these advances in firearms and artillery technology, new repeating firearms began to emerge on the battlefield. As soon as matchlocks appeared, there were attempts to create non-muzzleloading firearms. Early attempts such as the Ferguson rifle proved to be too complicated for regular soldiers. By 1836 a German gunsmith Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse invented the Dreyse needle rifle, the first bolt-action rifle, which the Prussian Army adopted for service in 1848. In 1866 during the Austro-Prussian War after the decisive Prussian victory at the Battle of Königgrätz it was obvious that muzzle-loading rifles were ineffective in battle. Soon after, nations all around Europe began adopting breech-loaders and converting their existing service rifles to breech-loaders. Such rifles include the British Snider Rifle and the French Chassepot Rifle. These new rifles, along with the invention of the revolver (patented in 1836) and the advent of machine in the 1860s, displayed the need for the way battles were fought to change. However, it was only until the First World War that military leaders around the world adapted new tactics to employ these weapons.