For centuries, people have been fighting each other for countless reasons. And as time passed we have found better and better ways to bring harm to one another. One of the most creative, if not one of the most dangerous weapons developed for warfare would have to be the machine gun.

It may be unknown by many, but there is more than just 1 type of machine gun in existence. In fact there are 4 credible categories of them. Manually operated machine guns dating as far back as 1718, light machine guns dating back to WWI, Machine pistols also dating back to WWI, and modern machine guns dating back to WWII. (The Worlds Greatest Machine Guns)

One of the first questions that came up about machine guns was, what exactly is a machine gun? Well according to Unites States gun law, a machine gun is any fully automatic firearm mounted or portable. It will not be classified if it shoots rounds that are explosives either, those are known as auto cannons, or grenade launchers. But in order for a firearm to truly be considered a machine gun, it must follow a simple rule. It must capable of firing more than a single round without assistance through 1 action. Whether it is a hand crank or a trigger. (worldencyclopedia.com)

The first class of machine guns is known as the manually operated guns. True, as far back as 400 B.C.E. the Chinese had rapid firing crossbow; but that's not what we're interested in. Again a machine gun is a firearm. In 1718 a man by the name of James Puckle came up with the idea for a rapid fire cannon. It was to expensive and unappealing to manufacture though. It wasn't until the civil war that the idea of rapid firing guns became popular. In 1862 we had the first model Gatling Gun and that was when things started to take off. Manually operated guns did not use a trigger, but instead were fired using a hand crank. Some people believed they should have been semi-automatic rifles instead but they were classified as machine guns none the less.(inventors.about.com)

As WWII opened up, nations found they needed a lighter, cheaper, and more efficient weapon for their soldiers. Thus the light machine gun class was born. Sure some of the guns from WWI would be considered light machine guns, they were expensive and no where's near perfected. With WWII came the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) the Thompson, the MP class and so many more. Every nation had its own creation to throw into the mix. The light machine gun is very well considered the gun that changed war, and many versions of the early WWII models are still in use completely unchanged. (The Worlds Greatest Machine Guns)

Believe it or not, there is a lighter class of light machine guns, known as machine pistols. These little guys appeared in WWI a little, but again did not really take off until WWII. They were meant to be lighter, cheaper, and have a faster rate of fire from their big brothers. This is where we got guns like the Uzi. (The Worlds Greatest Machine Guns)

It seems odd to call the next class modern, mainly because some wouldn't consider WWII modern, but that's exactly what this class was named. Modern machine guns are all the heavy hitting or revolutionary firearms that didn't really fit into the other categories. From this you get guns like the MG class, the Heckler and Koch machine guns and many many more. many of these guns have literally remained unchanged since their creation, but are still used by the military today. (The Worlds Greatest Machine Guns)

It's no surprise that machine guns were huge in the military world. The advancements made in just 100 years alone to these firearms is astounding to say the least. It almost makes you wonder, what could we possibly come up with next?