Chapter 103 Buy One Get Two Free Maxim

Carlo gave Cardil the task of going to the United States to find Gatling and Maxim, and inviting them to work in Spain as much as possible.

The names of these two people are also quite famous. One is the originator of machine guns, and the other is a genius designer praised as the father of automatic weapons.

If these two people can be brought to Spain, Spain's progress in machine guns will definitely reach the world's top level in the future.

Even Maxim's talent is not limited to machine guns. He also has considerable achievements in smokeless gunpowder. And smokeless gunpowder is a powerful booster for machine guns. The reason why machine guns are powerful is definitely one of the main contributors.

Carlo gave Cardil the task of inviting Gatling and Maxim to work in Spain as much as possible, at least one person should be invited.

In terms of the priority of the two, Carlo said that if only one person can be chosen to come to Spain, try to invite Maxim instead of Gatling.

The reason is also very simple. Gatling is already quite famous in the United States. The hand-cranked Gatling machine gun he developed has shown a very good effect during the American Civil War.

And he has never stopped developing machine guns. Gatlin himself has long been valued by the US government, and it is very difficult to attract him to Spain.

Compared with Gatlin, Maxim, who is younger and has not yet demonstrated his abilities, is obviously the easier one to attract.

And if we only talk about the impact on Spain, Carlo is more optimistic about Maxim. The Maxim machine gun played a great role in the history of World War I and World War II. The Maxim machine gun he developed has also been copied and improved by various countries, which is enough to show his talent in machine guns.

As the father of automatic weapons, Maxim's ability can not only be used on machine guns, but also on artillery.

If the Spanish army can be equipped with machine guns and semi-automatic artillery in the future, coupled with advanced military concepts, it will definitely be able to create a world-class powerful army.

It doesn't matter if Gatlin is unwilling to come to Spain, anyway, the hand-cranked machine gun developed by Gatlin is already available for purchase.

If you can't bring Gatling, then bring a few Gatling machine guns, which can be handed over to the Royal Arsenal for imitation and learning, and to manufacture Spain's own machine guns.

The current Gatling hand-cranked machine gun is actually not that stable. Carlo is more looking forward to Maxim's achievements in machine guns, and the Maxim machine guns that Maxim can really influence the war.

On January 28, 1871, Carlo finally met Hiram Stevens Maxim, one of the greatest mechanical geniuses in history and the famous father of automatic weapons.

In the past few days, Carlo also learned about the whole process of Kadir's wooing Maxim.

This is indeed the case. Compared with Gatling, who has become famous through the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun, Maxim at this time has no reputation in the United States.

Maxim was born in February 1840, and was only 31 years old at most.

Speaking of which, Kadir was also very puzzled as to why Carlo was determined to win over Maxim, because although Maxim was a mechanical researcher, the patents he invented did not have such a huge effect.

Maxim had only a few poor patents so far, including his first patented curling iron and a headlamp that could be installed on a train.

During the days when Kadir went to the United States, Maxim was hesitating whether to accept an invitation from an American company to serve as an engineer for the electric light company.

However, after meeting Kadir, Maxim immediately had a new choice.

There was no way, after all, the conditions offered by Carlo were too attractive, and Maxim, who was only 31 years old, could not help but be moved.

When Carlo learned that Maxim was coming to Spain, he was also very happy. Because recruiting Maxim was not only equivalent to getting Maxim, a top talent in weapon design, but also buying one and getting two free, his brother Hudson Maxim and his son, Hiram Percy Maxim, who was only two years old, also came to Spain together.

Although Hudson Maxim was not as famous as his brother, he was also an excellent military inventor and had his own achievements in explosives.

Maxim's son Hiram Percy Maxim was also an excellent talent. Like his father, he chose to become a mechanical engineer. He not only invented a gun silencer, but also made some improvements to the internal combustion engine.

Spain is currently lacking inventors in military weapons, so Maxim's buy one get two free behavior is naturally quite welcome.

At the Royal Palace of Madrid, Carlo met with the Maxim brothers and welcomed them to Spain from the United States.

"Mr. Hudson Maxim, Mr. Hiram Stevens Maxim, welcome to Spain." Carlo said to the two with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is our honor to receive your invitation and thank you for the opportunity you have given us." Maxim said to Carlo very respectfully.

Although he was born in the republic of the United States, this does not mean that Maxim is opposed to the monarchy of European countries.

His gratitude to Carlo was genuine as Carlo provided him with such generous treatment.

Maxim was born in a poor family. He got a job by virtue of his diligence and love of learning. Later, Carlo was willing to offer him a job with higher income and he liked it more. Maxim was unwilling to miss this opportunity, which was also the reason why he persuaded his brother to come to Spain with him.

Compared with the United States, Maxim was more willing to leave the United States and go to a new place.

The reason was also very simple. At this time, the United States had already formed a huge capital force, and the attitude of capital towards inventors like them was not so friendly.

Maxim certainly wanted to earn income through his inventions, but the reality was very cruel. Companies created by inventors like him would be suppressed by other capitalists, which was also the real reason why Maxim finally left the United States for Britain in history.

Now that Carlo had personally invited him, Maxim was of course willing to leave the United States to find new development opportunities.

He was keen on invention and design, but he was more interested in firearms, such as the design of automatic weapons.

Although the United States also had a hand-cranked Gatling machine gun, in Maxim's view, such a design was not truly automated, but just a trick.

The hand-cranked Gatling gun also has problems of one kind or another, which is why such weapons have shown their effectiveness in the Civil War, but have not yet been popularized in Europe.

Maxim had the idea of ​​inventing his own automatic weapon in his mind. And the position that Carlo gave him was the weapon design engineer of the Royal Arsenal, which was in line with Maxim's idea.

Both Maxim brothers will serve as weapon design engineers of the Royal Arsenal, which happens to be the same as the hobbies of the two brothers.

The property and 5,000 pesetas of resettlement funds that Carlo promised them can also allow them to quickly have a place to settle in Spain and better adapt to their new life in Spain.

Carlo still attaches great importance to the Maxim brothers. Although they have not been involved in weapons research and development before, Carlo is still willing to give them an annual salary of 2,000 pesetas, and said that as long as their design has made some progress, they can raise their salary and grant them rewards at any time.

The two were naturally very satisfied with such a salary. After all, they were not famous inventors in the United States, so it was naturally impossible for them to have a high salary of thousands of pesetas at the beginning.

Following the Maxim brothers to Spain, there was also the equally famous Gatling, or hand-cranked Gatling machine gun.

Yes, Gatling finally chose to stay in the United States and did not accept the invitation from the King of Spain.

But this didn't matter to Carlo. With the Maxim brothers, Gatling's role was not that important.

Because of Carlo's order, Kadir finally brought back several hand-cranked Gatling machine guns to provide to the Royal Arsenal for related research.

The historical Maxim machine gun was born around 1883, and passed the test and formally applied for a patent in 1884.

This year is only 1871, and there is at least 12 years of gap compared to this time. However, considering that Maxim has only been really engaged in the research of machine guns for a few years, Carlo is still optimistic that he will develop the Maxim machine gun before 1883.

Speaking of the history of Maxim's development of machine guns, we have to mention an equally famous figure, Edison, known as the great inventor.

Yes, during this period of time, there were Edisons everywhere in the United States, which is why Edison's reputation is getting worse and worse.

Although Edison does have certain talents in invention, he is more of a capitalist, and a capitalist who constantly suppresses other inventors.

Maxim was born in the United States, but because of Edison's suppression of him, he had to flee to Britain, which ultimately benefited Britain and gained Maxim, a famous weapon design genius.

If Maxim could start research on machine guns earlier, coupled with the help of Carlo and the Spanish government, I believe Maxim could have obtained relevant research results earlier.

As long as Spain can have machine guns and more advanced artillery, Carlo will not be afraid of any country in the war on land.

Regardless of the combat effectiveness of other countries, in the land wars of this era, the difference in weapons and the advancement of military doctrines directly affect the direction of the war.

The reason why the Prussian army was able to defeat the French army also includes the large number of French armed line infantry, and the Krupp cannons can shoot farther and more stably than the French cannons.

If the military concepts and weapons technology of both sides were kept at the same level, Prussia would definitely not be able to defeat the French army.

This is also the reason why Carlo wanted to develop machine guns and semi-automatic artillery. Once Spain took the lead in machine guns and semi-automatic artillery, the Spanish army would become the top army in Europe.

With a strong army, the Spanish government has the confidence to dominate its own destiny.

Carlo's military development plan for Spain will focus on the development of the army in the next few years.

Of course, the overall size of the Spanish army will not change much, and it will be more about the improvement of weapons technology.

As for the navy, the development of the navy must wait until Spain has built enough industry and economy.

It's not that Carlo is unwilling to develop the navy, but the navy costs more money than the army, and it will be more difficult to develop.

Why did only a few powers participate in the naval arms race before World War I? Because other countries simply could not afford to build a navy.

The current ironclad ship costs hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds, and the future battleship costs more than a million pounds.

As for the later dreadnoughts, the cost of any one of them is as high as more than a million pounds, and there are even super dreadnoughts of two or three million.

What's more terrible is that the construction of the navy does not refer to the surface shipbuilding costs, and the maintenance of the fleet is also a large cost.

There are also the training of naval soldiers and the fuel costs of warships, etc., which add up to an astronomical figure.

The current Spanish government is still unable to play with the navy. Even if it can build a navy, it is only a few small and medium-sized warships.

If the current Spanish government bites its teeth and builds ironclad ships, it will be really unbearable.

Let alone whether the Spanish government's financial situation can support the maintenance of the navy, the British alone can cause a lot of trouble.

Spain's geographical location is already very important. If it blindly develops the navy, the British will definitely be worried.

The British are worried, will Spain have less trouble? The reputation of being a troublemaker is not for nothing. If Spain can formulate a naval development plan today, Britain can support the independence of Cuba and the Philippines tomorrow and completely oppose Spain's colonial expansion in Africa.

This is also the reason why Carlo formulated an army development plan. Spain is limited by its population size, and no matter how powerful its army is, it will not pose such a high threat.

Unless Spain can become the first land power in Europe, developing the army will not touch the bottom line of the British, and it can also represent a period of peace between Britain and Spain.

There is no way, it is still the glorious Victorian era in Britain. Not to mention Spain, even the Germans have to admit the glory of the British.

As long as they keep a low profile for the time being, the British will not take the initiative to provoke Spain.

Because the British are also big and powerful, they also have various conflicts with other countries.

After Prussia defeated France, the contradictions between Britain and France were not so intense. At present, the most fierce competition with the British is Russia, and the two sides have launched an extremely fierce colonial competition in Central Asia.

Compared with the Russians, the Spaniards are not taken seriously by the British. As long as Spain can develop honestly and low-key, the British will not cause trouble for themselves.

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