Gatling Guns in Action
1879
This photograph of two British Army Gatling guns is from an album of rare historical photographs depicting people and places associated with the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The Gatling gun, an American invention of the early 1860s, was among the first rapid-fire weapons. Used by European powers in colonial warfare as a means of countering attacks by numerically superior infantry, the guns were capable of inflicting massive casualties. The first use of the Gatling by the British Army was in the Afghan war, at the Battle of Charasia in October 1879. The two gunners crouching behind the guns pictured here would have fired the weapon using a hand-cranked mechanism in the rear. The Second Anglo-Afghan War began in November 1878 when Great Britain, fearful of what it saw as growing Russian influence in Afghanistan, invaded the country from British India. The first phase of the war ended in May 1879 with the Treaty of Gandamak, which permitted the Afghans to maintain internal sovereignty but forced them to cede control over their foreign policy to the British. Fighting resumed in September 1879, after an anti-British uprising in Kabul, and finally concluded in September 1880 with the decisive Battle of Kandahar. The album includes portraits of British and Afghan leaders and military personnel, portraits of ordinary Afghan people, and depictions of British military camps and activities, structures, landscapes, and cities and towns. The sites shown are all located within the borders of present-day Afghanistan or Pakistan (a part of British India at the time). About a third of the photographs were taken by John Burke (circa 1843–1900), another third by Sir Benjamin Simpson (1831–1923), and the remainder by several other photographers. Some of the photographs are unattributed. The album possibly was compiled by a member of the British Indian government, but this has not been confirmed. How it came to the Library of Congress is not known.
- Filename
- 11499.jpg
- Copyright
- acku Afghanistan
- Image Size
- 1800x1495 / 456.6KB
- Contained in galleries
- AFGHANISTAN