Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 103: Buy One Get Two Maxim

The task Carlo gave to Cadillac was to go to the United States to find Gatling and Maxim, and invite them to Spain to work as much as possible.

These two men’s names were also quite famous; one was the ancestor of the machine gun, and the other was the genius designer praised as the Father of Automatic Weapons.

If these two could be brought to Spain, Spain’s progress in machine guns would definitely have hope of reaching the world’s top level in the future.

Even Maxim’s talents were not limited to machine guns; he also had considerable achievements in smokeless powder. And smokeless powder was a powerful boost for machine guns; the reason machine guns were powerful was that smokeless powder was absolutely one of the main contributors.

The task Carlo gave to Cadillac was to invite Gatling and Maxim to Spain to work as much as possible, and at least invite one of them.

In terms of priority between the two, Carlo said that if only one could be chosen to come to Spain, try to invite Maxim rather than Gatling.

The reason was also very simple. Gatling was already quite famous in the United States, and the hand-cranked Gatling gun he developed had already shown quite good results during the American Civil War.

And his research and development on machine guns had never stopped; Gatling himself had long been valued by the United States government, so it would be very difficult to bring him to Spain.

Compared to Gatling, the younger Maxim, who had not yet shown his abilities, was obviously easier to bring over.

Moreover, if considering the influence on Spain alone, Carlo was more optimistic about Maxim. The Maxim machine gun played a huge role in the history of World War I and World War II; the Maxim machine gun he developed was imitated and improved by various countries, which was enough to show his talent in machine guns. As the Father of Automatic Weapons, Maxim’s abilities could not only be applied to machine guns but also to cannons.

If Spain’s army could be equipped with machine guns and semi-automatic cannons in the future, plus advanced military concepts, it would absolutely be able to create a world-class powerful army.

If Gatling was unwilling to come to Spain, it didn’t matter, because the hand-cranked machine gun he developed could already be bought at this time.

If Gatling could not be brought, then bring a few Gatling guns, which could be given to the royal arsenal for imitation and learning, and to manufacture Spain’s own machine gun.

The current Gatling hand-cranked machine gun was actually not that stable; Carlo was more looking forward to Maxim’s achievements in machine guns, and the Maxim machine gun that Maxim would manufacture, which could truly influence wars.

On January 28, 1871, Carlo finally met Hiram Stevens Maxim, whom he had been thinking about, one of the greatest mechanical geniuses in history, the renowned Father of Automatic Weapons.

During these few days, Carlo also learned the whole process of Cadillac bringing in Maxim.

The fact was indeed so; compared to Gatling, who was already famous through the hand-cranked Gatling gun, Maxim had no reputation in the United States at this time.

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

Speaking of which, Cadillac was also very puzzled about why Carlo insisted on bringing in Maxim, because although Maxim was a researcher in mechanics, the patents he invented did not have such huge effects.

So far, Maxim only had a pitiful few patents, including his first patent, a hair curler, and a headlamp that could be installed on a train.

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

But after meeting Cadillac, Maxim immediately had a new choice.

There was no way around it; after all, the conditions offered by Carlo were too attractive, making the 31-year-old Maxim unable to not be tempted.

When Carlo learned that Maxim was coming to Spain, he was also very happy. Because recruiting Maxim not only meant obtaining Maxim, this top talent in weapon design, but it was also buy one get two free; his brother Hudson Maxim and his son, the two-year-old Hiram Percy Maxim, also came to Spain together.

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

And Maxim’s son Hiram Percy Maxim was also an excellent talent; like his father, he chose to become a mechanical engineer, inventing not only a firearm silencer but also making certain improvements to the internal combustion engine.

Spain was currently short of inventors in military weapons, so it naturally welcomed Maxim’s buy one get two free very much.

In the Madrid Royal Palace, Carlo received the Maxim brothers and expressed welcome for their coming 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 Majesty’s invitation, and thank you, Your Majesty, for giving us this opportunity.” Maxim said very respectfully to Carlo.

Although born in the republican country of the United States, this did not mean that Maxim held an opposing attitude toward the monarchy of European countries.

Under the circumstances where Carlo provided him with such generous treatment, his gratitude toward Carlo was also sincere.

Maxim came from a poor background; it was through his own diligence and studiousness that he got a job. Now that Carlo was willing to provide him with a job with higher income and one he liked more, Maxim certainly did not want to miss this opportunity, which was also the reason he persuaded his brother to come to Spain with him.

Compared to staying in the United States, Maxim was more willing to leave the United States for a new place.

The reason was also very simple; at this time, the United States had already formed a huge capital force, and capital’s attitude toward inventors like them was not very friendly.

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

Now that there was Carlo’s personal invitation, Maxim was of course willing to leave the United States to seek new development opportunities.

He was passionate about invention and design, no doubt, but what he was more interested in was firearms, such as the design of automatic weapons.

Although the United States also had hand-cranked Gatling machine guns, in Maxim’s view, such a design was not truly automated, just a clever workaround.

The hand-cranked Gatling machine gun also had various problems, which was why such a weapon had already shown its effect in the Civil War but still had not been popularized in Europe.

Maxim had the idea in his heart to invent his own automatic weapon. And the position Carlo gave him was exactly weapons design engineer at the royal arsenal, which matched Maxim’s idea perfectly.

The Maxim brothers would both serve as weapons design engineers at the royal arsenal, which perfectly matched the brothers’ hobbies.

The property and 5000 pesetas of settlement funds that Carlo promised them could also allow them to quickly have a place to settle in Spain and better adapt to their new life in Spain.

Carlo still attached great importance to the Maxim brothers. Although they had not been deeply involved in weapon research and development before, Carlo was still willing to offer them an annual salary of 2000 pesetas, and stated that as long as their designs made certain progress, he could raise their salary and grant 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 impossible for them to have thousands or tens of thousands of pesetas in high wages from the start.

Coming to Spain with the Maxim brothers was also the equally renowned Gatling, or rather the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun.

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

But for Carlo, it didn’t matter anymore; with the Maxim brothers, Gatling’s role was actually not that important.

Because of Carlo’s order, Cadillac ultimately brought back a few hand-cranked Gatling machine guns to provide to the royal arsenal for research in related aspects.

In history, the Maxim machine gun was born around 1883 and passed tests and formally applied for a patent in

But this year was only 1871, which was at least 12 years behind this time. However, considering that Maxim had only invested a few years in machine gun research, Carlo was still optimistic that he could develop the Maxim machine gun before

Speaking of the history of Maxim developing the machine gun, one also had to mention another equally renowned figure, the self-proclaimed great inventor Edison.

Yes, the United States during this period could be said to have Edison everywhere, which was also the reason why Edison’s reputation was getting worse and worse.

Although Edison did have certain talents in invention, he was more of a capitalist, constantly suppressing other inventors.

Maxim was born in the United States but had to flee to the United Kingdom because of Edison’s suppression, which ultimately benefited the United Kingdom, obtaining Maxim, this renowned weapon design genius.

If Maxim could start research on machine guns a little earlier, plus the assistance from Carlo and the Spanish government, it was believed that Maxim could obtain research results in related aspects even earlier.

As long as Spain could possess machine guns and more advanced cannons, Carlo would not fear any country in land wars.

No matter what other countries’ combat effectiveness was like, in land wars of this era, the difference in weapons and whether military doctrines were advanced directly affected the course of the war.

The reason the Prussian Army could defeat the French Army also included the fact that France was largely armed with line infantry, and the Krupp cannon shot farther and more stably than French cannons.

If both sides’ military concepts and weapon technology were at the same level, Prussia definitely could not beat the French Army.

This was also the reason why Carlo was single-mindedly wanting to develop machine guns and semi-automatic cannons. Once Spain took the lead in machine guns and semi-automatic cannons, Spain’s army would also leap to become Europe’s top army.

After having a powerful army, the Spanish government could also be said to have the confidence to master its own destiny.

Carlo’s development plan for Spain’s military aspect focused entirely on army development in the next few years.

Of course, the overall scale of Spain’s army would not change much; it was more about improvements in weapon technology.

As for the navy, developing the navy would have to wait until Spain had built sufficient industry and economy.

It was not that Carlo was unwilling to develop the navy; it was just that the navy burned money much more than the army and was more difficult to develop.

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

The current ironclad ships cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling each, and future battleships cost more than a million pounds sterling.

As for the later dreadnoughts, any one cost over a million pounds sterling, and there were even super dreadnought battleships costing two or three million.

More deadly was that building the navy did not only mean the overt shipbuilding costs; fleet maintenance was also a huge expense.

There were also training of navy soldiers, fuel expenses for warships, etc., adding up to an astronomical figure.

The current Spanish government could not yet play with the navy; even if it could build a navy, it would only be a few small and medium-sized warships.

If the current Spanish government gritted its teeth to build ironclad ships, that would really be unwise.

Not to mention whether the Spanish government’s financial situation could support navy maintenance, just the British side could cause considerable trouble.

Spain’s geographical position was already very important; if it blindly developed the navy, the British would definitely not feel at ease.

If the British were not at ease, would Spain have less trouble? The reputation of stirring shit was not for nothing; if Spain formulated a naval development plan today, Britain could support the independence of Cuba and the Philippines tomorrow, and completely oppose Spain’s colonial expansion in Africa.

This was also the reason Carlo formulated the army development plan. Spain was limited by population scale; no matter how powerful the army was, it would not pose such a high threat.

Unless Spain could become Europe’s number one army great power, developing the army would not touch the British bottom line, and it could also mean that a period of peace could come between Britain and Spain.

There was no way around it; it was still the glorious Victorian era of Britain. Not to mention Spain, even the Germans had to admit the British glory.

As long as it stayed low-key for now, the British would not actively provoke Spain.

Because the British also had a large family business, they had various conflicts with other countries.

After Prussia defeated France, the conflicts between Britain and France were not so intense. Currently, the one competing most fiercely with the British was Russia; the two sides engaged in extremely fierce colonial competition in Central Asia.

Compared to the Russians, the Spaniards were not taken seriously by the British. As long as Spain developed low-key and honestly, the British would not bring trouble upon themselves.

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