1867 -- Dr. Gatling redesigned his gun to use integrally-primed metallic cartridges. It was adopted by the United States Army and sold around the world.
1871 -- General Gorloff, of the Imperial Russian Army, supervised the production of 400 ten-barrelled Gatling guns for the Russian service. Since his name was stamped on each gun, the Russians called them Gorloffs, and occasionally claim the general as the inventor of the gun.
1874 -- The British adopted the Gatling for both army and navy. They used it widely in colonial campaigns. It was especially effective against the massed Zulu impis in the war of 1879.
1885 -- British forces in Egypt and the Sudan mounted Gatling guns on railway cars for defense against raiding dervishes.
1893 -- Dr. Gatling designed a version of his gun with an electric motor to drive the barrels. He achieved rates of fire of over 3,000 rounds per minute.
1905 -- The Russians used Gatling guns against the Japanese at the siege of Port Arthur, probably the last combat use of the hand-cranked Gatling. The Gatling was soon supplanted by gas-and recoil-noperated machine guns.
1955 -- The United States Air Force, in need of very high rates of fire for the brief engagement times of aerial combat, rediscovered Gatling's 1893 demonstration. The result was the M61 20mm cannon, the first to be called a Vulcan.
1965 -- U.S. forces in the Vietnam war used Vulcans, reduced to machine-gun and even assault-rifle calibers, as armament on helicopters, assault aircraft, naval vessels, armored vehicles and even jeeps and trucks.
1975 -- Many navies, including that of the United States, deployed Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) consisting of a Vulcan in a powered, self-controlled turret with its Own radar fire-control system. They were equipped with High Density ammunition, for defense against aircraft and cruise missiles.
1995 -- The multi-barrelled, externally-powered machine gun, or Vulcan, was well-established as an air, naval and land weapon all over the world.
2015 -- Small-caliber Vulcans became a principal armament on police and military vehicles. They were heavy enough fire-power to deal with Cycles or other cars and imposed much lighter firing stresses than conventional armored-vehicle weapons.
2025 -- Soon after the official beginning of autoduelling, surplus military Vulcans were mounted on duelling vehicles. Within a year, special models for the duelling trade were available.
2040 -- Vulcans retain their popularity as one of the most reliable and flexible of vehicular weapons, and are especially favoured as aircraft and anti-aircraft armament.
France, 1940 -- As the Wehrmacht swept to victory, its advance was spearheaded by the Sd Kfz 221 armored cars of the armored reconnaissance battalions. These four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering cars, lightly armored and with a single, turreted machine gun, wouldn't look out of place in a modern arena.
Egypt, 1940 -- Faced by overwhelming numbers, the British forces in Egypt desperately needed a force that could raid and reconnoiter in the vast Libyan desert. A few daring men mounted radios, spare water and gas cans and scrounged machine guns on Chevrolet trucks. The Long Range Desert Group probed and harassed Italian and German forces until the final victory in Africa, three long years later.
United States, 1940 -- The United States army procured its first 1/4-ton, four-wheel-drive, General Purpose vehicle, the immortal jeep. Armed in its time with weapons from SMGs to recoilless rifles, and even nuclear weapons, the jeep remains an inspiration to off-road duellists everywhere.
Finland, 1940 -- The Finnish forces, attacked by vastly superior numbers of Russians, and with a terrible shortage of anti-tank weapons, relied heavily on the Molotov cocktail. This simple, gasoline-filled bottle had been used in earlier wars, but seldom as successfully as by the Finns. In four months of fighting, the Finns used more than 70,000 Molotov cocktails. These accounted for a large proportion of the 2,300 Russian tanks destroyed. Pedestrians today still emulate the heroism of the Finns.