0:00:04 > 0:00:0757D, Hatton Garden, London.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11An area more infamous for an audacious jewellery heist
0:00:11 > 0:00:13than for inventing weapons.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20But it was here in 1883
0:00:20 > 0:00:24that an eccentric American inventor built a gun that shook the world.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30The very first burst of automatic gunfire
0:00:30 > 0:00:35was heard in the basement of this central London building behind me.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37God knows what the neighbours would have thought.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE This was the Maxim gun,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44a game-changer in the story of British weapons.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49It was believed that this would be a weapon that would end all wars.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52It brought an industrialised efficiency to the whole business
0:00:52 > 0:00:56of killing people, and could fire up to 600 rounds a minute.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57AUTOMATIC FIRE
0:00:57 > 0:01:00The Maxim gun was the culmination
0:01:00 > 0:01:03of a century of rapid technological change,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06which took us from the Napoleonic Wars
0:01:06 > 0:01:09to the weapons we recognise today.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14This evolution of precision and firepower
0:01:14 > 0:01:17was driven by the desire to defend our interests overseas
0:01:17 > 0:01:20and expand the British Empire.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23We developed ever more potent weapons
0:01:23 > 0:01:25to stamp our will on the world.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31These technical advances had all kinds of repercussions.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34I'll explore how new tactics were pioneered
0:01:34 > 0:01:38to use these weapons, such as the skirmish.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41I'll discover how this quest for firepower
0:01:41 > 0:01:45had a profound impact on our domestic law and order...
0:01:46 > 0:01:48If you're the guy having to go up against
0:01:48 > 0:01:50a criminal armed with the latest thing,
0:01:50 > 0:01:51to know that the enemy have that
0:01:51 > 0:01:54- is going to be a little bit frightening.- Yeah.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58..and I'll take part in an unprecedented experiment.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03Could a silk vest have prevented the outbreak of the First World War?
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Military technology is often seen as the dark side of innovation.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13But in this era, some inventors believed
0:02:13 > 0:02:17they could put an end to war if they created the ultimate weapon -
0:02:17 > 0:02:22an instrument so terrible that no-one would dare use it.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27But technology wouldn't be the saviour we'd hoped for.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30When these superweapons were deployed,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32when the world went to war...
0:02:33 > 0:02:36..they would wreak a havoc no-one expected.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02At the dawn of the 19th century,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Britain was one of the wealthiest nations in the world,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07so good at making weapons
0:03:07 > 0:03:10that it flooded the international market.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Britain was engaged in a long, drawn-out war
0:03:17 > 0:03:20against its old adversary - the French.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Wellington was squaring up against Napoleon
0:03:24 > 0:03:26to decide the fate of Europe.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33And there was one musket that would come to dominate the battlefields.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39We are an island nation
0:03:39 > 0:03:43and we didn't want to put boots on foreign soil until we had to.
0:03:43 > 0:03:49So we armed and financed our allies to fight Napoleon on our behalf.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53This is the Kalashnikov of its day,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56and we made over 3.5 million of them.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59The Brown Bess musket.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05The India Pattern musket,
0:04:05 > 0:04:08or the Brown Bess, as it was affectionately nicknamed,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11came into service in 1797.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16It was a sturdy smoothbore black powder gun
0:04:16 > 0:04:19and was the weapon of choice for the infantry.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24The Brown Bess may have been named after Queen Elizabeth I,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27or the 15th-century weapon the arquebus.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Like all smoothbore weapons, it was not famed for its accuracy.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36GUNSHOT
0:04:38 > 0:04:42To find out how soldiers made the best of this unpredictable gun,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45I have enlisted weapons expert Mark Murray-Flutter.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49- Well...- How was that? - That was amazing.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50Quite a kick on it.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52I want you to try and imagine
0:04:52 > 0:04:54what it might have been like at Waterloo.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56- Not everybody fires at the same time.- Right.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58You get this sort of ripple effect,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02so you get this constant fire going downrange
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and that's probably what creates that fog of battle.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Yeah.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12The idea of everyone having the same weapon really makes me wonder
0:05:12 > 0:05:15if that put an added onus on originality,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17- in terms of strategy and tactics. - I think you're probably right.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21You must understand, at this time, virtually every army
0:05:21 > 0:05:23used something extremely similar.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27And they were very similar in performance as well.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30So the only difference you can really have is how you deploy it,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32how you use it, how you utilise it.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Well, if I was armed with this beauty and I was at Waterloo,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39what would I be seeing coming towards me?
0:05:39 > 0:05:44You would be on an upslope, you'd be looking down into a shallow valley,
0:05:44 > 0:05:48and you would probably be seeing, coming up that hill,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52that gentle hill, a column of Frenchmen in blue,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55with little hats on. They would - with great elan,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58shouting, "Vive la France!" or "Vive L'Empereur!" -
0:05:58 > 0:06:00they would charge.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03As the French were advancing, in a way, almost,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06they're appearing out of the smoke, as they get closer and closer.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11The traditional British tactic is to have a line,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and we normally trained two to a line
0:06:13 > 0:06:17but I understand, at Waterloo, we in fact had four to a line.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Four to a line.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Their French officer did note that approaching the British line
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- was like approaching a red wall. - Hmm.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Very stoic. Very quiet.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31And this was making the French very nervous.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37- When am I allowed to fire? - When your sergeant, or your officer,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39your commander, will let you.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42And normally we would expect you probably to engage
0:06:42 > 0:06:47the first shot, the first volley, at about 70 metres. 50-70 metres.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51But how did these soldiers hold their nerve
0:06:51 > 0:06:53as the French hurtled towards them?
0:06:57 > 0:07:01You had to hold your fire until you saw the whites of the enemy's eyes.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Firing any sooner was a waste of ammunition,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09as the Brown Bess didn't have the accuracy.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15This musket was an unpredictable weapon,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19in part because the bullet in the Brown Bess was so unstable.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24It only became potent in the hands of an experienced soldier.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Look at these tiny blocks.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29They almost look like children's toys,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32but in fact they were used to teach Napoleonic-era soldiers
0:07:32 > 0:07:35how to drill with their Brown Bess.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Now, given that the British liked the French to come to them,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42continuity of fire was crucial.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43- MEN SHOUT:- Vive la France!
0:07:43 > 0:07:45With the Brown Bess, it wasn't realistic
0:07:45 > 0:07:47to aim at an individual soldier.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The infantry just had to put up a continuous wall of lead.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55With four rows of men at Waterloo,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57the training must have been relentless
0:07:57 > 0:08:00to avoid shooting the man in front of you in the head.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05These blocks were an important aid in getting the timing right.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Now, if a soldier could really lock down a drill,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13then his response to a drumroll
0:08:13 > 0:08:18would be automatic on a chaotic, smoke-filled battlefield.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23At the Battle of Salamanca in 1812,
0:08:23 > 0:08:268,000 men were killed or wounded,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29but 3.5 million cartridges were fired.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34That's just one shot in every 437 having any effect.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Almost every Brown Bess was finished by hand,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40which led to huge variations.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Bullets sprayed all over the place.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48We clearly we needed to bring some refinement to our arsenal,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51but this regiment wouldn't come from our infantry.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00It would come from the biggest hitters of all - the artillery.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02BOOM
0:09:02 > 0:09:05At the beginning of the 19th century,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08British artillery were using canister shot
0:09:08 > 0:09:11to repel infantry or cavalry attack.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19This was a cylinder of thin metal filled with lead balls
0:09:19 > 0:09:22which burst open upon firing.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27But it was a short-range weapon.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31All too often, friendly troops were hit
0:09:31 > 0:09:35as the lead ball sprayed out from the canister across the battlefield.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46But one ingenious idea by an ambitious young lieutenant
0:09:46 > 0:09:49gave British troops an upper hand at Waterloo.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54In 1784, a 23-year-old British artillery officer
0:09:54 > 0:09:59began experimenting - in his own time and at his own expense -
0:09:59 > 0:10:01with designs for a new weapon.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08This British officer ploughed over £30,000
0:10:08 > 0:10:12of his own private fortune into his military prototype.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17He knew that the key to making canister shot
0:10:17 > 0:10:20a devastating ballistic weapon was timing.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25By modifying the canister so that it included a powder charge
0:10:25 > 0:10:29and a delayed-action fuse, his design
0:10:29 > 0:10:33gave the shell time to get to the enemy before it exploded...
0:10:34 > 0:10:39..only then raining down death and destruction on them.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41He called his design "spherical canister shot"
0:10:41 > 0:10:45but it wasn't very catchy so it was soon named after him -
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Shrapnel.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52When Henry Shrapnel's invention was deployed
0:10:52 > 0:10:54in the Peninsular Wars of 1808,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57the enemy couldn't believe they could be engaged
0:10:57 > 0:11:00with such accuracy and ferocity.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Shrapnel was quickly nicknamed "the black rain"
0:11:05 > 0:11:09and to the French, it seemed from a future time.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16French infantrymen were so terrified of the casualties from shrapnel
0:11:16 > 0:11:20that they were often taken prisoner cowering, face-down,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23but the effects were more than psychological.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27The speed with which these twisted metal shards
0:11:27 > 0:11:28exploded from the shell
0:11:28 > 0:11:31was enough to rip your face apart,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and the British were even accused of poisoning their shells.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38At the Battle of Waterloo, a very large percentage
0:11:38 > 0:11:41of the French soldiers injured from shrapnel
0:11:41 > 0:11:43never recovered from their wounds.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Shrapnel's death cloud turned the tide at the Battle of Waterloo.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Colonel Sir George Wood, commanding the artillery,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59wrote to Shrapnel himself, saying that without it,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02they would have lost the fight at the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05A crucial turning point.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The shell was enthusiastically adopted by
0:12:10 > 0:12:12all of Europe's great powers.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16The invention was so ahead of its time
0:12:16 > 0:12:19that shrapnel was still being employed to deadly effect
0:12:19 > 0:12:23during the First World War, over 100 years later.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31In the Napoleonic era, the main problem
0:12:31 > 0:12:34was the inaccuracy of infantry muskets.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39With the Brown Bess, musket soldiers struggled to hit individual targets.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44But away from the battlefield,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46hunters, in their quest for prey,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49had been using a gun that was much more accurate.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51It was called the rifle.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57But the rifle was prone to problems, and slow to load.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00The army didn't know how to deploy it.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03The rifle was first used by British forces
0:13:03 > 0:13:06in the War of American Independence in the 1770s,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10but it wasn't until the Peninsular War, almost 40 years later,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13that we developed a unit designed to take advantage
0:13:13 > 0:13:16of the range and accuracy of this new weapon.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18And here they are.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22The Experimental Corps Of Riflemen,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24later known as the 95th Rifles.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29This watercolour by Denis Dighton, painted during the Peninsular Wars,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31shows them in action.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32Often first into the fray,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36this was a unit specialising in guerrilla warfare
0:13:36 > 0:13:38and skirmishing.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41They wouldn't stand around in massed ranks
0:13:41 > 0:13:43wearing their bright red coast -
0:13:43 > 0:13:45they'd lurk behind boulders.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51What made them such a lethal force was their weapon of choice -
0:13:51 > 0:13:53the short infantry rifle,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58also called the Baker rifle, after its designer, Ezekiel Baker.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00What makes the rifle so accurate
0:14:00 > 0:14:04is the spiral grooves cut inside the barrel of the weapon,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06which are known as rifling.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10It's these carved grooves that cause the bullet to spin
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and a spinning ball will travel straighter and strike harder
0:14:13 > 0:14:16than one that sails without rotation.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18The Baker rifle's unique selling point
0:14:18 > 0:14:22was that it only went through a quarter-turn twist,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26which reduced friction and gave the bullet a flatter trajectory.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Keen to test out the Baker rifle for myself,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38to experience what it was like to sharp-shoot,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41I've had to enlist in the 95th Rifles for the day.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44MILITARY DRUMMING
0:14:46 > 0:14:48GUN FIRES
0:14:56 > 0:15:01The Rifle Corps' job was to find and disrupt the enemy,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04weakening it before the main battle lines came to blows.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10This new unit could shoot from such a distance
0:15:10 > 0:15:12that you never saw the soldier coming.
0:15:17 > 0:15:18MAN SHOUTS ORDERS
0:15:18 > 0:15:21They became the Special Forces of their day -
0:15:21 > 0:15:22the elite -
0:15:22 > 0:15:26but the traditional field army was slow to embrace them.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31The Rifles were initially sneered at by those in command
0:15:31 > 0:15:33and they were seen as oddities by other units.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37In fact, Lord Cornwallis once described the rifle itself
0:15:37 > 0:15:40as "a very amusing plaything".
0:15:40 > 0:15:45But the rifle marked a new era in the history of warfare.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49From now on, armies would face off over far greater distances.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53At Waterloo, Redcoats engaged at no more than 70 yards.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56They could see the faces of their enemies.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58They could watch them as they reloaded.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Now, new technology increased the range of engagement.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06But what did that do to our ability to kill?
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Major Rob Yuill was a rifleman
0:16:14 > 0:16:17in the service of Queen Elizabeth II's army,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and now, in his spare time,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22King George III's.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Ceasefire!
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Were there any disadvantages of this rifle?
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It sounds like a magical new weapon.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31It was slower to load than a musket,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34because you've got to force the ball down against the rifling
0:16:34 > 0:16:37to get it to bite. But you're trading that time with space,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39cos you're able to engage the enemy earlier
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and put more balls into them before they can close on you.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Is it fair to say that it really changed the nature of warfare
0:16:45 > 0:16:47- at the time?- Most definitely.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Er, the concepts of fire and movement and dispersed formations
0:16:51 > 0:16:53used by the riflemen in the 1800s
0:16:53 > 0:16:56are exactly the same as are still used for fire and movement,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58dispersed fighting in pairs,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01that we teach at low-level infantry tactics today.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04It feels quite modern as well, the uniform.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06It's all black and it's green.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08Yeah, the green stemmed from...
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Yes, it was a slight version of camouflage,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14but it was more to do with tradition that it came into the British Army.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17The German Jagers that had been hired as mercenaries
0:17:17 > 0:17:19in the American wars - "jager" means hunter,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and the traditional huntsman's clothing in Germany is green,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24normally with red facings.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27So the king himself was obviously German, Hanoverian,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29King George insisted that they should wear green,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31so British riflemen wore green.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Who were they trying to pick off? Who were their targets?
0:17:34 > 0:17:36The riflemen were trained to, at range,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38engage the leaders, the officers.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40So they're looking for the fancy feather plumes,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43they're looking for the gold epaulettes and gold on the uniforms,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47because if you are able to take the head off the serpent, so to speak,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49you're going to cause confusion further down.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51That must take some skill, though,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54being able to take someone out at a distance with one of these.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Yes, it is, and certainly the riflemen were trained to do it.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00The most famous example is of a Rifleman Plunket
0:18:00 > 0:18:03on the Retreat to Corunna who kills a French general
0:18:03 > 0:18:06at what's estimated somewhere between 500 and 600 yards.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- That's extraordinary. - He then reloads so quickly
0:18:09 > 0:18:11that he then also shoots the ADC
0:18:11 > 0:18:13that has gone to the aid of his fallen general.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15So Rifleman Plunket was promoted to Corporal as a result of that,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18but it does go to show that they could mark a man
0:18:18 > 0:18:20and drop him at range.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21GUNSHOT
0:18:21 > 0:18:23ORDER SHOUTED
0:18:23 > 0:18:28The Baker rifles transformed soldiers into long-distance killers,
0:18:28 > 0:18:29outranging the enemy
0:18:29 > 0:18:33and making it dangerous to stand out on the battlefield.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37The tactics of standing in lines en masse, in red coats,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40trading volleys at close distances,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42were becoming outdated.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45In this changing field of battle,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47whether you were a drummer boy or a general,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50if you were caught in the open, you weren't just visible.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52You were a sitting duck.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55All Britain's economic resources
0:18:55 > 0:18:58were feeding the Napoleonic War effort,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01but developing new weapons was an expensive business.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Back home, people were feeling the pinch.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Social tension mounted, and there were riots.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11It was the right of every British civilian to bear arms,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14but the authorities were increasingly worried
0:19:14 > 0:19:17about weapons falling into the wrong hands.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22The government was paranoid about order,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26or more accurately, disorder of the lower classes.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28The Luddites were running rampage,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31wrecking the new machinery that had stolen their jobs
0:19:31 > 0:19:32in the mill towns of the North,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36and the French Revolution still lingered in the air.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40There was genuine fear that mob rule could break out at any moment.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Against this backdrop, an ordinary merchant named John Bellingham
0:19:46 > 0:19:49walked into a gun shop on Skinner Street in London
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and purchased two 50-calibre pistols.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57He had an audacious plan in mind.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Guns were readily available.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06It was the job of the public to help with peacekeeping and defence,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08and ownership of guns was commonplace.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11It was a consumer item.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13But everything had its proper place.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16You wouldn't walk around with a visible firearm.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19It wasn't integrated into everyday wear like the sword,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21it wasn't chivalrous to carry a gun.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27There were very few rules on buying and owning firearms,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29and given that security was so lax,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33you could walk into practically anywhere with a concealed weapon.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Even the House of Commons.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43And this is what Bellingham did at 5:15pm
0:20:43 > 0:20:45on 11th May 1812.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49He had a specific target -
0:20:49 > 0:20:51the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Ever since Elizabethan times,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59there had been a fear of assassination by firearm,
0:20:59 > 0:21:04but no-one had succeeded in striking right at the heart of power.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Until now.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13John Bellingham was waiting on a bench near here
0:21:13 > 0:21:14for Perceval to come in.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17No-one could have known that he had on his body
0:21:17 > 0:21:20concealed the two pistols he bought earlier,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23and that they were now loaded.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27This document from the National Archives is morbidly fascinating.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30It plots exactly what took place.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Circle number one is the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36having just entered the lobby,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and circle number two is his assassin, John Bellingham.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Without any warning, Bellingham got up from the bench
0:21:42 > 0:21:45where he'd been waiting for Perceval,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49calmly walked up to him and shot him point-blank in the chest.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51GUNSHOT
0:21:53 > 0:21:57Mr Perceval, on being shot, staggered backward
0:21:57 > 0:21:59and cried, "Oh, murder! Murder!"
0:21:59 > 0:22:03And then, in agony, he attempted to get into the House,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05but fell at the mark
0:22:05 > 0:22:09when he was "carried a corpse into the Secretary's room."
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Now, these dotted lines explain what Bellingham did next,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14and he simply turned around,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16walked back to the bench where he'd been waiting,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19and made no attempt at escape.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22With the Prime Minister now dead,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Britain risked being left rudderless
0:22:24 > 0:22:28with the mad King George III and an extravagant Prince Regent
0:22:28 > 0:22:31until a new replacement could be found.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34The assassination stunned the nation.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38No British Prime Minister had ever been murdered before,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43and fear quickly spread that it was a prelude to revolution.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47For the next seven days before Bellingham was hanged,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50hidden revolutionaries thought that a blow had been struck.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Bellingham became a celebrity, and something of a hero.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Even though Bellingham was a lone wolf,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00the Treasury began to receive letters,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03sparking fears of a wider conspiracy.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06"My Lord, dreadfully are you deceived
0:23:06 > 0:23:09"in thinking Bellingham had no accomplice.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14"Beware the fate which waited Caesar on the Ides of March."
0:23:18 > 0:23:21This small weapon, freely available and easily purchased,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24sent tremors through the country,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27but it was only the start of the political upheaval.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Britain had achieved victory over Napoleon at Waterloo,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35but it was, so to speak, a double-edged sword.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39There was now a glut of demobilised soldiers in the labour market.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Many were being informally used
0:23:41 > 0:23:45to police a vocal working class calling for the vote.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Would the government now respond to the assassination
0:23:49 > 0:23:51by turning its guns on its own citizens?
0:23:59 > 0:24:01After the Napoleonic Wars,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03there was a wave of bitter labour strikes
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and agitation from the skilled working class.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Out! Out! Out!
0:24:09 > 0:24:13For the radicals, the solution was not revolution,
0:24:13 > 0:24:14but political reform,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18and this new political activism terrified those in authority.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Meetings calling for political reform were repressed,
0:24:21 > 0:24:23but this idea that anyone could suddenly
0:24:23 > 0:24:26take part in the political process caught fire,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30particularly in the industrial cities of the North.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38In August 1819, these stirrings of radicalism
0:24:38 > 0:24:41came to a head in Manchester.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43What started out as a peaceful demonstration
0:24:43 > 0:24:46by men, women and children for the vote
0:24:46 > 0:24:47soon turned into a bloodbath
0:24:47 > 0:24:50when the local mayor sent in the cavalry.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52The actual cavalry.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57For a few horrific moments,
0:24:57 > 0:24:58the crowd must have felt
0:24:58 > 0:25:01they'd been transported to a medieval battlefield,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05as mounted troops charged them with sabres drawn.
0:25:06 > 0:25:0815 people were killed
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and it was estimated 400 to 700 were maimed.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16The horrible events at St Peter's Field
0:25:16 > 0:25:18were dubbed The Peterloo Massacre.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22The term Peterloo echoed the Battle of Waterloo,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24fought just four years before,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29and was intended to mock those who had attacked unarmed protestors.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35This was a volatile time, and the government
0:25:35 > 0:25:38was not prepared to deal with this political insurrection.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41After Peterloo, there was real concern
0:25:41 > 0:25:44over using a standing army to control the population,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and certainly of arming one class to control another.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52So in 1829, Peel's Act established
0:25:52 > 0:25:57a system of paid, professional civilian constables for Westminster,
0:25:57 > 0:26:01and crucially, they were not armed with guns.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11While the rest of the country had the right to bear arms,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14the police were issued with this -
0:26:14 > 0:26:15a wooden truncheon -
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and with this - a wooden rattle to raise the alarm.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21RATTLING
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Their uniform was deliberately chosen
0:26:25 > 0:26:27to make them look like a civilian,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30to make them look vastly different from the traditional image
0:26:30 > 0:26:32of the soldier in red.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36So in the midst of all of this political chaos,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40the solution was a force much more sensitive and considered
0:26:40 > 0:26:42than you might have expected.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45We didn't turn our guns on our own people.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Even the truncheon was concealed in a hidden pocket
0:26:51 > 0:26:53so as not to antagonise.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57But if you drew it, you certainly had to know how to use it.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01The truncheon is a defensive rather than an offensive weapon.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Essentially, it was a club to be used by the police
0:27:04 > 0:27:06if they needed to defend themselves.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09A police manual from 1889
0:27:09 > 0:27:12includes a chapter on truncheon instruction,
0:27:12 > 0:27:13and it's very informative.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16It says to focus on the areas of the body
0:27:16 > 0:27:19where the bone is prominent,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21like the collarbone,
0:27:21 > 0:27:22the forearm,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24or even the side of the knee.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Although some of these truncheons were particularly beautiful,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35symbolically significant for the policeman, for his station,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37for his force,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40in practice, it was just a hitting stick.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48But the British didn't show the same restraint with their colonies
0:27:48 > 0:27:50that they did back home.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Guns with greater and greater firepower were being used
0:27:56 > 0:27:58to police the growing empire.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04In the colonies, maximum impact, not minimum force,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06was the order of the day,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09as the British authorities were so outnumbered.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Superior firepower was the bedrock of imperial control,
0:28:15 > 0:28:20enabling limited troops to suppress much bigger native populations.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25And the latest lethal innovation
0:28:25 > 0:28:29was discovered in the genteel surroundings of a giant glasshouse.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34FANFARE
0:28:42 > 0:28:44The Great Exhibition of 1851
0:28:44 > 0:28:47was the very first World's Fair,
0:28:47 > 0:28:50a celebration of the richness and diversity of empire.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54This was an exhibition about faith in progress,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and weaponry was no exception.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Many of Britain's bishops were against the idea
0:28:59 > 0:29:01of the inclusion of lethal weapons,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05but Prince Albert insisted that weaponry played a part.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09In fact, Albert's private secretary wrote to the organisers
0:29:09 > 0:29:12of the exhibition, saying the way to preserve peace
0:29:12 > 0:29:16was to perfect instruments of human destruction.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19At the exhibition,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23millions of visitors were amazed by a demonstration
0:29:23 > 0:29:25from two American gun manufacturers.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Samuel Robbins and Richard Lawrence
0:29:28 > 0:29:31wanted to show how new mass-production techniques
0:29:31 > 0:29:33could be applied to gun manufacture.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Robert Tilney is a master gunsmith,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41who's going to recreate this famous demonstration.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44- Come in, son. Welcome to the gunsmith's.- Thank you.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46He'll show me how Robbins and Lawrence dazzled the crowd.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49This is real Yankee pizzazz
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Robbins and Lawrence, two Americans, entrepreneurs.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57Lawrence, fantastic mechanic.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59- Robbins was the businessman.- Mm-hmm.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04They came up with the idea of bringing six US Government muskets -
0:30:04 > 0:30:09- off the rack.- Mm-hm. - At the show they would say, "Right."
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Their gunsmith would take them to pieces and they would then go,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14"OK, pick a piece out."
0:30:14 > 0:30:17- I'm picking a piece out. - "You, sir, pick another piece out."
0:30:17 > 0:30:20"Do that, do this." And they put it together,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23because every single part was totally interchangeable.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25So you could make one rifle
0:30:25 > 0:30:28- out of the parts from all of the other rifles.- Exactly.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Now, I suspect, knowing the Americans,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32they've got full-blown chatter going on.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34"Look at this, I've just picked this barrel up. Will it fit this rifle?"
0:30:34 > 0:30:37"Of course it will cos we've made them.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39"They're all interchangeable."
0:30:39 > 0:30:42"Hey, presto, sir - here's your new working gun."
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Now, that was amazingly quick.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49- How did that help the British Army? - If you've got...
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Let's say, in the course of combat, somebody's smashed their rifle
0:30:53 > 0:30:57through the rest and somebody's got a blown up or a bent barrel -
0:30:57 > 0:31:00take the stock off the bent barrel one,
0:31:00 > 0:31:03put the ordinary barrel on that,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06- you've scrapped one and you've still got a working one.- Yeah.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10So it's not just about repair, is it?
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It's actually about manufacturing them in the first place
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- and being able to produce them on a massive scale.- Yeah.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21British arms, they would be finished by hand. Very good, well-made guns.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23Finished by hand, though. The Americans go,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27"We don't need any of that. We can make it cheaper, better, faster,"
0:31:27 > 0:31:31by making machines to make bits.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34And they made them to such a degree of precision,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37everything would interchange.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40You can certainly see how something like that can change the world.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45Oh, yeah, yeah. It's a massive step forward in precision engineering.
0:31:45 > 0:31:51So, essentially, it is the ultimate design of lock, stock and barrel.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Britain now mass-produced its own guns in a factory in Enfield,
0:32:00 > 0:32:01North London.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07Using the American system, over 1,700 came off the production line
0:32:07 > 0:32:11each week and went straight to the imperial front lines.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18One gun became the arm of empire - the Enfield rifle.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24This weapon was precision engineering down to its very core,
0:32:24 > 0:32:26including a unique bullet.
0:32:31 > 0:32:32Pattern '53 Enfield.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- Have a look.- Look at that.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38That's a magical piece of kit.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41So how did this shape the making of the British Empire?
0:32:41 > 0:32:44It's a fantastic combat weapon.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48People wanted rifle power and accuracy.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50But you can't have the two.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52You can either have speed or accuracy -
0:32:52 > 0:32:55until a little Frenchman invented
0:32:55 > 0:32:58- that thing.- Aha.- Which is the Minie.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00And it's a hollow-based round.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02For a kick-off, it's a bullet shape.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06It's also undersized for the ball.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09So it drops down the ball very easily.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11But when you fire it...
0:33:11 > 0:33:18the gas expands the soft lead into the rifling, so you now have a...
0:33:18 > 0:33:20rotating bullet, so it's gyroscopically stable.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23So you've got accuracy of the rifle
0:33:23 > 0:33:26and the speed of the smoothbore musket.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29So you've got rate of fire and accuracy.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33'Robert Tilney has agreed to let me have a go at firing this masterpiece
0:33:33 > 0:33:35'of engineering.'
0:33:38 > 0:33:40You've got a centre kill,
0:33:40 > 0:33:45just off at the middle but just below the dead centre.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49If you look at the nine, you can see a strike.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52Nine points. Whoo.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Britain was fighting battles from Suakin to Sevastopol.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06Our empire encircled the globe, but we still wanted more territory.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Curator Peter Johnston is taking me into the vaults
0:34:12 > 0:34:14of the National Army Museum.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19- We've got something to show me round here, haven't you?- Mm.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22'In the early 1880s, the Mahdi Army
0:34:22 > 0:34:24'unleashed a spectacularly successful jihad
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'against British-backed rulers in the Sudan.'
0:34:31 > 0:34:34'When combating an indigenous army on their turf,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38'would the superior firepower of the rifle be enough?'
0:34:39 > 0:34:43So you have the British soldiers here, very much crammed together.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47It looks like they're about to be overwhelmed and in that respect
0:34:47 > 0:34:52that's a kind of theme of Empire battles at this time, isn't it?
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Absolutely, and so common of British warfare in this period where
0:34:56 > 0:34:58your numerically inferior British
0:34:58 > 0:35:01well-trained, well-disciplined but, more importantly,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05well-armed would often go up against thousands more enemies from these
0:35:05 > 0:35:09armies of the areas and countries they were trying to subjugate and
0:35:09 > 0:35:12annexe, but relied on that firepower they could throw out to
0:35:12 > 0:35:15really defeat them, their technologic superiority to overcome.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18It's a very common theme for Victorian audiences.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22And what I think's striking is that the rifle takes such a vivid place
0:35:22 > 0:35:25in this painting, but this story's very much got two sides to it.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28On the one hand, you've got a handful of British soldiers
0:35:28 > 0:35:31fighting off an enormous host of Mahdists,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35but even though they do that, they can't keep their empire.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38No, absolutely, and what is actually happening here,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41and what we don't necessarily get a sense of from the paintings,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44is part of the British withdrawal in Sudan, actually deliberately
0:35:44 > 0:35:48stepping back out of that and almost narrowing the borders of empire.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50And this is a real sense of that,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53that the Mahdi was probably too strong, supply lines were too
0:35:53 > 0:35:56overstretched, there was no way the British could hope to really win.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00This was a big psychological defeat for the British Empire
0:36:00 > 0:36:03which had got too greedy.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06Our only response to these indigenous armies
0:36:06 > 0:36:08was more and more lethal firepower.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Without it, Britain's bloated empire was lost.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23But could the right machine be more efficient that a skilled soldier?
0:36:26 > 0:36:30In a basement in Hatton Garden, one man was developing a gun
0:36:30 > 0:36:34that could be reloaded and fired at unprecedented speed.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42In 1888, this thirst for new technology came to a head
0:36:42 > 0:36:44with the invention of a weapon
0:36:44 > 0:36:47that was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51It was believed that this would be a weapon that would end all wars.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54It brought an industrialised efficiency to the whole business
0:36:54 > 0:36:59of killing people and could fire up to 600 rounds a minute.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03It rendered every other weapon that had gone before it obsolete.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09This gun was the game changer.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13It could fire far more quickly and more accurately than any soldier,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15with just one press of a button.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19It was named after its inventor, Hiram Maxim -
0:37:19 > 0:37:21the Maxim gun.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25With the Maxim gun, everything was automatic.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30Cartridges were extracted from a continuous belt, fired, and then
0:37:30 > 0:37:32the empty ones ejected by a mechanical process
0:37:32 > 0:37:34in a continuous cycle.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Maxim also harnessed the recoil energy to load and fire it,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44the natural force which drives the bullet forwards
0:37:44 > 0:37:46and the gun backwards.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49You didn't have to crank anything.
0:37:49 > 0:37:50As long as you pressed the trigger,
0:37:50 > 0:37:54it would keep firing until it ran out of bullets.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Maxim founded an arms company with money from the firm Vickers
0:38:01 > 0:38:03to mass-produce these guns.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09This is the improved Maxim Mark II, better known simply as the Vickers.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Maxim employed another technical innovation
0:38:13 > 0:38:15to make the gun practically invisible.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39The eccentric Maxim took his mechanical marvel on tour,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41showing it off.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44In one of his machinegun demonstrations,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47he impressed the royal family by blasting the letters VR -
0:38:47 > 0:38:51for Victoria Regina - into a target.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Prince Edward even had a go.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58The Maxim gun was trialled throughout the Empire
0:38:58 > 0:39:01and its reputation soon proceeded it.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Previously, offensive tactics were all about the charge,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08but now the game had changed
0:39:08 > 0:39:11and the British were ruthless in how they played their hand.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15It was the ideal defensive weapon,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18and it rendered obsolete the offensive charge,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23so the British Army attempted to lure their enemy out into the open
0:39:23 > 0:39:25so that they would charge.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30In modern-day Zimbabwe, during the Matabele War, a small British unit
0:39:30 > 0:39:37with just four Maxim guns utterly destroyed an army of 5,000 warriors.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43The Ndebele warriors were well-armed -
0:39:43 > 0:39:45they had Martini-Henry rifles -
0:39:45 > 0:39:49but these were no match for the firepower of the Maxim.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56As it was put by Hilaire Belloc in his poem The Modern Traveller,
0:39:56 > 0:40:02"Whatever happens, we have got the Maxim gun and they have not."
0:40:02 > 0:40:07The Maxim was able to psyche out the enemy just by its presence
0:40:07 > 0:40:09in the theatre of warfare.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15But many believed the Maxim gun wasn't just about firepower.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18It could play a peacekeeping role.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23The New York Times Magazine of 1897
0:40:23 > 0:40:27even suggested that the mere existence of the Maxim gun would be
0:40:27 > 0:40:32enough to convince world leaders to end their disputes diplomatically.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36It says, "These are the instruments that have revolutionised the methods
0:40:36 > 0:40:40"of warfare and because of their devastating effects have made
0:40:40 > 0:40:43"nations and rulers give greater thought to the outcome
0:40:43 > 0:40:45"of a war before entering into it."
0:40:45 > 0:40:49And it ends with some wonderfully topsy-turvy logic -
0:40:49 > 0:40:54"These are peace-producing and peace-retaining terrors."
0:41:00 > 0:41:04The idea was that the Maxim gun would act as a moral deterrent.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09Would any civilised nation dare to use it against its neighbours?
0:41:13 > 0:41:16But on the street, the Maxim gun had the polar opposite effect.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21It kicked off a mini arms race
0:41:21 > 0:41:24for hand-held semi-automatic weapons.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33This repeat fire began to seep down to the street - hard-hitting weapons
0:41:33 > 0:41:36that fired repeatedly were the order of the day,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40and none of them came more hi-tech than this.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45This is the Mauser C96 and it soon became the must-have gun
0:41:45 > 0:41:47of the criminal underworld.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50And it was this weapon that took centre stage and what became
0:41:50 > 0:41:54one of the most famous armed standoffs of the 20th century -
0:41:54 > 0:41:56the Siege of Sidney Street.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03The siege began with a botched jewellery robbery
0:42:03 > 0:42:06by a cell of Latvian anarchists.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10The unarmed police were at a grave disadvantage.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13Three were killed and two others injured.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17The anarchists had their ill-gotten gains to spend on the latest
0:42:17 > 0:42:22technology and ammunition but the police by contrast prided themselves
0:42:22 > 0:42:24in not being an armed force.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28There wasn't a gun culture embedded in the police like there was
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in the criminal underworld. In fact, there was, on average,
0:42:31 > 0:42:36only two revolvers per police station in the Met in 1911.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42An informant finally lead the police to the last two gang members -
0:42:42 > 0:42:47holed up at 100 Sidney Street in London's East End.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52By 2:00am, the police,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55armed with their truncheons and what few revolvers they had,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59had taken position in the houses either side of number 100.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03They were armed with this, the Webley Revolver.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Outdated, cumbersome, inaccurate, weak -
0:43:06 > 0:43:08but they had a bigger problem.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10According to protocol,
0:43:10 > 0:43:15they weren't even allowed to fire until they'd been fired on first.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20The police just had to wait it out.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23All night, in fact.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27One superintendent was overheard to remark,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31"If these are not the right men we will be a laughing stock."
0:43:33 > 0:43:36As it turned out, the police had the right suspects.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39But did they have the right weapons?
0:43:41 > 0:43:44I want to try out for myself what the cops and robbers were using,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47so I've come to meet Jonathan Ferguson
0:43:47 > 0:43:49from the Royal Armouries.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54What was the difference between these two guns, then?
0:43:54 > 0:43:56Well, I think right away you can see that there's
0:43:56 > 0:43:58a massive stylistic difference,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02and that does reflect some superior technology in my left hand,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05with the Mauser C96, 1896.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09This is a fairly conventional revolver - Webley.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11- Let me have a look at this one. - Certainly.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15If you pull the trigger, the chamber goes round for rapid fire,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18such as you might need in a gunfight.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20You can literally, as you say, pull through on the trigger,
0:44:20 > 0:44:24it's quite a strong trigger pull, your shots might go stray.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27So, yeah, you can see it's a bit of effort required.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31- Well made but it pulls off every time you turn it.- It does.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34- And that's different with this one? - The Mauser C96.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37This is what's called self-loading, or semi-automatic.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40- It looks slightly space-age in comparison with this one.- Yeah.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44It terms of how it operates, it's always - because it loads itself -
0:44:44 > 0:44:49- it's always a light pull of the trigger.- Mm.- So that cocks itself.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53You then pull the trigger again. So, in other words, bang, bang, bang.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55So you'd fire this and it would carry on recocking itself?
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Literally as fast as you could pull the trigger.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01You might even think it's like a machinegun that's coming at you.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04All modern pistols work in a similar sort of way.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06Revolvers are really old hat by now -
0:45:06 > 0:45:09even then, you know, the turn of the last century.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11So the police would have been envious of this as well?
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Absolutely, yeah. Possibly afraid of it.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18It'd be very difficult for them, essentially going into battle,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20with someone they know has got a better weapon.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22If you're the guy having to go up against
0:45:22 > 0:45:25a criminal armed with the latest thing - you've heard about it,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27read about it Scientific American, for example. To know that the enemy
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- have that is going to be a little bit frightening.- Yeah.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38So what effect did these weapons have on the ground at Sidney Street?
0:45:38 > 0:45:42It all kicked off at 7:30 in the morning when the police decided to
0:45:42 > 0:45:44attract the anarchists' attention.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47Some pebbles were thrown at the second-floor window
0:45:47 > 0:45:50and the anarchists fired back directly at the police.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54One bullet went through an inspector's bowler hat.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02The police were woefully outgunned and they had to call in the Army.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Troops from the Tower, the Scots Guard,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08who brought a Maxim gun, and even Winston Churchill, who was
0:46:08 > 0:46:13then in charge of law and order, all descended on Sidney Street.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18By this time, Sidney Street was bristling with guns
0:46:18 > 0:46:20from all over London,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23including rifles donated by members of the public.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30The climax to this extraordinary battle was caught on film.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35The siege finally ended when the roof of 100 Sidney Street
0:46:35 > 0:46:40caught fire, as a result of so many bullets being fired in.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45The Latvian gunmen perished in the flames.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51The siege had lasted less than 12 hours but its legacy
0:46:51 > 0:46:53would continue for decades.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01With gang crime on the rise, the Metropolitan Police
0:47:01 > 0:47:05now bought semi-automatic weapons to match the Mauser C96.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Yet the basic principle of the unarmed bobby on the street
0:47:10 > 0:47:12remained intact.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15But this was 1911.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19Europe was a tinderbox and it was almost inevitable that automatic
0:47:19 > 0:47:24weapons would end up in the hands of politically motivated individuals.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28On the 28th of June, 1914,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie toured Sarajevo.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35They'd been warned that their presence would exacerbate
0:47:35 > 0:47:38political unrest but, despite the risks,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42Franz Ferdinand and wife travelled in an open-top car.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Due to a wrong turn by the driver,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49the car came to stop near Latin Bridge.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54A teenager named Gavrilo Princip stepped out from the crowd.
0:47:54 > 0:48:00He had in his hand a semi-automatic Browning Model 1910 pistol.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Princip wasn't an experienced marksman but he was only
0:48:04 > 0:48:06about two metres away. GUNSHOT
0:48:06 > 0:48:09He fired his pistol. GUNSHOT
0:48:11 > 0:48:14These shots reverberated around the world.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19The Archduke and his wife Sophie died within hours.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24The First World War broke out just four weeks later.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30But it was reported that Franz Ferdinand owned a bulletproof vest,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32woven out of silk.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37The man who designed these silk armours was a priest-turned-inventor
0:48:37 > 0:48:40by the name of Casimir Zeglen.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Now, despite its appearance, a vest like this would come at a price.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49This would cost a whopping 800 in 1914.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52So it wasn't for the likes of you and me,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55it was for European royalty, it was for heads of state.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Men like Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03This was confirmed by newspaper reports
0:49:03 > 0:49:05the day after the assassination,
0:49:05 > 0:49:09stating that the Archduke and his wife owned silk armour.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17The Royal Armouries is conducting what I think is one of the most
0:49:17 > 0:49:20important studies in the history of weaponry.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Using a replica bulletproof vest said to have been owned by
0:49:24 > 0:49:28the Archduke, and exactly the same type of pistol used to murder him
0:49:28 > 0:49:30and his wife Sophie,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Lisa Traynor aims to establish whether the Archduke's
0:49:34 > 0:49:37bulletproof vest could have saved his life.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40Now, had the Archduke survived,
0:49:40 > 0:49:45could the First World War have been postponed or even prevented?
0:49:57 > 0:50:00Tell me about the silk bulletproof vests.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02How did you find out how they were made?
0:50:02 > 0:50:07I came across a couple of patents made by Casimir Zeglen.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09He was kind of obsessed with assassination
0:50:09 > 0:50:12since the Mayor of Chicago was assassinated in 1891.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15He dedicated his life to inventing
0:50:15 > 0:50:17something to repel bullets.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20Do we know if he was afraid of being assassinated, the Archduke?
0:50:20 > 0:50:22Everyone was fearful of assassination at the
0:50:22 > 0:50:24beginning of the 20th century.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27And these are examples of your attempt to recreate those
0:50:27 > 0:50:31- bulletproof vests?- Yeah, these are examples of Zeglen's first patent,
0:50:31 > 0:50:33which has about six layers to it.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38So it has a layer of canvas, a layer of animal hair - or wool today -
0:50:38 > 0:50:40a layer of silk,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42a layer of something called pasteboard,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45which is quite stiff, in Victorian book binding.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49To my mind, a bit of canvas and wool and pasteboard is not going to
0:50:49 > 0:50:52- stop a bullet, is that correct? - That is correct,
0:50:52 > 0:50:54- it's all about the silk layer.- Ah!
0:50:54 > 0:50:56How does silk stop a bullet?
0:50:56 > 0:51:01Silk is very, very strong. The Japanese were using it in armour
0:51:01 > 0:51:05way before Zeglen was making bulletproof vests out of it.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09- It actually repels arrows. - Right.- So we do know that.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12How did he test the vest? That's what I really want to know.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Casimir Zeglen, a very, very interesting man,
0:51:16 > 0:51:20he used to test his bulletproof vests by borrowing cadavers
0:51:20 > 0:51:25from the local hospital, wrapping them in his bulletproof cloth,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27hanging them up and shooting them,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and then he realised that it did work.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32- He then moved from cadavers to live dogs.- Oh!
0:51:32 > 0:51:36- It gets worse and worse.- No dog was injured in the making of the vest.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39- Good.- And then when he was finally happy with that,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41he started testing it on himself.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43- The ultimate test. - The ultimate test.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46- The ultimate test for an inventor. - Yes.- Wow.- And he survived.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54What we're going to test today is Casimir Zeglen's latest patent
0:51:54 > 0:51:57of the bulletproof vest, which, you know,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59totally ignores the canvas layer,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03it ignores the wool and basically it's just a vest made up of silk.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07And you're certain, or as certain as you can be,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11that this is very similar to the one that the Archduke...?
0:52:11 > 0:52:12As certain as I can be.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18We're going to shoot it against some ballistic clay that will
0:52:18 > 0:52:20hopefully replicate the body.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27If it does stop the bullet we can see the divot in the body
0:52:27 > 0:52:28that would happen.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31If it goes through we'll also see a great, big hole.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35- Well, let's do the test.- OK.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Lisa is recreating the exact conditions of Franz Ferdinand's
0:52:42 > 0:52:45assassination for this test.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51Crack shot Andre Horn is firing a Browning Model 1910 pistol,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56manufactured in the same factory during the same month as the pistol
0:52:56 > 0:52:59used in the Sarajevo shooting.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05Was Casimir Zeglen's inch of silk strong enough to save the life
0:53:05 > 0:53:07of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
0:53:12 > 0:53:14- Right, let's go and have a look.- OK.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27THEY CHEER
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Look at that!
0:53:30 > 0:53:33So that is a dent in the body.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35It has stopped it!
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- It stopped it.- Silk stops bullets. That's proof.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41That's amazing, well done. Well done.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45That's magical. Proper bit of research, that.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47- INTERVIEWER:- How do you feel, Lisa?
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Better.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52So relieved. We were both really nervous.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01We can now conclusively prove that a vest made of once inch of silk
0:54:01 > 0:54:05would have stopped a bullet from a Browning Model 1910 pistol.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11But, of course, Gavrilo Princip's shot did strike home.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Ironically, the bullet hit Franz Ferdinand in the jugular,
0:54:15 > 0:54:17around one centimetre below
0:54:17 > 0:54:20the collar of the Archduke's military tunic,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24most likely above where the bulletproof vest would have reached.
0:54:33 > 0:54:381914 witnessed the clash of huge armies equipped with the most
0:54:38 > 0:54:42advanced mechanised weapons the world had ever seen.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50In the first five months of the war,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53shrapnel-firing artillery was the main killer.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59But when trench warfare became established, the Maxim gun
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and its successor, the Vickers machinegun, came into their own,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06as they could be hidden so easily.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12But these advances in technology
0:55:12 > 0:55:15lead to a stalemate that nobody expected.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19None of these innovations alone could deliver the Holy Grail,
0:55:19 > 0:55:22the end to the stalemate of trench warfare.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25We couldn't simply outgun the enemy.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32We were back in the same situation we found ourselves in at Waterloo.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39Everyone was fighting with similar weapons.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42We became locked in a long war of attrition.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50During this stalemate, soldiers began to fashion crude weapons
0:55:50 > 0:55:56for hand-to-hand combat, sometimes out of broken machinegun barrels.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04The first trench raids with these weapons took place in 1914.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10In the closed environment of the trenches,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13when soldiers came face-to-face with each other,
0:56:13 > 0:56:15superior firepower went out the window.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Soldiers were stabbing and beating each other to death
0:56:19 > 0:56:21with mediaeval-looking weapons,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25like gauntlet daggers - something a knight may have worn.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29Or this, a brutal trench club made out of a spade handle
0:56:29 > 0:56:31and an empty grenade.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40And even though we were entering the age of air power,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43with aircraft flying over the battlefield,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47in the early years pilots would rain down iron arrows,
0:56:47 > 0:56:49known as flechettes, on the enemy.
0:56:49 > 0:56:55Not unlike the longbowmen at the Battle of Crecy in 1346.
0:56:57 > 0:57:02As with the trench clubs, technical sophistication seemed irrelevant -
0:57:02 > 0:57:05it was about whatever tool got the task done.
0:57:08 > 0:57:13For centuries, innovations in weapons and the constant drive
0:57:13 > 0:57:17to increase precision and firepower had defined Britain.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24We'd use sword, musket and machinegun to defend our country
0:57:24 > 0:57:26and build a global empire.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32Weapons had shaped our science, industry and our politics.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42But even with the most modern technology,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46we'd struggle to win the deadliest war of its age.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50When the firing finally stopped on November the 11th, 1918,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54an estimated 17 million people had died,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58and 20 million had been wounded.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04In the aftermath of the First World War,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08we now put increasing faith in treaties, international conventions
0:58:08 > 0:58:10and diplomacy.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16Surely we could never allow such carnage to happen again.