Machine gun firing at a Boche plane, Flanders

World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. World War I Images From National Library of Schotland. These photographs form part of the papers of Field Marshal (Earl) Haig (1861-1928), held by the National Library of Scotland. More information is available from the Library's Digital Archive. Like many World War I generals, Haig remains a controversial figure. The collection contains diaries, papers and photographs from every part of Haig’s career, the Great War diaries being of special importance to historians. Photographs in the "Official Photographs" series (which were destined for publication and have captions on the back describing the image) are in black-and-white. World War I saw the development of a system of 'official’ reporting by professionals especially recruited into the forces. Initially reluctant to allow cameras near the fighting, it took some time for the authorities to appreciate the propaganda and recording potential of photography. These photographs provide us with an invaluable record of how the Government and Military wanted the war perceived. Official photographers were encouraged to record morale-boosting scenes of victory and comradeship. Despite the restrictions placed on them, official war photographers succeeded in giving the most comprehensive visual account of the war. It is important to remember that these images were propaganda; few that could depict the war in a disheartening or disconcerting way passed the censors. As a result the photograph taken was often posed. They were intended to reassure those at home and boost morale. They were printed in newspapers, and were intended to confirm that 'Tommy' was winning the war.

A very large dataset of various big guns, howitzers, mortars, columbiads, all types of canon-like things - everything besides machine guns and rockets. This collection as well as all massive collections on Picryl.com required two steps: First, we picked a set to train AI vision to recognize cannon artillery, and after that, ran all 25M+ images in our database through our image recognition network. All media in the collection is in the public domain. There is no limitation on the dataset usage - educational, scientific, or commercial.

The Vickers machine gun is a British heavy machine gun that was widely used during the First and Second World Wars. It was designed by Hiram Maxim in 1884 and adopted by the British Army in 1912. The Vickers machine gun was renowned for its reliability, accuracy and durability and was often used in defensive positions. It fired the .303 British cartridge and had a water-cooled barrel to prevent overheating. The Vickers machine gun had a maximum rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute and could be fired continuously for hours without overheating. It was used by many countries during both World Wars, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and India. The Vickers machine gun was eventually replaced by lighter and more mobile weapons such as the Bren gun and the Browning M1919.