War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its size,

and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history

through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. James Early.

Hello and welcome to a special episode of Key Battles of American History.

This is your host, James, as always.

And I want to begin today's episode with a challenge to you, the listener.

Listener, quick, think of five famous American inventors. Who came to your mind? Perhaps you thought of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Eli Whitney, Samuel Morris, the White

Brothers, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, or maybe Henry Ford, or maybe somebody else.

A lot of these great American inventors, if not most, have become household names in the U.S.

But as the great philosopher Yoda once said, there is another.

There is one American inventor who is unknown to most Americans, but whose impact on the

history of the world is at least as great as most, if not all, the people I've already

mentioned just now.

Now, I'm talking about a man often called the Edison of firearms, John Moses Browning.

Browning's weapons were extremely influential in throughout American history beginning

in the 1800s, but they were especially prominent in the First and Second World Wars. And since I've

recently done lengthy podcast series on both of these wars, I thought it would be fitting to have

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