The German 1917 Maschinengewehr 08, also known as the MG08 is a good example of the fire power each side possessed. By 1917, roughly 17,000 MG08 machine guns were manufactured per month. Fires 600 rounds per minute.

The German Rifle Commission began firing tests of the Maxim gun at Zorndorf in 1889. In 1892, Ludwig Loewe’s company signed a seven-year contract with Hiram Maxim for production of the gun in Berlin. The Imperial German Navy ordered Maxim guns from Loewe in 1894. The Navy deployed them on the decks of ships and for use in amphibious warfare. In 1896, Loewe founded a new subsidiary, the Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), to handle production.  The agreement with Maxim concluded in 1898 and DWM received orders from Austria-Hungary, Argentina, Switzerland and Russia.

The Imperial German Army first considered using the Maxim gun as an artillery weapon. The German light infantry Jäger troops began trials of the gun in 1898. The Guards Corps, XVI Corps and XVI Corps made more experiments in 1899. The tests produced a recommendation of independent six-gun detachments to march with the cavalry, with the guns mounted on carriages pulled by horses.