  the maschinengewehr 34, or mg 34, is a german recoil-operated air-cooled machine gun that was first tested in 1929 and was introduced in 1934, and first issued to units in 1936. it accepts the 7.92Ã57mm mauser cartridge. the versatile mg 34 was arguably the most advanced machine gun in the world at the time of its adoption and deployment with the german army. it entered service in great numbers following hitler's repudiation of the versailles treaty in 1936, and was first tested by german troops aiding franco's nationalists in the spanish civil war. the mg 34 combined two then-rarely combined characteristics into a substantial advantages over other machine guns: mobility, being light enough to be carried by a single soldier;and a high rate of fire of up to 800 to 900 rounds per minute. as such, it can generally be considered to be the world's first general-purpose machine gun. ==history== the mg 34 was based on a 1930 rheinmetall design, the mg 30. the swiss and austrian militaries had both licensed and produced the mg 30 from rheinmetall shortly after patent. the mg 30 design was adapted and modified by [
8_mm_machine_guns General-purpose_machine_guns Machine_guns_of_Germany Medium_machine_guns World_War_II_infantry_weapons_of_China World_War_II_infantry_weapons_of_Germany