Deutsche Waffen und Munitions Fabriken, known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created when Ludwig und Loewe merged with several other companies. DWM manufactured the Maschinengewehr 08, the main German heavy machine gun of the First World War. Along with being one of the main arms suppliers of Imperial Germany, the company was at the forefront of small arms technology. They also supplied the non-German world (mostly Latin America) with the Mauser rifle system becoming one of the worlds largest arms manufacturers. Due the fact that the Mauser rifle was one of Germany's main exports before the first world war they proved to be an important part of the pre-war economy. Many of their weapons were still used by German troops up through the Second World War. This article or section should include material from German Monarchy The term German Empire (the translation from German of Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... MG08 with optical sight. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Mauser is the common name of German arms manufacturer Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, as well as the line of bolt action rifles they built for the German armed forces. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...