Any complete history of the Model 1911 must start a decade or more before that legendary year, and half a world away in the Philippines. It was here in the tropical heat of those islands that US Soldiers and Marines found themselves locked in combat with fanatic local insurgents and the immediate need for an effective, large caliber defensive pistol became sorely evident.

In the wake of the sinking of the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor in February of 1898, the United States went to war with Spain. Along with an invasion of Cuba, US Navy forces engaged, routed and destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in March 1898, in one of the most lop-sided victories in naval history. US ground forces then went ashore to overthrow the Spanish colonial government and occupy the islands.

Continuing the armed resistance they had previously shown against the Spanish, the Moro tribesmen of the southern islands (reportedly fueled by a dangerous combination of religious zealotry, ardent tribalism and potent opiates) engaged the American forces in a long bout of guerrilla warfare that ultimately lasted nearly 15 years. Much of the combat was at close quarters, where the Moros’ long-bladed kris knives were used to lethal effect.

About this time two new armament technologies were also emerging - smokeless powder and the autoloading pistol. In 1906 the US Military, under the direction of General William Crozier of the Ordinance Department, began evaluating several pistol designs along with the suitability of a new cartridge that was designated the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (or .45 ACP for short). As these military tests continued over the next several years, the Colt pistol began to emerge as the clear favorite.

The Colt pistol that was submitted for these military tests was designed by John M. Browning. Without a doubt the most innovative and visionary firearms designer of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, John M. Browning earned the lasting reputation as “The Father of Automatic Fire.” Browning’s design genius was not limited to pistols. Among his other military inventions were the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), numerous .30 caliber and .50 caliber Browning machine guns and the legendary Browning Hi Power, the first successful high-capacity autoloading pistol that soon became a worldwide standard for military sidearms.

Based on the short recoil principle of operation, the John M. Browning design for the US Military pistol trials was a magazine-fed, single-action semi-automatic pistol with both manual and grip safeties that demonstrated a level of durability, simplicity and reliability that no other pistol design of the era could match. In fact, during a 6,000 round test-fired over two days in 1910 that was personally supervised by John M. Browning, his sample pistol became so hot that it was simply dunked in a pail of water to cool it for further firing. Browning’s sample reportedly passed the test with no malfunctions.

The Browning-designed 1911 pistol was first tested in combat in Mexico in 1916. At that time Mexico was wracked by revolution and the most prominent of the rebel generals was Pancho Villa. During the early morning hours of March 9, 1916, Villa and his men attacked, looted and burned the small town of Columbus, New Mexico, resulting in the deaths of 18 US soldiers and civilians. Further attacks by Villa’s rebels in Texas resulted in the deaths of several more US soldiers and officials.

In response to the attacks, President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing to lead a force of nearly 5,000 US soldiers onto Mexico to capture Villa. Many of the next generation of US military leaders got their first combat experience on this operation, including an ambitious young lieutenant by the name of George S. Patton. While the Punitive Expedition ultimately failed to capture Villa, it did provide the first major combat test of a number of new military technologies such as the airplane, wireless telegraph, motorized truck transport and the M1911 pistol.

The following year marked the entry of the United States into the Great War in Europe. American forces, again under the command of General Pershing, joined with Canadian, French and British troops to push back German forces on the Western Front. In all more than a million US troops served in this worldwide conflict.

WW I, as the Great War soon came to be known, proved a brutal face-off between new weapons and outmoded tactics. Much of the ground combat on the Western Front was conducted as trench warfare, in which small-unit raiding and close quarters combat were common tactics. The Model 1911 proved more than equal to the task, and the powerful pistol quickly became a favorite of American servicemen. During one legendary engagement Sergeant Alvin York used a Model 1911 pistol to stop an attack by six German soldiers with as many shots, in the process winning the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Frank Luke of the US Army Air Corps was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his excellent air combat results and his fight to the death with a .45 pistol against a German infantry onslaught after his SPAD biplane was forced down onto a muddy French battlefield. Other new weapons that emerged from the WW I conflict included tanks, fighter aircraft, rapid-firing artillery, machine guns, poison gas and submarines.

The post-war era saw subtle refinements to the basic Model 1911 design, including the addition of improved sights, an arched mainspring housing, shorter trigger, longer grip safety spur and other ergonomic improvements. Collectively these improvements were completed in 1924 and resulted in the Model 1911A1. Not long after those modifications were formalized, John M. Browning died of a heart attack at the Fabrique Nationale (FN) factory in Herstal, Belgium, on November 26, 1926.

As the United States began to emerge as a major world military power, the Model 1911 saw combat service in a number of different conflicts, including many small brushfire actions in the Caribbean, South and Central America. These interventions were considered necessary to provide political, social and economic stability to the region and were sometimes called the Banana Wars.

During this era the Model 1911 also became a favorite sidearm of law enforcement officers nationwide, first in .45 ACP and later in the fast-stepping .38 Super. Among the more notable law enforcement users of the 1911 were members of the Texas Rangers, as well as federal agents of the Border Patrol, Prohibition Service and the FBI.

December 7, 1941 brought the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and US entry into WW II. The conflict represented the largest war mobilization in US history, with more than 16 million American men and women serving in the armed forces in every theater of the conflict. The Model 1911 was the standard sidearm for almost all US military forces fighting on the ground, at sea and in the air. Total military production of the Model 1911 was nearly 3 million pistols. Combined with the millions of Browning machine guns and BARs produced over the decades, it is easy to see that the guns designed by John M. Browning played a major role in defending freedom and crushing tyranny. The Model 1911 continued to serve with distinction at the side of American servicemen for most of the remainder of the 20^th century including Korea, Viet Nam and other conflicts.

With the end of WW II, millions of US servicemen returned from combat service around globe, eager to enjoy a new life of peace and prosperity. With that post-war prosperity came plenty of leisure time for recreation, and the shooting sports in America literally boomed! Shooting clubs and leagues sprouted up in every city and town, at colleges, high schools, factories and local ranges.

One of the first to realize the limitations of hip shooting was a young Marine officer by the name of Jeff Cooper. He understood that in order to stop an assailant, one had to accurately and rapidly deal him a telling blow before he could complete his attack. Cooper’s WW II combat experience in the Pacific and his visionary thinking lead him to develop what became known worldwide as the Modern Technique.

Drawing upon the wisdom of some of the best pistol shooters of the day, Cooper’s method was to use a smooth one-hand draw moving to a strong two-handed hold, then make a quick eye-level sight alignment on the target and rapidly fire with accuracy. While the Modern Technique is adaptable to most handguns, the ideal instrument to exploit its full effectiveness is the .45 ACP Model 1911 – a pistol with the power, accuracy and reliability to prevail in a confrontation. Cooper codified the concept of the Modern Technique in the Latin motto Diligentia-Vis-Celeritas (D.V.C.) which translates as Accuracy-Force-Speed.

Cooper’s prolific writings and teaching on the subject, along with those of Charles Askins, Ray Chapman, Jack Weaver, Thell Reed and others helped shape the thinking of an entire generation of law enforcement and military trainers, and today it remains the basis for virtually all training doctrine for combat pistol shooting. The spread of the Modern Technique was also the major factor in the transition of American law enforcement from the revolver to the autoloading pistol during the 1980s and 1990s.

Cooper also played a major role in the creation of the International Practical Shooting Confederation in 1976 and served as its first president. IPSC created a framework for organized competition and quickly became the competition format of choice for hundreds of thousands of avid pistol shooters. Offshoots of the formalized practical shooting sports have blossomed in recent years, including Cowboy Action Shooting, IDPA, USPSA 3-Gun and many others.

In 1985 the US Military adopted the 9mm M9 pistol as their standard sidearm in hopes of creating greater ammunition interoperability with its NATO allies. Hundreds of thousands of servicemen and servicewomen dutifully turned in their Model 1911 pistols, and no doubt many a tear was shed in memory of the 1911’s seven decades of service.

Alas, the painful combat lessons of the past now came full circle. The marginal stopping ability of the 9mm ball cartridge is no more potent today as when it was first introduced in 1902. In light of this, the US Military has again turned to the venerable Model 1911 and the .45 ACP to arm their special operations troops. Two more Medals of Honor were awarded in 1993 to US Delta Force operators, Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant First Class Randall Shughart, for their actions in Somalia, which were later immortalized in the book and motion picture “Black Hawk Down.” After Shughart was fatally wounded, Gordon continued his fight to the death using a 1911 to protect one of the wounded helicopter pilots.

Today, when America’s finest go into harm’s way after radical terrorists, chances are a Model 1911 is riding on their hip or MOLLE gear. After 100 years the Model 1911 design is more popular than ever, and remains the standard by which all other autoloading pistols is measured.

We think John M. Browning would like that.

Copyright Browning 2013.  Written by Browning staff writer, Scott Engen.