78 years ago, the Soviet Union completed the production of the AK-47, one of the first major assault rifles. On November 13, 1947, the Soviet Union completed the production of the AK-47, one of the first major assault rifles.
It was developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, the original creator of the Kalashnikov rifle (or "AK"). After more than seventy years, the AK-47 model and its variants remain the most famous and widely used firearms in the world.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was a Russian and the inventor of the weapon that bears his name in the mid-20th century.
Born on November 10, 1919, Kalashnikov was a tank mechanic in the army during the fighting in World War II. He was also injured when the Germans invaded the USSR in 1941.
Mikhail Kalashnikov was the man who created the famous AK-47 rifle; he created the rifle for soldiers or other forces to use for defense, and he never imagined that criminals would use it.
Today, this rifle is the most widely used firearm in the world. Mikhail began designing the rifle in 1945, the army was given the opportunity to test it in 1946, and it was officially approved and completed in 1947.
Mikhail Kalashnikov died in 2013 as a great hero in Russia, but before his death, he wrote that he regretted creating this lethal weapon. In a letter sent to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2012, according to the letter, he was tormented by the question of whether he was responsible for the millions of deaths caused by the weapon he created. In his letter, he said that this single question caused him unbearable pain in his heart.
Mikhail should not be blamed because he only invented the weapon as part of his engineering work. But the pursuit of power and selfish interests led people to use the weapon to kill millions out of greed and selfishness.
This rifle is now available all over the world, including to American civilians who buy them; in 2012, they purchased more AK-47s than the Russian police and military combined.
On one occasion, while explaining, Mikhail stated that he created the AK-47 rifle to protect the borders of his country, Russia, and it was not his fault that it was used to commit crimes. According to him, that was solely the work of politicians. He expressed these words during a ceremony at the Kremlin celebrating his 90th birthday.
The meaning of AK-47 is: "AK" stands for "Kalashnikov's Automatic," and the number "47" comes from the year it was manufactured, 1947.
It has been reported that over 100 million AK-47 rifles have been sold worldwide.