Mikhail Kalashnikov, Dies at 94

[tude dog]

This man, Mikhail Kalashnikov is one of those men I don't know how to regard.

No doubt he was exceptional. By itself not notable. Mikhail was born and lived in interesting circumstances which resulted in an exceptional invention which altered the course of history.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, Creator of AK-47, Dies at 94

Lt. Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the arms designer credited by the Soviet Union with creating the AK-47, the first in a series of rifles and machine guns that would indelibly associate his name with modern war and become the most abundant firearms ever made, died on Monday in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia republic, where he lived. He was 94.



Born a peasant on the southern Siberian steppe, General Kalashnikov had little formal education and claimed to be a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weapons to conceive of a rifle that achieved battlefield ubiquity.





The weapon, he said, was designed to protect his motherland, not to be used by terrorists or thugs. “This is a weapon of defense, he said. “It is not a weapon for offense.

New York Times

I like what a friend said,

Just imagine the conversations Kalashnikov, Euene Stoner, John Moses Browning will have now.

[gmc]

Why would you regard him any differently from any other gun designer? He was a patriot, a soldier, designing a weapon to defend his nation. Why that any different from say a General Thompson or a hiram maxim?

[LarsMac]

It is actually a very fine piece of hardware. I knew several guys who preferred the AK, or Sk to the Mattel that they were issued.

Most weapons designers had the best interest of their country in mind. I think it was Maxim who thought that his gun would be the end of war, once everyone saw just how horrifying the results of its use were.

Unfortunately the wrong people actually experienced the thing.

The only way to stop war is to guarantee that those who decide to go to war get to the the first on the field of battle.

[tude dog]

gmc;1443158 wrote: Why would you regard him any differently from any other gun designer?


I don't.

gmc;1443158 wrote: He was a patriot, a soldier, designing a weapon to defend his nation.


I never questioned his patriotism. Nothing I wrote or the link insinuated such.

gmc;1443158 wrote: Why that any different from say a General Thompson or a hiram maxim?


Difference is the design of the AK-47 had far more lasting influence on history.

[Clodhopper]

The Soviet Union always seemed to me a mixture of innocence and horror in contrast with Nazi Germany which was knowing horror. Mikhail Kalashnikov was to me one of the innocents. Germany developed the first Assault Rifle - Sturmge-something. Kalashnikov developed a Russian version. He was very ordinary at the time: A tankist who was in hospital due to battle injury when he made the first rough sketch designs. He had the virtues of intelligent simplicity. Rest in peace Mr Kalashnikov - you helped save the world from Nazism.

[Clodhopper]

Oh and what I said is I think true even though the AK was not mass produced until 1947 (hence AK-47) because what he did was aimed at the Nazis and he did his fighting against them.

[gmc]

tude dog;1443183 wrote: I don't.



I never questioned his patriotism. Nothing I wrote or the link insinuated such.



Difference is the design of the AK-47 had far more lasting influence on history.


This man, Mikhail Kalashnikov is one of those men I don't know how to regard.




I was trying to suss out what you meant. How do you think you should regard him.

As my austrian and german acquaintances like to point out it was the german Sturmgewehr that was the first assault rifle to be used in combat and arguably inspired the kalashnikov.