4 ms·

I think it's telling to look at what the design goals of the AK were when it was first conceived: 1) It was to be the primary weapon of the World Wide Socialis

I think it's telling to look at what the design goals of the AK were when it was first conceived: 1) It was to be the primary weapon of the World Wide Socialist Revolution. That means it had to operate reliably in every environment on Earth, from the Siberian tundra to the jungles of Central America to the deserts of the Middle East. It would have to work flawlessly in a -50C blizzard and a +50C sandstorm, as well as in near 100% humidity while caked in mud. 2) It was to be cheaply produced by the million in not particularly advanced Soviet factories, by people who were not highly trained, then shipped to all corners of the Earth. 3) It was to be used by guerrillas, generally poorly trained peasants, fighting to overthrow professional US-backed armies (see: Cuba). Thus the rifle had to allow untrained fighters to go toe-to-toe with professional warriors, given the constraints of the fight as it was imagined: hit-and-run, ambushes, etc. When you look at the number of design criteria it had to fulfill that had nothing to do with its merits as a marksman's weapon, it's amazing how well Kalashnikov achieved what he set out to do. The fact that it's still the primary weapon of insurgents, rebels, and terrorists 60+ years later is testament to that. As an engineering feat, it's an absolute marvel.

rplnt 13y ago
Its variants are still primary weapons of many countries' armies as well.
gpcz 13y ago
Slashdot declared the AK-47 one of the top 10 hacks of all time in 1999 (src: http://slashdot.org/story/8804 http://slashdot.org/story/8804 ) alongside Perl, Bletchley Park, the SR-71 Blackbird, Apollo 13's recovery, and Future Crew's "Second Reality." It's a little strange to see a PC demo on that list, but I would definitely put the AK-47 on there.
quickpost 13y ago
Awesome summary - thanks for sharing. Now I appreciate the beauty of his creation much more, despite the fact it was designed to kill.
agrostis 13y ago
Minor correction: in 1947, when the AK was developed, World Wide Socialist Revolution, as you put it, was not on the agenda for quite some time. The idea of Soviet autarky (“establishing socialism in one particular country”) has been adopted by Stalin as far back as in 1924, the World Revolution slogan has been removed from the USSR Constitution when it was revised in 1936, and by 1943 Stalin has done away with Comintern, the organization which was conceived (by Lenin and Trotsky, originally) with the aim of propagating revolution to capitalist countries. In 1947, USSR was indeed preparing for a possible World War III against the US and UK, but the general idea of this war, at least in the East, was that of a conflict of nations. That said, guerilla tactics and the involvement of irregular fighting forces had proved to be quite effective during WWII, and so, of course, the new weapon had to be designed with such uses in mind.
- walshemj 13y ago
  No pre ww2 research had proved in a number of places that a weapon smaller intermediate cartridge around 7mm was better that the traditional bulky long ranged rifle caliber weapons the SMLE for example - especially for non professional army with little training. The AK was just good implementation of the concept and influenced by the German STG 44 and the use of SMG's like the PPSh-41 by Soviet forces. the UK post Ww2 tried to move to this with the EM-2 .280 but was stymied by the USA's instance on retaining the macho full power rifle cartridge.
  - agrostis 13y ago
    I have to confess that my knowledge of the history of weapons is rudimentary, so I gladly accede to your point; my previous remark only concerned Soviet geopolitics as it stood in 1947 vs. 1920.
    - redthrowaway 13y ago
      And your point was correct, and sloppy of me. I knew that one of the reasons Trotsky split from Stalin was over Socialism in One Country (in addition to the growing bureaucracy), but I'd thought it was still always the plan to eventually spread socialism globally.
a-nikolaev 13y ago
He simply made a good gun, not a weapon of revolution, and not a weapon for guerrilla armies. It was just a new gun for regular USSR army. Kalashnikov was a simple soldier during the WW2, so he knew very well that a new rifle: 1) has to be very reliable, 2) it has to shoot better than your enemies weapons, 3) it should be easily mass-produced in the time of war, when resources (of all kind) are scarce. These are the design goals.

rplnt 13y ago

Its variants are still primary weapons of many countries' armies as well.

gpcz 13y ago

Slashdot declared the AK-47 one of the top 10 hacks of all time in 1999 (src: http://slashdot.org/story/8804 http://slashdot.org/story/8804 ) alongside Perl, Bletchley Park, the SR-71 Blackbird, Apollo 13's recovery, and Future Crew's "Second Reality." It's a little strange to see a PC demo on that list, but I would definitely put the AK-47 on there.

quickpost 13y ago

Awesome summary - thanks for sharing. Now I appreciate the beauty of his creation much more, despite the fact it was designed to kill.

agrostis 13y ago

Minor correction: in 1947, when the AK was developed, World Wide Socialist Revolution, as you put it, was not on the agenda for quite some time. The idea of Soviet autarky (“establishing socialism in one particular country”) has been adopted by Stalin as far back as in 1924, the World Revolution slogan has been removed from the USSR Constitution when it was revised in 1936, and by 1943 Stalin has done away with Comintern, the organization which was conceived (by Lenin and Trotsky, originally) with the aim of propagating revolution to capitalist countries. In 1947, USSR was indeed preparing for a possible World War III against the US and UK, but the general idea of this war, at least in the East, was that of a conflict of nations. That said, guerilla tactics and the involvement of irregular fighting forces had proved to be quite effective during WWII, and so, of course, the new weapon had to be designed with such uses in mind.

walshemj 13y ago
No pre ww2 research had proved in a number of places that a weapon smaller intermediate cartridge around 7mm was better that the traditional bulky long ranged rifle caliber weapons the SMLE for example - especially for non professional army with little training. The AK was just good implementation of the concept and influenced by the German STG 44 and the use of SMG's like the PPSh-41 by Soviet forces. the UK post Ww2 tried to move to this with the EM-2 .280 but was stymied by the USA's instance on retaining the macho full power rifle cartridge.
- agrostis 13y ago
  I have to confess that my knowledge of the history of weapons is rudimentary, so I gladly accede to your point; my previous remark only concerned Soviet geopolitics as it stood in 1947 vs. 1920.
  - redthrowaway 13y ago
    And your point was correct, and sloppy of me. I knew that one of the reasons Trotsky split from Stalin was over Socialism in One Country (in addition to the growing bureaucracy), but I'd thought it was still always the plan to eventually spread socialism globally.

a-nikolaev 13y ago

He simply made a good gun, not a weapon of revolution, and not a weapon for guerrilla armies. It was just a new gun for regular USSR army. Kalashnikov was a simple soldier during the WW2, so he knew very well that a new rifle: 1) has to be very reliable, 2) it has to shoot better than your enemies weapons, 3) it should be easily mass-produced in the time of war, when resources (of all kind) are scarce. These are the design goals.