Mikhail Kalashnikov

Kalashnikov c. 1944

Kalashnikov was born in the village of Kurya,[1] in present-day Altai Krai, Russia, as the seventeenth child of the 19 children[5] of Aleksandra Frolovna Kalashnikova (née Kaverina) and Timofey Aleksandrovich Kalashnikov, who were peasants.[5] In 1930, his father and most of his family had their properties confiscated and were deported as kulaks to the village of Nizhnyaya Mokhovaya, Tomsk Oblast.[6][7] In his youth, Mikhail suffered from various illnesses and was on the verge of death at age six.[3] He was attracted to all kinds of machinery,[6] but also wrote poetry, dreaming of becoming a poet.[8] He went on to write six books and continued to write poetry all of his life.[7][9] After deportation to Tomsk Oblast, his family had to combine farming with hunting, and thus Mikhail frequently used his father's rifle in his teens. Kalashnikov continued hunting into his 90s.[3]

After completing seventh grade, Mikhail, with his stepfather's permission, left his family and returned to Kurya, hiking for nearly 1,000 km. In Kurya, he found a job in mechanics at a tractor station. A party organizer embedded within the factory noticed the man's dexterity and issued him a directive (napravlenie) to work at a nearby weapons design bureau, where he was employed as a tester of fitted stocks in rifles. In 1938, he was conscripted into the Red Army. Because of his small size[10] and engineering skills he was assigned as a tank mechanic, and later became a tank commander. While training, he made his first inventions, which concerned not only tanks, but also small weapons, and was personally awarded a wrist watch by Georgy Zhukov.[3] Kalashnikov served on the T-34s of the 24th Tank Regiment, 108th Tank Division[2] stationed in Stryi[3] before the regiment retreated after the Battle of Brody in June 1941. He was wounded in combat in the Battle of Bryansk in October 1941[3] and hospitalised until April 1942.[2] In the last few months of being in hospital, he overheard some fellow soldiers bemoaning their current rifles, which were plagued with reliability issues, such as jamming. As he continued to overhear the complaints that the Soviet soldiers had, as soon as he was discharged, he went to work on what would become the famous AK-47 assault rifle.[11]

The SMG predecessor of the Kalashnikov rifle

Seeing the drawbacks of the standard infantry weapons at the time, he decided to construct a new rifle for the Soviet military. During this time Kalashnikov began designing a submachine gun.[12] Although his first submachine gun design was not accepted into service, his talent as a designer was noticed.[3] From 1942 onwards, Kalashnikov was assigned to the Central Scientific-developmental Firing Range for Rifle Firearms of the Chief Artillery Directorate of the Red Army.[13]

In 1944, he designed a gas-operated carbine for the new 7.62×39mm cartridge. This weapon, influenced by the Garand rifle design, lost out to the new Simonov carbine which would be eventually adopted as the SKS; but it became a basis for his entry in an assault rifle competition in 1946.[14] His winning entry, the "Mikhtim" (so named by taking the first letters of his name and patronymic, Mikhail Timofeyevich) became the prototype for the development of a family of prototype rifles.[15]

A Type 2 AK-47, the first machined receiver variation

This process culminated in 1947, when he designed the AK-47 (standing for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947). In 1949, the AK became the standard issue assault rifle of the Soviet Army and went on to become Kalashnikov's most famous invention.

While developing his first assault rifles, Kalashnikov competed with two much more experienced weapon designers, Vasily Degtyaryov and Georgy Shpagin, who both accepted the superiority of the AK-47 design. Kalashnikov named Alexandr Zaitsev and Vladimir Deikin as his major collaborators during those years.[3]

From 1949, Mikhail Kalashnikov lived and worked in Izhevsk, Udmurtia. He held a degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences (1971)[1][2] and was a member of 16 academies.[16]

Over the course of his career, he evolved the basic design into a weapons family. The AKM (Russian: Автомат Кала́шникова Модернизированный, lit. 'Kalashnikov modernized assault rifle'), first brought into service in 1959, was lighter and cheaper to manufacture, owing to the use of a stamped steel receiver (in place of the AK-47's milled steel receiver) and contained detail improvements such as a re-shaped stock and muzzle compensator. From the AKM, he developed a squad automatic weapon variant, known as the RPK (Russian: Ручной пулемет Кала́шникова, lit. 'Kalashnikov light machine gun').

Kalashnikov (R.) and Eugene Stoner (L.) hold the rifles they designed, taken May 1990

He also developed the general-purpose PK machine gun (Russian: Пулемет Кала́шникова, lit. 'Kalashnikov machine gun'), which used the more powerful 7.62×54mmR cartridge of the Mosin–Nagant rifle. It is cartridge belt-fed, not magazine-fed, as it is intended to provide heavy sustained fire from a tripod mount, or be used as a light, bipod-mounted weapon. The common characteristics of all these weapons are simple design, ruggedness and ease of maintenance in all operating conditions.

Approximately 100 million AK-47 assault rifles had been produced by 2009,[9] and about half of them are counterfeit, manufactured at a rate of about a million per year.[12][17] Izhmash, the official manufacturer of AK-47 in Russia, did not patent the weapon until 1997, and in 2006 accounted for only 10% of the world's production.[8] This arm became famous due to its reliability in the most extreme climatic conditions, functioning as perfectly in the desert as in the tundra. It is in official use by the militaries of 55 nations, and has been so influential in military struggle that it has been used on national flags. Prominent examples include the flags of Mozambique and Hezbollah, as well as the East Timorese and Zimbabwean coats of arms.

Kalashnikov himself claimed he was always motivated by service to his country rather than money,[7] and made no direct profit from weapon production.[18] He did however own 30% of a German company Marken Marketing International (MMI) run by his grandson Igor.[19] The company revamps trademarks and produces merchandise carrying the Kalashnikov name, such as vodka,[9] umbrellas and knives.[20][21] One of the items is a knife named for the AK-74.[19]

During a visit to the United States in the early 2000s, Kalashnikov was invited to tour a Virginia holding site for the forthcoming American Wartime Museum. Kalashnikov, a former tank commander, became visibly moved at the sight of his old tank in action, painted with his name in Cyrillic.[22]

After a prolonged illness, Kalashnikov was hospitalized on 17 November 2013, in an Udmurtian medical facility in Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia and where he lived. He died 23 December 2013, at age 94 from gastric hemorrhage.[23][24][25][26] In January 2014, a letter that Kalashnikov wrote six months before his death to the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was published by the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia.[27] In the letter, he stated that he was suffering "spiritual pain" about whether he was responsible for the deaths caused by the weapons he created.[28] Translated from the published letter he states, "I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I... a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?"[29][27]

The patriarch wrote back, thanked Kalashnikov, and said that he "was an example of patriotism and a correct attitude toward the country". Kirill added about the design responsibility for the deaths by the rifle, "the church has a well-defined position when the weapon is defense of the Motherland, the Church supports its creators and the military, which use it."[27]

He became one of the first people buried in the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery.

Kalashnikov's father, Timofey Aleksandrovich Kalashnikov (1883–1930), was a peasant. He completed two grades of parochial school and could read and write. In 1901, he married Aleksandra Frolovna Kaverina (1884–1957), who was illiterate throughout her life. They had 19 children, but only eight survived to adult age; Kalashnikov was born 17th, and was close to death at age six.[30]

In 1930, the government labeled Timofey Aleksandrovich a kulak, confiscated his property, and deported him to Siberia, along with most of the family. The eldest three siblings, daughters Agasha (b. 1905) and Anna and son Victor, were already married by 1930, and remained in Kuriya. After her husband's death in 1930, Aleksandra Frolovna married Efrem Kosach, a widower who had three children of his own.[3][6]

Mikhail Kalashnikov married twice, the first time to Ekaterina Danilovna Astakhova of Altai Krai. He married the second time to Ekaterina Viktorovna Moiseyeva (1921–1977).[4][31] She was an engineer and did much technical drawing work for her husband. They had four children: daughters Nelli (b. 1942), Elena (b. 1948) and Natalya (1953–1983), and a son Victor (1942–2018).[3][31] Victor also became a prominent small arms designer.

The title to the AK-47 trademark belonged to Mikhail Kalashnikov's family until 4 April 2016, when the Kalashnikov Concern won a lawsuit to invalidate the registration of the trademark.[32]

The Russian Medal of Small Arms Maker was introduced in 2008 and named after Kalashnikov.[33]

During his career, Kalashnikov designed about 150 models of small weapons.[16] The most famous of them are:

• AK-47
• AKM
• AK-74 / AKS-74U / AK-74M / AKS-74
• AK-101 / AK-102
• AK-103 / AK-104
• AK-105
• AK-12
• RPK / RPK-74
• PK / PKM / PKP
• Saiga semi-automatic rifle

A 2019 Russian stamp dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Kalashnikov's birth

Incorporates information from the corresponding article in the Russian Wikipedia

• Recipients of the Order of St. Andrew[34]
• In 1998, he was awarded an Order of Saint Andrew the Protoclete
• On his 90th birthday on 10 November 2009, Kalashnikov was named a "Hero of the Russian Federation" and presented with a medal by President Dmitry Medvedev who lauded him for creating "the brand every Russian is proud of"[9][18]
• In 2012, Izhevsk State Technical University was named after Kalashnikov[35]
• On 7 November 2014 a statue of Kalashnikov was unveiled at the Russian 102nd Military Base in Gyumri, Armenia. Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan attended the opening ceremony.[36][37]
• On 19 September 2017 a 9 metres (30 ft) monument of Kalashnikov was unveiled in Garden Ring, central Moscow.[38] A protester, later detained by police, attempted to unfurl a banner reading "a creator of weapons is a creator of death".[39]

• Forge, John (January–February 2007). "No Consolation For Kalashnikov". Philosophy Now (59). Retrieved 24 January 2007.
• Ружье. Оружие и амуниция double/special issue of 1997/5-6 has a fairly complete inventory of Kalashnikov's designs. Issues 1 and 2 of the same magazine from 1999 have articles on Kalashnikov's 1st sub-machine gun (1942) and respectively his first rifle (1944–45) .
• The Gun by C.J. Chivers thoroughly describes Mikhails early home life and retails the history of the AK-47, it’s distribution, and entrance into prevalence.
• Kalashnikov AK-47 - biography film (2020)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mikhail Kalashnikov.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Mikhail Kalashnikov.

• M.T. Kalashnikov Museum and Exhibition Small Arms Complex
• 'I sleep soundly' – Interview with and article on Mikhail Kalashnikov at the age of 83, from The Guardian newspaper.
• Mikhail Kalashnikov backs weapons control
• BBC NEWS Profile: Mikhail Kalashnikov
• Free illustrated virtual guided tour of the Museum of Mikhail Kalashnikov
• The life of Mikhail Kalashnikov (in Russian)
• 7,62 мм ручной пулемет М.Т. Калашникова. 1944 г. Kalashikov model 1944 light machine gun—his 2nd design.
• The Economist: Obituary 11 January 2014 Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, weapons inventor, died on 23 December, aged 94