O terrorist attack which killed 12 people – 11 members of the French satirical newspaper Charliehebdo and a police officer – on January 7, 2015, in Paris, he was promoted by the brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, who carried the model's assault rifles. kalashnikov, better known by the acronym AK-47. It is known that the Kouachi brothers were Islamic radicals linked to the branch of the terrorist network al-Qaeda in Yemen and that the massacre was promoted as a result (alleged by the terrorists) of the offensive cartoons of the prophet Mohammed made by the aforementioned satirical newspaper.
One fact of interest is that the former al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, creator of 9/11 attacks, he always wore, in tow, a copy of the same rifle, the AK-47. This weapon, from time to time, appears as a "detail" of tragic news, as an object of magnificence in the executioners of events deadly, whether in members of terrorist groups, drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro or rebels from African countries Sub-Saharan. There's a reason she figures in all corners of the world: her versatility. But to understand its characteristic, it is necessary to go back to the time of its creation: the context of
Second World War.THE AK-47, or AvtomatKalashnikova, 1947 (Automatic Kalashnikov Rifle, 1947 model), bears the name of its founder and the year it started operating. the russian MikhailKalashnikov (1919-2013) was a sergeant of the 108th Tank Division of the 24th Regiment of the Red Army of the USSR, then under the direction of Stalin, during the SecondWar. After witnessing several casualties in the Red Army, particularly in campaigns against the Nazis, Kalashnikov realized that one of the main reasons for the successive losses in The combat was due to the lack of an assault rifle (precision and carried in tow) light, automatic, not jamming and adapting to both the arid climate and the humid. If the USSR Red Army had such a rifle, Kalashnikov intuited, the Nazis could be more easily defeated.
In the final years of the war, M. Kalashnikov endeavored to devise a blueprint for the development of this weapon. Inspiration came from several models of assault rifles, but one in particular that had been produced by German rivals: the Sturmgewehr44. However, the Kalashnikov project was only carried out after the end of World War II, in 1947, when the first AK-47 models began to be produced.
From the 1950s onwards, the AK-47 became notorious in all major combats fought between the powers of the Cold War. already in Korean War, the success that this weapon brought to North Koreans supported by the USSR became a nightmare for those who did not have the technology employed by Kalashnikov. The model was later purchased by various armed forces around the world. However, after the end of the USSR, in the 1980s, a large quantity of AK-47s began to circulate as a product on the “black market”. The rifle then began to feed contingents of drug traffickers, mobsters, rebels and terrorists from around the world, becoming the most reliable weapon for “man-to-man” combat. The terrorist group from Lebanon, hezbollah, for example, sports a silhouette of the AK-47 on its flag.
The AK-47's popularity is due both to its use by armies in conventional wars and its use in situations of civil war, terrorism, etc. In several African countries in the sub-Saharan region, the AK-47 is often the main combat weapon adopted by rebels in civil wars. 12-year-olds are able to carry it without much difficulty, given its lightness and ease of handling.
The AK-47 rifle is easily found in regions where ethnic conflicts and civil wars occur **
In addition, the AK-47 has become a symbol pop, often portrayed in Hollywood movies, such as Jackiebrown (1997), by Quentin Tarantino, and The Lord of the guns (2005) by Andrew Niccol. Its inventor, M. Kalashnikov, when asked what he felt and thought when he learned that his invention had become the most used deadly weapon in the world, replied: “I sleep well. It's the politicians' fault for not reaching agreements and resorting to violence.”
*Image credits: Shutterstock and Olga Popova
**CreditsgivesImage: commons
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/ak-47-arma-mais-versatil-mundo.htm