Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.
Voice 2
And I’m Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
On today’s Spotlight we will look at one of the most deadly weapons that ever existed: The AK-47. This gun is recognized around the world by the curved ammunition clip, its thin size, and its sound. The AK-47 hangs on the shoulders of Russian soldiers, African rebels, Colombian drug dealers, American criminals, and many others. It is simple, easy to use, and requires little care. But it has killed more people than the atom bomb. How did this simple gun become so popular and so deadly?
Voice 2
In 1941, Mikhail Kalashnikov lay in a Russian hospital bed. He thought about what had just happened.
Voice 1
He had been injured during a battle against the Germans. While travelling to the hospital, his transport had stopped at a city in ruins. Kalashnikov was strong enough to search for survivors. He left the transport. But while he was gone, German soldiers attacked the transport. With their better weapons, the Germans killed everyone. When Kalashnikov returned from searching, he saw the dead soldiers from his transport. Their bodies were in pieces from the power of the German guns. He decided he would make sure that Russian soldiers had a better weapon.
Voice 2
Kalashnikov was not trained in building weapons. So he studied past gun designs. He took the best parts of many guns and combined them in his model. The gun went through many tests. Each time, Kalashnikov made improvements. He completed the weapon too late to be used in World War Two. But in 1947, the Automat-Kalashnikov became the official gun of the Russian military. The AK-47 had arrived.
Voice 1
The AK-47 is very powerful. It can shoot six hundred bullets each minute. But it is easy to use and care for. It uses a small bullet. This makes it easier to keep aimed at a target. It has few parts. These parts are strong and can survive a lot of misuse. An AK-47 can be put under water, pulled through the dirt, buried in sand, or dropped on the ground and it will still fire. This made it perfect for use in battle conditions.
Voice 2
At this point, the former Soviet Union was the only country using the AK-47. But the Cold War was about to change that.
Voice 1
The Cold War was the indirect conflict between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Both countries wanted greater influence in the world. But, fear of nuclear weapons stopped them from direct conflict with one another. Instead, they supported wars in poor countries with money, ammunition, and guns.
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The Vietnam War was from 1959 to 1975. The Soviet Union supported North Vietnam. And the United States supported South Vietnam. The Soviet Union gave many AK-47s to the North. This was an advantage because the conditions in Vietnam were wet, muddy, and hot. The AK-47 was ideal in these conditions.
Voice 1
In the jungles of Vietnam, battles were often decided by whomever could fire the most bullets. American weapons would often mis-fire. But the AK-47 worked perfectly, even when dirty and wet.
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American soldiers sometimes traded their weapons for captured AK-47s, even though it was not permitted. In the Vietnam War the AK-47 proved that it was a strong and dependable weapon.
Voice 1
Another battle front for the Cold War was Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. They believed this would give them greater influence in the Middle East. But they found the resistance fighters difficult to defeat.
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Part of the reason for this was low cost AK-47s. The Soviet Union gave the AK-47 design to any country that would be their ally in the Cold War. This meant that AK-47 models were being made in Russia, Bulgaria, India, Poland, Hungary and China. The United States wanted to support the resistance fighters in Afghanistan, so they bought millions of AK-47s from China. Low cost, powerful guns began to pour into Afghanistan from around the world.
Voice 1
In 1989, the Soviets left Afghanistan. When they did, they left behind millions more AK-47s. This began the AK-47 culture. The guns were everywhere. People began to use them as money. Individuals and governments started selling weapons for food. The movement of the guns was hard to control. Many of these weapons were sold to rebel leaders in Africa.
Voice 2
Tribal conflicts in Africa have been happening for many years. But the AK-47 made these conflicts much more deadly. During the 1990s, Western nations were only watching the trade of bombs, missiles, planes and tanks. The simple AK-47 was dismissed as unimportant.
Voice 1
But the AK-47 was a way to make money when no other way was available. AK-47s appeared in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Congo, and South Africa.
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Many rebel leaders would exchange an AK-47 for the promise of loyalty. Untrained groups of young men and boys joined rebel groups. And leaders encouraged them to destroy towns, steal, force women to have sex, and kill who they wished.
Voice 1
During this time, new players were influencing world politics. China began to sell weapons directly. Business men, weapons makers and drug dealers from Europe gave African leaders weapons and money. In exchange they received resources such as wood, copper, gold, and especially diamonds.
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These people dealt with who ever gave them what they wanted. They dealt with rebel leaders and government officials. It soon became difficult to tell who really was in control of a country.
Voice 1
But the AK-47 was not limited to Africa. Supplied by drug money, AK-47s began to appear in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Colombia. These guns made their way north into Mexico and the United States. Now, the reach of the AK-47 goes all the way around the world.
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And what about Mikhail Kalashnikov? What has happened to the man who made the gun? He made no money from the AK-47. And while he defends his gun, he also regrets what it has become. He says,
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“I am proud of my invention, but I am sad that it is used by terrorists. I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use. Something that would help farmers with their work - for example, a lawnmower.”
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