Awesome post man.
It's amazing to think that the AK47 was designed in 1947. Imagine if it had actually been discovered a few years earlier (during WW2) and the effect it most probably would have had on the Russian war machine.
If I'm correct the STG-44 was it's predecessor and Kalashnikov based his design on the German gun. I know that he had expressed a lot of regret for ever designing the weapon due to the chaos it has caused.
An interesting post would be to look at what happened when different weapons met on the battlefield, as an example, when the British fought the Zulus in South Africa. Guns vs traditional zulu spears or iklwas / assegais
Keep up the good word!
The date of manufacturing itself was a probable proof that the STG-44 was the predecessor of AK. There are claims that the Kalashnikov designs copied the TKB-415 and AVS-31 (both Soviet Union guns) maybe said it for their pride sake or something else i do not know. haha!