Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919, in the village of Kur’ya in the Altai administrative region of Western Siberia, which is now part of Russia. His father’s name is Timofey Aleksandrovich Kalashnikov, and his mother is Aleksandra Frolovna Kalashnikova.
Born into a very poor peasant family, Mikhail Kalashnikov died of a fatal illness at the age of six. He became interested in poetry in his childhood. A total of six books of his poetry were published during that time. He could study upto the seventh standard due to poverty. At one time, Mikhail Kalashnikov’s family was involved in farming as well as hunting. As a result, Mikhail began to use his father’s rifle for hunting as a teenager. Gradually his penchant for other weapons and their technology began to grow.
Kalashnikov once joined a tractor station as a mechanic. At one stage he began to involve himself in arms design work. Then in 1938 he joined the Soviet Union’s ‘Red Army’. Due to his slight stature and interest in various weapons technology, Mikhail Kalashnikov began his career as a ‘tank mechanic’ in the Soviet Red Army. He became known as a young innovator while undergoing training in the Red Army, and he developed a technique for firing shells from tanks.
