Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

Weapons have existed as long as humankind.

For millennia, they have determined

the destiny of generations.

Weapons bring suffering and death.

They show what humans can inflict upon other humans.

But they're also intended to keep the peace,

and pave new ways for technology.

We will present three weapons that have made war history,

because almost anyone can handle them,

without long hours of training.

Astonishing experiments will reveal their secrets.

The Kalashnikov, a tool for soldiers and terrorists,

the most widespread firearm in the world.

This is a violent gun to shoot on full auto.

The crossbow, sophisticated engineering,

for untrained warriors.

(speaking in a foreign language)

I've been firing this weapon for years,

but still I'm running on adrenaline.

And the pike, the wonder weapon

against medieval knights.

That is very, very intimidating.

This weapon is a deadly instrument

in the hands of ordinary men against mounted knights.

In the Middle Ages and early modern history,

it's called a pike.

In the classical era,

the long wooden spear is known as sarissa.

The Battle of Issus, 333 BCE.

Persian King Darius III

confronts the Macedonian ruler, Alexander.

An uneven showdown, or so it appears.

But besides a heavy cavalry and infantry

in phalanx formation,

Alexander has another ace up his sleeve:

very long wooden spears.

An invention by Philip II of Macedon, his father.

They were using very long pikes and it was essential

that they maintain cohesion

and they all fought in the same way.

The temptation to put the pike down

and fight with their sword had to be resisted.

Alexander's troops have undergone

intensive sarissa training.

Their length alone of about six meters makes

the wooden spears a terrifying weapon.

Even more so when used in a formation

with hundreds of warriors all lined up.

In the battle of Issus, deploying the sarissa pays off

for the Macedonians.

It enables you to keep the enemy at a distance,

and as long as you maintain formation

you can press the enemy backwards.

He simply cannot get close to you to attack.

So you're using your range of action

to drive the enemy off the battlefield.

Alexander and the Macedonians prevailed.

Darius loses the battle.

The once omnipotent Persian Empire is doomed.

A turning point in history.

The sarissa remains a characteristic weapon

of the Hellenistic world.

It's only after the Romans defeat the Macedonians

that the long spear falls by the wayside.

More than a thousand years later, in the Middle Ages,

it is rediscovered, and conquers the battlefields again.

Nykobing, Falster, Denmark.

On the set of a reconstructed medieval village,

experts investigate historical technologies and weaponry.

The pike is particularly interesting.

Weapons experts Mike Loades has exhaustively examined

its changeful success story.

The pike's probably one

of the simplest weapons ever devised.

It's no more than a long pole with a sharp head.

On its own, though, it's not a very useful weapon.

On its own, as soon as somebody is inside

that point they can attack you

and it's clumsy to fight with.

But it wasn't used on its own.

It was used with thousands of other pikes.

It was used in a forest of pikes.

A typical pike weighs

about six to eight kilograms.

The shaft is usually made of ash wood

and is several meters long.

One end is either sharpened or capped

with an iron spearhead.

The pike is an extremely long weapon.

It had different lengths at different times in history

but it was always used by mass formations.

Mike Loades wants first to show

just how easy it is to manufacture a pike.

Is it really a weapon that anyone can make?

This is so simple.

I just took this sapling from the woods outside

and all I have to do is strip off the bark.

It's got a natural taper and it's really very basic work.

Most professional armies used a iron pike head.

As the Roman Empire expands,

the long wooden spears fade into oblivion.

It is not until the Middle Ages that their effect

on approaching troops is rediscovered.

(dramatic music)

Scotland, Stirling Bridge.

This is where Scottish Independence fighters faced

the Royal English forces on 11th September 1297.

Their leader is William Wallace.

Hollywood has immortalized him in the movie, Braveheart.

The Scots are fighting a seemingly hopeless battle

against the heavily armed occupying forces.

Many of the Scottish warriors are craftsmen, peasants

and small landowners without military skills.

Wallace introduces a new combat formation

during the Independence Wars.

The schiltron.

Up to two thousand warriors form a spiked shield

with their pikes, ready to defend themselves

from all sides.

Attackers hardly stand a chance

of breaking through this shield.

As a gorilla fighter, William Wallace was supreme.

But at Stirling Bridge he had

to face a massive English Army in the field,

in pitch battle.

And in pitch battle the Scots were the underdogs,

they didn't have this full time trained army.

But he had many men who'd flocked to his cause.

And what he did, very quickly, was train them

to use the pike, the weapon of the common man.

(exciting music)

Is it really possible

to become a pikeman that fast?

Mike Loades conducts an experiment.

15 women and men, complete beginners.

Training time: one day.

Go take up your pikes.

Hold them vertically and reassemble here.

Go!

Usually pikes were only deployed

by men on the battlefield.

In our experiment, we also include women.

It was very nice, but it looked like you were

in a shoe shop selecting which size was going to fit you.

Go, I want you to run at the double

and get a pike and get back here.

Go and put them back for the moment.

Come back here and we start again.

(people chattering)

At the double, collect your pikes, go!

The second round is already better organized.

Well, because of the length,

the thing's very very unwieldy while you're trying

to carry it so you've got to keep it in both hands

and then be aware of where the end is against kind

of any other people or the trees or,

I guess you wouldn't want to use it

inside 'cause of the roof.

When standing it's very comfortable,

but actually getting it up and getting in position's

kind of uncomfortable.

It's not something I've ever done before.

I, it's a very long stick, I'm a very small person,

and it's a bit unwieldy the first time you pick it up.

The problem with pike training is to use a pike you need

to be very strong and very fit.

This is a long heavy weapon and holding it up

in its proper position is physically very demanding.

Most people today would last about five minutes

with a pike before they collapsed.

And then to do that while you're marching

across the ground which is broken

or perhaps slippery, is very demanding indeed.

(dramatic music)

Three paces forward, one, two three.

To your right turn.

Port your pike, Natasha.

Lift it up like everybody else!

Thank-you very much.

Yes sir! About turn.

No!

This is right turn. Yeah.

This is about face! (laughing)

About turn.

Yes, you look like a machine, all the cogs are in sync

and going the right way.

You've got to be in a straight line.

You are no longer individuals.

You are cogs, in my machine.

Front rank, charge!

Good, rear rank, your main job is

to bring your spears in between.

The newly fledged pikemen,

in final formation for the first time.

It's a bit hot, but I feel strong.

I'm a short girl so when I have a four meter stick

in my hand it's a bit wobbly.

But when you're standing like this,

it's actually quite sturdy so, it's good.

So you're the Scottish Army waiting patiently

at Stirling Bridge.

I am the English cavalry about to come bearing down on you.

Was there enough time

to memorize all the sequences and movements?

Good job.

That is very very intimidating.

Actually imagining this with thousands

of other spear bearers, it must be insane for anybody

who will charge it, he must be completely insane.

By the end when I was running down at them,

that was quite intimidating for me

because they were working like one single brain,

bringing those up together.

There was no one, two, three, four, it was up in one.

Thousands of English soldiers lose their lives

at the hands of Scottish pikemen, on 11th September, 1297.

For a brief moment, the dream

of independence seems to come true.

William Wallace remains a Scottish national hero

to this day.

The secret of the pike's success is not its

revolutionary design, but in the effective drill

of a military unit.

One single pikeman does not stand a chance.

A coordinated war of pikes however, is hard to defeat.

(men shouting) (men groaning)

Team spirit is important in many jobs,

many walks of life, but the difference in the army is

it's a difference between life or death.

Team will make them do the job more efficient,

quicker and safer, and if they can't rely on their team,

they know that that can result in them being killed.

So to be able to have trust in your team,

to be able to know that you have the team behind you,

is absolutely imperative within an army setting.

During the 30 years war,

three centuries after Wallace's victory,

entire books on military drills are published.

For example, the are or infantry warfare

by a German writer detailing

movement sequences and formations.

Over time, drill and training

of soldiers reached new heights.

For example in the Prussian armies.

Exercising, standing at attention, shooting

for years on end.

Thanks to their training, Prussian soldiers rank

among the best fighters in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Professional armies use drill

to maximize their combat effectiveness.

The Prussian goose step is classic example of a drill.

Those are not drills for the battlefield,

they're drills to instill the cohesion

and the synergy between all the people in that group.

They're all doing these difficult things together.

When you ask them to do a simple thing

under fire, under stress, on the battlefield,

they should be able to do that.

Back to the voluntary test pikemen.

Now Mike Loades will simulate a cavalry attack.

Well I think you all did extremely well.

Now we need to test you against the real thing.

(dramatic music)

I think that just a stake can give you

a fair bit of extra security,

particularly if you have no idea what you're doing,

if you're completely fresh off the farm,

it's something between you and the horse.

(exciting music)

The formation stays in tact.

Well that's a very intimidating sight.

Very very difficult to get a horse through there.

You all feel pretty secure I'm guessing?

Are you, hey you all feel pretty safe?

Sebastian, you feeling safe, feeling safe?

Yeah, not worried Nicky?

Not worried at all, what's going to happen?

Whether they're being attacked by cavalry

or by infantry, that pike block is a

really devastating military machine.

(ominous music)

The pikemen success also brings

about social change.

Armies grow larger.

Instead of a few mounted knights in armor,

countless ordinary soldiers are now decisive

for the outcomes of battles.

The new armies, however, fight no longer

for their lords but for money.

The old feudal order breaks apart.

The future belongs to mercenaries and national armies.

Early modern states, modern states begin

to recruit their own people.

They could be mercenaries, they could be natives

of the country, but they're recruited directly,

and then are owned by the state.

That changes things.

It means that the recruiting pool is widened

and you can recruit from areas where there are no knights.

(ominous music)

It is the dawn of the era of mercenaries

who go to battle for whoever pays best.

If there is no war or their field

commander has gone bankrupt, mercenaries often go

from country to country murdering and plundering.

The mercenary system also presents new challenges

for army commanders.

Many of the mercenaries go to war bringing

along their wives and children who also need to be fed.

(exciting music)

The pikemen from Switzerland have quite the reputation

during the 15th century.

With halberds, an improved version of the pike,

they can be deployed offensively as well.

Many rulers enlist the help of their

own personal Swiss Guard, and they still provide

active service to this day, in the Vatican.

The legacy of that is that the pope

still has Swiss Guardsmen dressed up

in 16th century uniform as his security system.

This on the one hand is laughable,

but on the other hand it's actually very practical

because you can't miss them, they're very obvious,

and they do have a halberd

which is quite an unpleasant instrument,

even a blunt one.

So the Swiss Guard remind us of an age

when mercenary soldiers were a critical part

of all armies, and it's only after the rise

of nation states and the idea that you actually had

a homogenous national army which is

actually quite a modern idea.

(dramatic music)

The pike, a long wooden spear

with an iron head.

600 years ago it caused profound changes

on the battlegrounds and brought

about the downfall of knights.

The pike has left its mark.

For a long time it's an integral part

of every soldiers equipment.

Nevertheless, it quickly becomes superfluous

as it's replaced by firearms and bayonets.

But long before firearms, another easy

to operate ranged weapon decides the outcome of entire wars.

The crossbow.

What technical trick makes it so dangerous?

Europe in the early 15th century.

The Hundred Years' War between France

and England is still in full swing.

Both sides use the crossbow as a ranged weapon.

It turns peasants into warriors in the blink of an eye.

(men screaming)

In this case you've got the opportunistic weapon

that is easy, it's available and pretty much

anybody can pick up and use it.

Therefore it creates a situation that even any fighter

any given time, it's a weapon that can be used by everyone.

Puchberg, Austria is home

to a man who knows the secrets

of the medieval crossbow like no other.

Andreas Bichler builds and explores historical weapons.

Together, we want to investigate

how the crossbow revolutionized European

battlefields 600 years ago.

And even knocked experienced knights from their horses.

(bow pinging)

(speaking in a foreign language)

The craftsmanship

of the old classics is just fascinating.

Just think about the technical sophistication needed

to construct and manufacture such high tech weapons,

especially at that time, at the end of the Middle Ages

in the 15th century.

Andreas Bichler works

on different crossbow variants based

on surviving historical models

in his little backyard studio.

The basic manufacturing principle is simple,

every crossbow needs a frame called a tiller or stock.

Bichler then places a bow onto the stock.

This crossbow, a simple model, is made of wood

and a waxed yarn string.

The crucial detail however, is the trigger mechanism

with what is known as the roller nut.

It is typically made of antler.

(speaking in a foreign language)

The nut, this cylindrical pull is placed

inside a slot within the stock where it can rotate.

This was called a lock in the Middle Ages.

So how does it work?

The trigger bar, the key so to speak,

attaches to the nut.

There's a cavity in the nut fret, and once you pull it,

the roller nut begins to rotate

and the bowstring can be released.

(light music)

This is one of the last steps necessary

to finish the crossbow.

By winding the rope around like this,

you link the bow tightly with the socket.

Such simple crossbows could already

be mass manufactured in the Middle Ages.

Weight, about three kilograms, range up to 300 meters,

but they're most effective at a distance of about 80 meters.

(speaking in a foreign language)

They were used from an elevated position

to equip and defend wall walks or towers.

Crossbows were already used

as weapons of war long before medieval times.

The oldest ones come from China.

In the third century BCE, Chinese states are

in the throws of wars until Qin Shi Huang Di annexes

them all and goes down in history

as the first emperor of China.

In 1974 farmers discover his giant mausoleum

with a terracotta army.

The realistic, true-to-life statues provide

important insight into the weaponry of the era.

The crossbow is an essential part

of the standard equipment of the Imperial Army.

It is the first weapon in history to be mass produced.

The elaborate bronze trigger mechanism is cast

in standardized molds which makes it possible

to manufacture hundreds of thousands of them.

And ensure that they're of the exact same quality.

There's nations and states get bigger,

the armies they deploy get bigger

and the demands they have on their weapons industries expand

exponentially, so you're gonna have to put a lot

of effort not just into the fighting line

but also into the support line,

and the attraction of mass producing weapons is

that you can reduce that tail end of the military system,

you can produce more weapons with less people.

Standardized design, interchangeable parts,

these are attractive things when armies get

to the size where bespoke handmade

weapons are no longer a relevant issue.

The third crusade, 1191.

A host of Christian knights intends to bring the holy city

of Jerusalem under its control.

(men shouting)

Richard the Lionheart, King of England, is one

of the commanders of the crusade.

On a military level he relies mostly on his crossbow men.

They defend the king's armor-clad knights

against the troops of Sultan Saladin,

who attack with bow and arrow.

The crossbow proves superior in close combat.

Richard, however, fails to capture Jerusalem.

The irony of it all, 10 years later the legendary

English king dies after being hit

by a crossbow bolt himself.

Back in Austria, together with weapons expert,

Andreas Bichler, and the twins Fabian and David,

we set out to find answers.

Is it really that easy to learn to fire a crossbow?

And does an untrained shooter fire more accurately

than with a bow and arrow.

The twins have never fired a weapon before.

Who will hit the apple on top of the bust?

I don't think I'll hit it.

I'm pretty sure I won't hit the apple.

Maybe the head, but I don't even believe that.

Maybe I'll hit the straw around it once.

(pensive music)

(leather creaking)

The first shot misses the target.

Using a bow and arrow seems far from easy.

The following shots are off target as well.

(speaking in a foreign language)

Missed it again.

Yet the first one was the best.

And from there it just went south.

It's much harder to aim with the bow

because you don't have a lot of time.

You can't just wait until you've found the point of aim.

It's very exhausting.

Now the crossbow in comparison.

(speaking in a foreign language)

I've never touched one of these

so I'm a little bit nervous.

I don't know what will happen.

I will happy to hit the straw.

Will Fabian aim better?

The direction was good.

Next time a little bit lower, but you're aiming well.

Bullseye, after only three shots.

You try beating that!

With training,

aiming the crossbow gets easier.

You can improve, you look for the point of aim.

If you find it you're able to hit the target.

An archer needs a draw weight

of up to 75 pounds in order to draw his bow.

This is quite challenging for an untrained person.

It takes too long and makes it almost impossible

to aim well.

The crossbow is different.

Once it is drawn the shooters can take

as much time as they want before firing it.

Over the centuries the crossbow becomes more refined.

The composite structure is leap forward

in terms of efficacy.

Composite bows consist of several layers

of horn and animal sinew glued together.

This technology reaches Europe in the 13th Century

and renders the already deadly weapon even more perilous.

The elaborate manufacturing process helps

to exploit the full potential of the different properties

and features of the materials.

(speaking in a foreign language)

You can bend horn to some extent,

but if you bend it too much it'll break.

This is why you need the layers of sinew.

Sinew is very flexible, whereas horn can withstand a lot

of pressure and can be compressed.

This makes them perfect composite material for bowery.

It was already an innovative invention.

A significant downside however, is that the manufacturing

process is very lengthy.

It takes one to two years.

The bow needs to dry completely

before it's fully operational.

(exciting music)

But the further the crossbow develops,

the harder it becomes to draw.

Until the archers sheer muscle force

alone is no longer sufficient.

They now need draw support.

Ordinary wooden crossbows don't require

an elaborate mechanism, a belt hook is enough.

This is the first mechanical

draw support for crossbows, a belt hook.

The archer puts in two fingers

and can then draw the bow with the support

of his leg muscles.

Such simple mechanisms are not sufficient

for the heavy composite crossbow.

A crank can offer relief by drawing the string

with a cogwheel mechanism.

This can take up to one minute per shot.

(speaking in a foreign language)

Another option is using smaller cranks

or a kind of pulley.

With these I have to draw more,

but I need less force to create the tension.

This way I can achieve tension

that is five or six times higher than with a manual bow.

But can such a heavy composite crossbow

penetrate the mail of a knight.

We want to find out using an exact replica.

I've been firing this weapon for years

but still I'm running on adrenalin.

You can never completely rule out

that something will go wrong.

The worst case will be

that the string passes over the bolt

and seriously hurts the shooter by swinging uncontrollably.

(crossbow cranking) (mail rattles)

The perfect hit.

The rings have been destroyed in several places

and the bolt just went down to the feathers,

through the textile armor and of course the mail.

That means we have an estimated penetration

depth of about 20 centimeters, an absolutely deadly shot.

That is not only due to the extremely

heavy draw weight of the crossbow

but also to the way the bolt is formed.

It is visibly shorter and thicker

than the arrow of a regular bow,

and has a heavy iron head.

The medieval mail coat can no longer protect the knights

sufficiently against this weapon.

Crossbow bolt injuries are obviously

extremely profound injuries

because the bold is designed to penetrate the skin

and flesh as deeply as possible,

to go straight through the body and different organs.

Army doctors have an increasingly

difficult time treating these terrible battlefield injuries.

They haven't acquired comprehensive anatomic knowledge yet,

because dissecting human bodies is still forbidden

in the Middle Ages for religious reasons.

But treating these lesions urgently requires

new surgical strategies.

Lombard surgeon Roger Frugardi saves injured people

thanks to a very special treatment method.

If a bolt cannot be removed manually,

he fits it into a crossbow again,

and catapults it out of the flesh.

Painful, yet effective.

(speaking in a foreign language)

The surgeons obviously had

to intervene on the battlefield

which offered them great insight into the human body.

They probably came to understand human anatomy

even better than before.

They also learnt where extreme caution was needed

when removing a foreign object from a man's body.

For example, what do I have to watch out for

when the object has penetrated a blood vessel.

I think all the physicians learnt a great deal

from these experiences.

Their findings have helped modern surgery.

I think they really acquired broad knowledge

on the battlefield.

(men chattering)

Medieval Army doctors paved the way

for modern surgery.

France, the Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years' war.

7th of May, 1429, Joan of Arc,

the legendary peasant girl,

leads the French troops to battle.

She wants to end the siege of Orleans

by the British forces.

During the combat, Joan of Arc is wearing armor

that does not protect her entire torso.

A crossbow bolt hits her in the shoulder.

But she survives and leads her soldiers to victory.

At the beginning of the 15th century, plate armor becomes

increasingly popular as a response to the crossbow.

But does it really offer better protection?

(crossbow clicking) (bolt whipping)

We want to put it to the test.

Just like medieval tradition has it,

the chances are slim.

If you don't have the perfect angle

that means positioning the weapon at a 90 degree angle,

you barely stand a chance of penetrating plate armor.

Our test shows a steel plate as thick

as three millimeters, provides sufficient protection

against crossbow bolts.

The medieval arms race enters the next round.

For at least two hundred years, the crossbow is one

of the most pivotal weapons on European battlegrounds.

But as plate armor is on the rise in the 15th century,

crossbows literally hit a wall.

And the emerging fire weapons eventually put an end

to the crossbow era.

Our third weapons has achieved international notoriety,

and is dreaded around the world.

It has claimed more victims than nuclear bombs.

The Kalashnikov.

What is the reason for its bloody success?

Why is this rifle the go-to weapon of terrorists?

Vietnam, 8th of March, 1965,

U.S. strike forces land in Da Nang.

Their purpose, to defeat North Vietnam

and prevent the entire country

from falling into the hands of the communists.

On average, the U.S. soldiers are very young

and lack hands-on war experience.

But they are excellently equipped.

For example, with a new and modern assault rifle M16.

The North Vietnamese soldiers use Soviet weapons,

primarily the AK47, the Kalashnikov.

The Kalashnikov 47 of 1947 is a Soviet interpretation

of the Second World War assault rifle developed

by the Germans and to an extent by the Soviets.

It is the most all round useful piece of hardware

of that type ever built.

The history of the AK47 begins

in World War II.

Russian soldier, Mikhail Kalashnikov, is seriously injured.

After his recovery, he decides to become an arms designer.

It is only after the war, in 1947,

that he finishes the prototype

of the fully automatic assault rifle,

hence the name, AK47.

In 1949, it becomes the standard weapon of the Russian Army.

Millions of Kalashnikov are manufactured.

What is it that makes the Kalashnikov a weapon

that almost anyone, even untrained individuals,

can use to kill.

Stephen Bull is a writer and military weapons expert.

He takes a closer look at these questions for us.

(gun firing) (suspenseful music)

The Kalashnikov consists of around a hundred parts,

is 90 centimeters long and weighs

just under 4 1/2 kilograms when loaded.

The AK47 was a revolutionary weapon.

The Kalashnikov is a gas operated rifle.

(speaking in a foreign language)

When you pull the trigger,

an explosion takes place and air expands as a result.

The explosion causes gas pressure to rise

and part of this is used to reload.

The pressure is redirected into the mechanical system

which ejects the old cartridge and reloads a new one.

The reliability of a weapon is a crucial factor

for the outcome of a war.

U.S. soldiers in Vietnam soon notice

that their modern M16 does not work well

in the swampy forests where humidity is high.

The troops of the superpower constantly struggle

with jamming and malfunctions.

Their opponents weapon however, is surprisingly robust.

We want to find out if the stories are true.

How big is the difference between M16 and Kalashnikov?

You have to bear in mind that in a modern war,

we're taking cover, going into shell holes,

staying low to the ground.

Sometimes these are the sort of conditions

that the soldier and his weapon will have to put up with.

And, mud baths like this do form parts

of modern testing of weapons.

The M16, the American

standard rifle in Vietnam is tested first.

Now, a magazine.

(gun clicking)

And we're ready to go.

The M16 is submerged for 30 seconds.

And I think we're ready to bring it out.

(exciting music)

We create jungle-like conditions

for firing the weapon.

That is filthy.

On a shooting stand,

we draw a direct comparison.

Will large amounts of dirt affect the functionality

of the weapon?

The test team is forced to leave the shooting stand

for safety reasons.

Their weapon could blow up in their faces.

Using a rope, they are able to pull the trigger of the M16.

Ready. Fire to pull.

(gun firing)

So here it is.

Look at that. Let's take

the magazine off.

It's off.

So the magazine is now empty.

I'll work the mechanism.

Ooh, it's quite tough.

(grunting) I can hardly move the thing.

No good. Nothing.

Broken. I can't actually

work the mechanism.

So, this gun would just shoot once and then stop.

So this could be a problem for the soldier

on the battlefield.

And this certainly was the case

for the Americans in Vietnam.

Now we'll test the AK47

that is said to be more reliable.

Is it better suited for fighting

in adverse and muddy conditions?

Target down the far end.

We're behind the metal doors, are we ready to go?

Hmm hmm. Fire in the hole.

(gun firing)

Wow. (Gun firing)

Yes. Two.

(gun firing) Hey, the rope has gone.

Ah hmm. But the result is good.

That is good. Yeah.

In our test, the AK47 can fire several shots.

(gun clicking)

Ooh. Okay.

Everything is working. Right.

So the first two bullets have fired correctly,

and the third bullet was left in the gun.

The only reason for this was that the rope failed,

so that the gun would continue to fire perfectly.

So the AK47 has actually passed this horrible test

with flying colors.

The reason for this is the way it is built.

Intended clearances inside the weapon allow it

to withstand exposure to large amounts of dirt.

The American assault rifle, the M16, lacks such spaces.

The GIs in the Vietnam war have

to clean their weapons constantly.

Even the slightest amount of debris can

disrupt the loading process.

(slow music)

Our next experiment.

We want to see if it really is that easy

to operate a Kalashnikov.

We're in the U.S.

Arizona's gun regulations are so lax

that we can test the AK47 even in full automatic mode.

I'm gonna teach you how to take apart this gun.

Hmm hmm. There's basically

four parts you got to remember.

(light music)

Our test participant, Vivian,

has never touched an automatic firearm in her life.

Weapons expert, Kenton Tucker, disassembles it

in front of her.

Afterwards, Vivian is meant to reassemble the AK47.

Now, I have to put it back together.

Now you have to put it back together.

Okay.

Vivian only has to put back four components.

First the bolt and the gas piston.

Then the carrier spring.

And the last piece is the cover.

Vivian is successful on her first go.

There you go. Oh.

You got it.

Was that hard? No, but dirty.

That was your first time. Yeah.

Now imagine if you did it about 20 more times,

you'd have it down really well.

(speaking in a foreign language)

You can't really imagine

that this is a weapon of war because it's just so dangerous

and so easy to take apart at the same time.

Anyone can use it.

(dramatic music)

A firearm needs to be reliable,

easy to operate and accurate.

These are the decisive factors.

(gun firing)

Together with Kenton Tucker, we want to compare the AK47

directly to its rival the American M16.

The target, cardboard stand-ups at a distance of 15 meters.

The standard magazine capacity of both weapons is 30 rounds,

gone in no time at full automatic fire.

Which model will be more accurate?

Well, all 30 rounds went into the target,

but you'll notice that it's pretty well dispersed.

The AK moves around a lot on fully automatic fire.

That's 15 meters away.

It's okay.

Well, actually it was kinda hard to control,

but it did the job.

Well, this is all 30 rounds through an M16.

As you can tell they're group tighter,

it was easier to control, it's more precise

of a weapon on fully automatic fire.

You're all over the place with an AK47

on fully automatic fire.

M16 it's right where you want it to be.

(gun firing)

Since the Kalashnikov works

with excess energy, there is more recoil compared

to the M16.

The fact that it's easy to use

and very reliable comes at a price.

Limited accuracy.

(dramatic music)

Now it's Vivian's turn to fire the Kalashnikov.

How will she, without any training, handle it.

You're light, I'm light, you know we're not that big.

So what you do is you really get your body in front of it.

In front. In front of it,

'cause it'll put you back.

Okay. And you try to hold down

on that gun 'cause it's gonna rise up,

and shoot, you know, 12 rounds a second or so.

Okay, here you go.

Alright, you can shoot at it at will.

(gun firing)

What do you think?

Well, I'm er probably gonna get bruises or something.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, I know.

And I'm shaking. You're shaking?

Okay, alright.

That's the first time you've ever done that too.

Yeah,

and I closed my eyes.

This is a violent gun to shoot on full out.

Okay. And you just proved

that point.

A weapon that's easy to operate.

The reason why it's still frequently used in civil wars

and in terror attacks.

It's everywhere.

It's the easiest thing to move

because there are so many of them.

It's cheap, it's unbelievably cheap.

And if you want a Kalashnikov, wherever you are,

it's almost certain you can get one.

Gorilla fighters and terrorists like

to show themselves with Kalashnikov.

In January, 2011, Osama Bin Laden can be seen smiling

while testing a new model.

The Lebanese Hezbollah militia has immortalized it

on its flag, just like the African state of Mozambique

where many still remember the bloodshed of a civil war

in the 1970s and '80s.

So they turn up in every country on the planet

in the hands of the wrong people.

They've been the icon of freedom fighters,

gorillas and terrorists for 50 years.

It's just not possible to imagine a world

without Kalashnikovs, you know,

they are as ubiquitous as flies.

The Pakistani town of Darra Adam Khel,

close to the Afghan border, is a center

for illegal arms trade where a perfect replica

of a Kalashnikov is cheaper than a smartphone.

The counterfeit costs less than a hundred U.S. dollars.

(people chattering)

In Africa, for example, in South Sudan,

children use Kalashnikovs with catastrophic consequences.

The use of child soldiers is fundamentally abuse.

Children are not programmed to commit such acts of violence.

When you give them something like the Kalashnikov

which is a symbol of something so powerful,

such a dangerous weapon, depending on the level

that the child is at, how long they've been recruited

as a soldier, the training that they've been through,

it may give them a sense of power.

But ultimately for the majority of children,

it will terrify them.

Reliable, cheap and easy to operate.

The features that made the Kalashnikov the deadliest

weapon in the world.

Every year, 80,000 people die from AK47s

and their successors.

A hundred million of these weapons are still circulating.

There are no foreseeable ways

of reducing the number of weapons.

Manufacturers from all industrial nations want

to make money in the weapons industry.

Bans on exports or raids don't make a difference.

Even less so with their being countless illegal replicas

of Kalashnikovs.

Here, the Turkish police confiscated 120,000 cartridges

and dozens of AK47s from Kurdish rebels.

Mikhail Kalashnikov is, to this day,

revered as a national hero in Russia.

They even built a memorial for him.

Up to his death on the 3rd of December 2013,

he liked to give interviews.

(speaking in a foreign language)

Ultimately, it's the Germans fault

that the Kalashnikov exists.

If they hadn't started the war, I might've built machines

for agricultural purposes.

Almost anyone can buy weapons

in almost any place in the world.

It's especially easy in conflict areas,

or in the United States.

In the future it could become even less complicated

with weapons made in a 3D printer.

Construction plans for the Liberator are circulating online.

A deadly weapon, it's components can be printed off at home.

But of course that's dangerous,

but you have to keep in mind

that 3D printers are not very precise.

You can work to millimeter accuracy,

but you won't be able to use these printers

for high precision weapons.

One essential element, however,

the bolt, can't be printed off yet.

And high quality 3D printers are still expensive.

But technology improves at a breathtaking pace,

which will make it even hard to control the proliferation

of firearms in the future.

Will we find other ways of making weapons?

Yes, there is no limit to human ingenuity.

We just have to ask another question.

So things will change in the future.

Weapons, so easy to operate

that almost anyone can use them to kill.

And it might become even easier to get hold

of them in the future.

An enormous challenge, not only for the authorities.