About the author
The author of the Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia Cor Roodhorst was born in the Netherlands. He was already interested in military science at an early age. The end of the Cold War made that the Dutch conscription was suspended but he kept his interest in the Dutch army. He likes to listen to the men who (recentely) served for the Netherlands in several conflict regions but he is also interested in the Dutch defense during the Second World War. One theme always comes back in every story namely: training and reliability of the weapon system. During his studies business economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam he learned that winning strategies are not only about the quality of the strategy itself, but also about the power to operationalize the strategy. During his studies he got college of the Russian economist Stanislav Menshikov with whom he liked to discuss international matters. His paper was about a presumable standardization / innovation trade off concerning the small arms industry during the Second World War. During research he learned the suffering of the Russians but also the tremendous performance of Russia to boost the industrial power of the country to turn the course of the war in favor of Russia. This all together made that Roodhorst became interested in the Russian approach how to translate strategy into operations, at first only during the Cold War period later on also during the current post Cold War period. For a long time economic planning in Russia was comparable with the Second World War period. The management steering on the highest possible industrial output led to inconceivable production figures during the Cold War for the defense industry among which the small arms production.
The FIRST EDITION of the Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia edition of 2011
Two pictures of the evolution of the Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia, the left picture is of the First Edition, on the picture at the right side the Second and First Edition are shown note the considerable difference is size. (First Edition sold out!)
The SECOND EDITION of the Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia 2015
Roodhorst also has a deep interest in geopolitics in particular the position of the Western world and its relationship with Russia as Roodhorst is convinced that a full trustworthy partnership with Russia would be as important, as for the coming difficult years as it has been during the Second World War, despite recent blurred and cooled contacts. In 1999 Roodhorst decided to start research into the subject matter the Kalashnikov assault rifle on a structural basis but with respecting a broad perspective. It appeared that that was the first steps in realizing the Kalashnikov Encyclopaedia. In the year 2007 Roodhorst also started with SAFOPS consultancy a non profit initative established to formalize research on public safety and geopolitics. The choice Roodhorst made in 1999 to focus on the technical subject matter Kalashnikov fell into place as he understood that combining geopolitics with the Kalashnikov brougth him insights he believes the Western world should now. Next to this Roodhorst has a special interest in the D-Day operations in Normandy of which he believes that D-Day should be Europe's national liberation day. Not only to enjoy freedom, but also to be and to stay aware of the price men have paid for it, to be aware to respect it and to be fully prepared to protect it,... every split second, for this is the only price we should pay to those then fallen.