Király Pál and the Hungarian Submachine Guns
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Abstract
Király Pál was one of the best-known Hungarian weapon designers, whose name has become a synonym for the submachine guns he constructed. His confusing personality and puzzling career well reflect an eventful and chaotic period of 20th century Hungarian history. When his most successful creations, the Király submachine guns, were being developed, no experience regarding the military usage of such weapons was available at all. Consequently, when designing and manufacturing the weapons, the closely cooperating military supreme command and ammunitions industry faced several initial problems. Although the continuing development proved successful, production capacity fell behind the growing needs of the military for automatic handguns. The present work aims at introducing the famous engineer’s life and activity, as well as the phases of weapon development and production history.