The year is 1948. The world has only just begun to recover from the global cataclysm of the Second World War. For many of the western nations just pulling themselves out of the rubble, their largest security concerns were now the Iron Curtain that had descended over Eastern Europe, and the fear of Communism spreading to developing countries. Tensions would soon lead to what would become known as the Cold War, which would shape the second half of the 20th century. While Egypt would not escape these growing global tensions they also had their own local concerns. These included enduring European imperialism, which they had been subjected to since the 1800s, but also the emerging threat of Zionism, embodied by the recently declared Jewish nation of Israel. Against the backdrop of these global and local events, Egypt’s military began to examine a new, modern rifle – the FN-49.