Origin
What is Krav Maga?
Krav Maga is Hebrew and means, literally, "contact combat". It isn't a martial art in the classical sense: it's a self-defence system. There are no competitions, no ceremonial belts, no choreographed forms repeated out of tradition. Everything taught is there because it works.
It was created by Imi Lichtenfeld, a boxer, wrestler and gymnast born in 1910 and raised in Bratislava. In the late 1930s he organised the defence of the Jewish quarter against the antisemitic gangs attacking it, and there he discovered something uncomfortable: what worked in the ring did not work on the street. He built the system out of that difference.
He later emigrated to the Middle East, trained the Haganah and ended up as chief instructor of hand-to-hand combat for the Israeli army. From there it spread to police forces, security services around the world and, finally, to ordinary people.
Defend and attack at once
You don't block and then respond: it all happens in a single movement.
Natural reflexes
It builds on what your body already does instinctively, instead of fighting it.
Prevention first
The best technique is the one that avoids the problem: read the room, de-escalate, leave.
Under stress
You train tired and under pressure, because that's how it happens in reality.