Tank

An M1 Abrams tank, one of the most advanced modern tanks

A Tank is a large armoured and (typically) tracked military vehicle, designed to engage enemy troops, vehicles and fortifications with direct fire. They were first invented during World War I by the British. They were a direct result of the advances in motorized transport. The tank was to be able to cross trenches, crush barbed wire, and were invulrerable to small arms and mahcinegun fire, although bombs and artillery fire could destroy or diable them. Armored cars had already seen use, but thier somewhat limited combat ability persuaded Major Ernest Swinton to develope a tracked fighting vehicle. A committee was formed to oversee the project. The first tank created by this committee was a tank that was nicknamed Little Willie. This tank was tested by the British military in 1915 and was first called a landship. Becaue of the secretive nature of the project, the first tanks were ship to the front in crates marked 'water carriers'. This later evolved into 'tank'. The French also developed a tank that was based off a Holt caterpillar. This tank was first used in 1917. Tanks eventually made trench warfare obsolete and would later become one of the best fighting machines on the planet.

The use of tanks in warfare was revolutionised by the German Army in the opening years of the Second World War. German Blitzkrieg tactics, using concentrated tank formations with air support, enabled the rapid conquest of France and the Low Countries in May-June 1940 and in 1941 helped the Germans to reach the edge of Moscow. Ironically, the Germans were using a military philosophy that had been devised by a British tactician, Major Basil Liddell-Hart, but ignored by the British War Office. Tank warfare formed a crucial part of the conflict in North Africa, and on the eastern front the Battle of Kursk in 1943 - the largest tank engagement ever fought - spelled the end of German dreams of conquest in the USSR.

A British Mark I tank, the first tank to be used in warfare

The rise of effective infantry anti-tank weapons has since eroded the dominance the tank enjoyed during the middle of the 20th century. Unsupported Israeli armored units suffered heavy losses at the hands of Egyptian troops with modern ATGMs in the Sinai. It is now considered essential for tanks to be supported by infantry at all times.