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[[Image:tank1.jpg|thumb|250px|An [[M1 Abrams]] tank, one of the most advanced modern tanks]]

[[Image:tank1.jpg|thumb|250px|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 invulnerable to small arms and machine gun fire, although bombs and artillery fire could destroy or disable them. Armored cars had already seen use, but their somewhat limited combat ability persuaded Major Ernest Swinton to develop 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 shipped 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.

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 invulnerable to small arms and machine gun fire, although bombs and artillery fire could destroy or disable them. Armored cars had already seen use, but their somewhat limited combat ability persuaded Major Ernest Swinton to develop 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.  Because of the secretive nature of the project, the first tanks were shipped 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 Nazis in the opening years of the [[Second World War]]. [[Nazi]] [[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 Nazis to reach the edge of [[Moscow]]. Ironically, the Nazis 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 Nazi dreams of conquest in the USSR.

The use of tanks in warfare was revolutionised by the Nazis in the opening years of the [[Second World War]]. [[Nazi]] [[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 Nazis to reach the edge of [[Moscow]]. Ironically, the Nazis 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 Nazi dreams of conquest in the USSR.