Leonardo da Vinci sketched a tank-like armored fighting vehicle in 1487.
His design showed a conical wooden shell covered with iron plates and fitted with guns around its lower edge. Inside, men would turn cranks connected to wheels, moving the vehicle across the battlefield. The broad, sloping shape was intended to deflect incoming fire.
The machine was never built for Renaissance warfare. Modern reconstructions often call it a tank, although that modern military term did not exist in Leonardo’s time. A frequently repeated story says the design contained an intentional gearing error to prevent unauthorized use, but historians debate whether the apparent problem was deliberate or simply a drawing issue.
Leonardo’s vehicle belonged to a wider group of military projects, including siege weapons and artillery. It was a conceptual design rather than a demonstrated invention, and its heavy weight would have made practical movement difficult.