Leonardo da Vinci sketched a tank-like armored military vehicle as a mobile fortress powered by eight men.
The design, usually called Leonardo’s fighting vehicle, appears in drawings from around 1487–1489. It has a conical, turtle-like shell made from wood and reinforced with metal plates. Cannons project through openings around the vehicle, allowing its occupants to fire in several directions.
Leonardo’s plan placed cranks and gears inside the vehicle so men could turn the wheels while protected by the armor. The machine was never built for Renaissance warfare, and surviving drawings show mechanical problems that would have made movement difficult.
It is often described as a tank, but it was not a modern tank. The first tanks used in battle appeared during the First World War, more than four centuries later. Leonardo’s vehicle was instead a speculative armored siege machine.