Leonardo da Vinci sketched an armored military vehicle that is commonly described as an early tank.
The design appears in Leonardo’s notebooks from the late fifteenth century. It was a covered, conical vehicle with sloping armor and numerous light cannons arranged around its sides. A crew inside would turn the vehicle using internal mechanisms, while the sloped exterior was intended to deflect incoming projectiles.
The machine was never built as a functioning battlefield vehicle in Leonardo’s lifetime. Its proposed power system has led to a famous debate: the drawing appears to show gears that would make the vehicle move in the wrong direction. Some historians suggest this was an intentional alteration or a design error, while others treat it as evidence that the concept was unfinished.
Modern tanks did not emerge until the twentieth century, when engines, steel armor, tracks, and military logistics made armored mobility practical. Leonardo’s vehicle was therefore a conceptual predecessor, not the first operational tank.