Leonardo da Vinci designed a tank-like armored fighting vehicle as an early predecessor of the modern tank.
His design, dated to around 1487, shows a conical, turtle-shaped armored cover mounted on a platform with wheels. Several men inside would turn cranks connected to the wheels, allowing the vehicle to move across a battlefield while protecting its occupants.
The vehicle was intended to carry weapons, including small cannons, and its sloping armor could help deflect projectiles. Leonardo’s drawing contains a famous mechanical problem: the gearing as shown would make the wheels turn in opposite directions. Historians debate whether this was an error, deliberate sabotage, or an unfinished detail.
It was never constructed in Leonardo’s lifetime. The word “tank” belongs to twentieth-century armored warfare, so calling it a tank is a modern comparison rather than Leonardo’s own terminology.