Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored tank-like fighting vehicle with a conical protective body and multiple guns.
Leonardo’s fighting vehicle appears in a drawing from about 1487–1489. Its sloped, conical cover was intended to deflect incoming projectiles, while the vehicle’s lower edge carried several light cannons. A crew inside would theoretically turn the machine using cranks connected to wheels.
The design was not a modern tank and was not built for Renaissance warfare. Its propulsion system, as commonly drawn, would make the vehicle difficult or impossible to move because of an apparent gearing problem. Some historians have suggested that the error may have been deliberate, perhaps to keep the military design from being easily used by others, but Leonardo’s intention cannot be proven.
The vehicle is often described as a tank precursor because it combined armor, mobile power, and onboard weapons. It should not be confused with a conventional medieval war wagon, which lacked the same enclosed, all-around armored concept.