Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored tank with cannons arranged around a circular platform.
His fighting vehicle appears in a drawing from about 1485. The vehicle had a conical, turtle-like shell intended to protect its crew and was shown with numerous light cannons around its perimeter. Sloping armor could help deflect incoming projectiles, while the circular arrangement allowed weapons to face different directions.
The vehicle was supposed to move using internal cranks connected to wheels. Some modern accounts say Leonardo deliberately included a gearing error to prevent the design from being built, but historians have debated whether the mismatch was intentional or simply a drafting mistake.
Calling it a tank is a modern label, not Leonardo’s own name. It was a Renaissance proposal for an armored fighting vehicle, and it was never built for combat. Modern tanks differ substantially because they use engines, tracks, rotating turrets and heavier armor.