Leonardo da Vinci sketched an armored tank, a covered war machine with a conical shell and cannon openings.
The design appears in Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus and resembles a low, circular vehicle protected by sloping armor. Small cannons would fire through openings around its perimeter. Inside, men turning cranks were intended to drive the wheels, although the original drawing contains a gearing problem that would prevent the machine from moving as shown.
Leonardo presented the concept as a military invention in the context of Renaissance warfare, when rulers sought stronger artillery and mobile protection. It was a design study rather than a documented battlefield vehicle, and no contemporary evidence shows that it was built.
The machine is often called Leonardo’s tank because its enclosed armored body resembles later tanks. It was not a modern tracked tank: it had wheels, relied on human power, and lacked the engines, suspension, and tracks developed centuries later.