Leonardo da Vinci designed a tank-like fighting vehicle with an armoured, conical body.
His late-fifteenth-century drawing shows a circular platform covered by a conical shell, with sloping armour intended to deflect incoming projectiles. The machine was to be moved by operators turning cranks connected to wheels, while guns projected through openings around the vehicle.
It is commonly called Leonardo’s tank, although the word “tank” belongs to much later military history. Leonardo’s vehicle was a concept for a protected gun platform, not a tracked armoured vehicle like those used in the First World War.
A famous detail is that the original mechanism appears unable to work as drawn because some gears would turn in conflicting directions. Historians debate whether this was a deliberate error, a drafting mistake, or an incomplete design. Regardless, the sketch clearly combines armour, mobility, and concentrated firepower.