What Leonardo da Vinci war machine used blades on rotating wheels to attack infantry?

Leonardo da Vinci’s bladed rotating-wheel war machine is known as a scythed chariot.

Leonardo’s design showed a chariot equipped with rotating blades intended to strike enemy soldiers as the vehicle moved. The blades projected outward from the wheels or axle, creating a dangerous sweeping area beside the machine. The design reflects Renaissance fascination with adapting ancient military ideas through new mechanisms and improved diagrams.

A scythed chariot was not a tank. It had no enclosed armored hull, engine, or tracked running gear. Nor was Leonardo the first person to imagine such a weapon: ancient armies, especially in the Near East and the Hellenistic world, used or described chariots fitted with blades. Leonardo’s contribution was a detailed mechanical reinterpretation.

The concept also illustrates why many of Leonardo’s military inventions remained theoretical. Fast-moving blades could threaten friendly troops, animals, and the machine’s own operators, while uneven terrain would make control difficult. Its historical importance is chiefly as an inventive notebook design.