Leonardo da Vinci designed a fighting vehicle with sloped protective armor and multiple cannons.
Leonardo sketched the machine in the late 15th century, probably around 1487–1490, while seeking military commissions. Its conical covering was intended to deflect incoming projectiles, while cannons arranged around the lower edge could fire in several directions.
The design resembles a large armored wagon, but it was not a modern tank. Leonardo’s drawing shows a manually powered mechanism involving cranks and gears. A well-known problem in the sketch is that some gears appear arranged so the vehicle would move backward if built exactly as drawn. Historians commonly interpret this as either an error or a deliberate obstruction in a document intended for military patrons.
The vehicle was never built in Leonardo’s lifetime. Modern reconstructions have demonstrated that a working version is possible after correcting the gearing. It is therefore best described as a conceptual armored fighting vehicle, not the first operational tank.