Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored fighting vehicle commonly described as an early tank in the 1480s.
His drawing shows a conical, turtle-shaped wooden vehicle covered with metal plates. Sloping armor was intended to deflect incoming projectiles, while cannons projected through openings around the vehicle’s perimeter. Several men inside would turn cranks connected to wheels.
The machine was never built for Renaissance warfare. Its proposed drivetrain has a mechanical inconsistency: the gears as drawn would make the wheels turn in opposite directions. Some historians think this may have been deliberate, perhaps to restrict access to the design or conceal a flaw.
Calling it a tank is a modern comparison, not Leonardo’s own term. Unlike twentieth-century tanks, it lacked an engine, a turret, and a practical tested system for crossing difficult ground.