What type of vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design with sloping armor and internal gears?

Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored vehicle powered by internal gears and operated by people turning cranks.

The design appears in a drawing from the late fifteenth century. Its covered, conical body was intended to protect occupants while allowing weapons to fire through openings around the structure. Leonardo also included sloping armor, a feature that could help deflect incoming projectiles.

The vehicle was not built for a battlefield in Leonardo’s lifetime. Modern reconstructions have shown that the surviving drawing contains a gear arrangement that would prevent the machine from moving as drawn, probably because Leonardo concealed or altered part of the mechanism in a military design intended for a patron.

Calling it a modern tank is convenient but historically imprecise. It had armor, wheels, and weapon ports, yet lacked an engine and the tracked system associated with later tanks. “Armored vehicle” best describes Leonardo’s concept without imposing modern technology on it.