Leonardo da Vinci’s armored tank design used a large armored conical shell for battlefield movement.
Leonardo designed the fighting vehicle around 1487–1489 while working in Milan for Ludovico Sforza. The vehicle had a broad, covered body resembling a truncated cone, with sloping armor intended to deflect attacks. Small cannons were arranged around the perimeter so the crew could fire in different directions.
The machine was to be moved by people turning cranks connected to wheels. Some modern reconstructions point out that the surviving drawing contains a gear arrangement that would make the vehicle move backward rather than forward. Historians debate whether this was an error, a deliberate flaw, or an indication that the design was never meant for construction.
It was not a modern tank: it had no engine, turret, tracks, or tested combat record. “Tank” is a modern descriptive term for Leonardo’s armored fighting vehicle concept.