The Tank Grows Up: From the Mark I to the Armata

The first tank used in combat, first fielded at the Somme in September 1916. Its rhomboid hull and all-round tracks were chosen to cross wide trenches and cratered ground. It was unreliable and many broke down, yet its immunity to rifle and machine-gun fire proved the idea.

The French light tank of 1917 set the layout nearly every later tank follows: a fully rotating turret on top, the driver at the front and the engine at the rear. It was small, cheap and built in large numbers, with 2,697 delivered to the French army before the Armistice.

A French heavy tank entering production in 1935, with a 75 millimeter howitzer in the hull and a 47 millimeter gun in the turret, so one vehicle could attack fortifications and armour. Formidable in direct fights in 1940, it was too slow and fuel-hungry for the mobile war Germany waged.

The Soviet medium tank first completed in September 1940. Its mix of firepower, armour and mobility had a profound effect on the Eastern Front and shaped tank design well beyond the war, leading directly to the T-44, then the T-54 and T-55 series.

Adopted for general German army use on 27 September 1939, it became the most numerous German tank of the war, with 8,553 built. Unlike the heavier Panther and Tiger, it stayed in production and front-line use throughout, with armour and guns upgraded over successive variants.

The main American medium tank of the war, built from 1942 in numbers above forty-nine thousand. Individual Shermans were often outmatched by later German tanks, but its reliability, simplicity and ease of transport let the Allies replace losses far faster than Germany could.

Introduced in 1943 in answer to the Soviet T-34, with sloped frontal armour and a long, high-velocity 75 millimeter gun. It was among the most effective designs of the war, but a rushed schedule left final-drive and transmission problems that thinned its numbers at Kursk.

British tank entering service in 1945, too late for the Second World War. It combined a sloped hull, a powerful gun and dependable all-round performance, fought in Korea, and helped define the postwar main battle tank that replaced separate cruiser and infantry tanks.

The Soviet medium tank introduced in 1958 as a refinement of the T-54, with a 100 millimeter gun and a ventilation system hardened against nuclear fallout. Built in tens of thousands and exported worldwide, upgraded examples were still in service in the twenty-first century.

Entered United States Army service in 1980 with a multifuel turbine engine, Chobham composite armour and a computer-controlled fire-control system. In the 1991 Gulf War the M1A1 lost no tanks to enemy tank fire and could engage targets beyond the range of the Iraqi tanks it faced.

Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s and in West German service from 1979, replacing the Leopard 1. Surplus examples sold across Europe in the 1990s earned it the nickname Euro Leopard, and since 2023 donated Leopard 2s have fought in Ukraine.

Israel's own tank, first in service in 1979 after heavy armour losses in the 1973 war. Its engine sits at the front to shield the crew, with a rear hatch for casualty evacuation or extra ammunition, a design that puts crew survival ahead of the usual layout.

Designed by Vickers between 1986 and 1993 and in British service from 1998, with a 120 millimeter rifled gun, unusual among NATO tanks, and Dorchester composite armour. It fought in the 2003 Iraq War and has been supplied to Ukraine since 2023.

A Russian fourth-generation tank first shown at the Victory Day parade on 9 May 2015, with an unmanned turret and the whole crew in an armoured capsule. The Afganit active protection system and the program delays and disputed service claims make it the open question of the line.