Tank Drawing

History
• Conception
The tank is the 20th century realization of an ancient concept: that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Since biblical times men had constructed or imagined such vehicles propelled by human or animal muscle-power, by sail, or more recently, by steam power. Only when comparatively recent technologies were combined did the tank became a practical possibility; those were the internal combustion engine, armour plate, and the continuous track.
Armoured trains appeared in the mid-19th century, and various armoured steam- and petrol-engined vehicles were also proposed. The first armoured car was produced in Austria in 1904. However, all were restricted to rails or reasonably passable terrain. It was the development of a practical caterpillar track that provided the necessary independent, all-terrain mobility.