Armoured tank

Leonardo Da Vinci invented an armoured tank for the Duke of Milan in 1487. The idea was that the tank would be able to penetrate a battalion of enemy soldiers without harm to the men inside the tank and allowing the army to follow directly behind. The tank was designed to be powered by four men turning cranks inside the tank. The tank was bristling with cannons that could be shot in all directions. Like Da Vinci’s giant crossbow the armoured tank may have been designed more for intimidation as opposed to functionality. The wheels were too thin and weak to travel over Italy’s rocky soil. Historians have noted a very simple design flaw in Da Vinci’s drawing which would cause the cranks to stop moving during operation. They theorise that such a simple mistake could have been added on purpose as Da Vinci hated war. This was another invention of Da Vinci’s that was never built during his lifetime. Once the suspected deliberate flaw was fixed historians successfully recreated a working model of the tank.