THE

BEGINING OF
TANK
WARFARE
During World war I

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
01. 02.
INTRODUCTIO
DESIGN
N

03. 04.
DEPLOYMENT CONCLUSION

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 INTRODUCTION
Definition and context 01.
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 INTRODUCTI
ON
Tank = armoured vehicle, offensive weapon in the Front line
To get over the stalemate of the trench warfare in the western
front
Need : strong armour -> to resist to the enemy’s artillery
Good mobility -> move into the no men’s land with mud and
shell holes
Heavy firepower -> to fight the enemy

Those who worked on tanks said that it

was a machine used to carry water
Tank = reservoir

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 Contexte
Position war : trenches -> trench warfare
2 trenches : allies and enemy’s trenches
Development of firepower : machin-gun,
flamethrower, chemical weapons ( mustrad gas),
aireplane, ships, etc …
Area fully exposed but very inportant : the no man’s
land
In any case, severe casualties for all

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 02
DESIGN

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 LEONARDO DA
INSPIRATIONS
VINCI
“This tank, better than the elephants,
will be able to sow terror in the cavalry 1911 -
of the enemy. Men, climbed on these
machines and equipped with firearms, AUSTRIA
An engineering officer’s idea
will put the opposing troops to flight.”
: a fighting vehicle that had
a gun SE
FU
RE D
REJ
ECT
ED
HUSSITE WAR 1912 -
WAGON
Developped during the bohemian AnAUSTRALIA
civil engineer’s idea :
wars in the XVth C. A heavy wagon a functional tracked
with a cannon or armed men inside vehicle
protected by Infantery
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 THE FIRST TANKS
( IN GREAT BRITAIN )
1914 : The British Colonel Ernest Swinton and Wilon
Hankey -> idea of an armoured vehicle to break enemy’s
defense supported by Winston Churchill
-> Landships Committee : review plan for new armored
vehicle
1915 : the prototype Little Willie ( 14 tons, stucked in the
trenches )

-> new idea : they made improvements :

Big Willie = “Mother “= Mark I = His
Majesty’s Landship Centipede
Moved with its own power and success of
driving, obstacle crossing and firing trials

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 DIFFERENT TYPE OF TANKS

BRITISH FRENCH GERMAN

Mark IV The light Renault FT-17 tank A7V Sturmpanzerwagen

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THE GERMAN’S TANK : A7V STURMPANZERWAGEN
(armoured assault vehicle)

Only 20 tank during WWI ( on the battlefield early 1918 )

Top speed : 8km/h
Unstable, may over heating, need a crew of 18 to operate
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IN FRONT OF 6000 ALLIED TANKS OF VARIOUS
MODEL

THE RENAULT TANK MARK IV

The most successful french tank They ordered 1,000 Mark IV, crew of 8

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 CAMOUFLAGE
NEUTRAL
BROWN
The mud covered the camouflage
pattern so they chosed a colour for
all the tank

DAZZLE
GERMAN
PRINCIPLE
Confused the Germans of Captured 170 British tanks
their the direction and their and repaint them in clay
speed yellow, green and red-brown
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 03
DEPLOYMEN
T

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 THE BATTLE OF THE
SOMME
15 september 1916, Flers- Courcelette, 1st tanks in action

German’s soldiers were afraid of those strong armoured

machines

-> “ The Devil is coming “

49 British Mark I : noisy, mechanical malfunctions,

problems with integration with infantry

-> 31 cross the German lines and British casualties were far
lighter than usual but psychological impact in the both side

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 THE TWO TANKS THAT WORKED AS A
PAIR

THE FEMALE
VERSION THE MALE VERSION
Machine gun -> a men-killing Big gun -> a destroyer tank
tank

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 THE BATTLE OF CAMBRAI (1917)

LESS
400 MARK IV COALITION
CASUALTIES
Assault on the Infantry and artillery were But failure : can’t follow
Hidenburgline working together up the initial assasult

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 04 CONCLUSION

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 WERE TANKS REALLY SIGNIFICANT
DURING WWI ?
- Allies had a numerical asset in tanks over Germany
- Tanks were a small technical advantage, but they
limited capabilities between them and Infantry
- Beginning of tank warfare = Western Front, no big
impact elsewhere

For some people, tanks = psychological weapon because

of the fear it created
Significant weapon for the future

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 RESOURCES

● Wikipedia, Tank, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank

● Wikipedia, History of the tank, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_tank
● History.com, First tank produced, published November 24, 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-
in-history/first-tank-produced
● History.hit, Who Invented the Tank and How Did It Change World War One?
● by Amy Irvine published 6th January 2021, https://www.historyhit.com/first-use-tanks/
● IWM, How Britain Invented The Tank In The First World War,
● https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-britain-invented-the-tank-in-the-first-world-war

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 RESOURCES
● https://tank100.com/tanks/hatfield-tank-tri
al/
● https://tankmuseum.org/article/paint-and-
camouflage-in-wwi/
● https://tankmuseum.org/article/making-a-
mark-iv/
● https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Ger
mans-paint-camouflage-on-their-WWI-ta
nks
● http://data.abuledu.org/wp/?LOM=26597
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● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wql-q
lBp-cM
: World of tanks : what is a tank ? history
of tanks
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLW
9QVf9JYw
the very first tanks of the first world war
● https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net
/article/tanks_and_tank_warfare
● https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_wagon
EDITION Nº 001