User:EmptyTinCan 162/sandbox

1915-1945
This 30-year period in the early half of the 20th century is particularly interesting to me because it features the 1st instance and core development of the tank, the worlds most important military vehicle and, in my opinion, the single most interesting class of vehicle in the real world.

World War 1
The first "tank" to run was a simple British tracked armored vehicle called Little Willie with an emphasis on the ability to cross the trenches of no man's land and end the stalemate of World War 1. The term "tank" was originally a British code name, as the English wanted the German Empire to believe that the project was a design for a mobile water tank, designed to carry water to front line troops. Ironically enough the first operational tank, the Mark 1, dubbed the "landship" isn't considered a tank by today's standards, as it lacks a fully rotatable turret. In 1917, the French improved upon the initial design of the tank, adding a fully rotatable turret, creating the first "tank" as we know it, the Renault FT-17. By the end of World War 1, all the largest European powers had their own tanks, and they became a sort of social symbol of international power.

Inter-War period
The inter-war period was a time of experimentation for the tank. Each nation that owned tanks had their own ideas about how to use them and how the build them most efficiently. The inter-war period brought about new concepts like tanks with multiple turrets and the idea of having different tanks to fulfill different roles. The British, for example, developed 2 types of tanks. The infantry tank was slow, well-armored and designed only to be fast enough to keep up with infantry. They featured armament designed to counter infantry and other soft targets. The cruiser tank was fast, lightly-armored and designed for flanking maneuvers. These 2 set the standards for the "light tank" class and "heavy tank" class.

World War 2
When World War 2 broke out, each nation rushed it's shiny new tanks, that they had developed during the inter war period to the front lines. While all nations trained with their tanks, none had had the opportunity to actually use them in armed conflict, save for the British, whose landships had engaged minimal opposition during The Great War. World War 2 gave birth to the "medium tank" a tank with more armor and armament than a "light" or "cruiser" tank, but less armor and more speed than the "heavy" or "infantry" tank. World War 2 also saw the first widespread use of the "tank destroyer", an armored vehicle designed specifically to destroy other tanks.

Immediate Post-War
By the time World War 2 had ended, the British had developed the concept of the "universal tank", a vehicle that would combine the speed of a light tank, the armor of a heavy tank and the firepower of a tank destroyer. Today, these tanks are called main battle tanks, or MBTs. Nearly every nation in the world has it's own MBT. Some are self-designed, others are bought by smaller nations from larger ones. The tank has become a universal symbol of military power, and hopefully, will still be in service another century from now.

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank