Tanks in World War I By: Sandro Karhula & Jerry Vuohelainen Index Battles - Battle of the Somme Page: 5 - Battle of Cambrai Page: 6 - Battle of the St. Quentin Canal Page: 10 - Battle of Villers-Bretonneux Page: 10 Tanks - A7V Page: 9 - Mark I, V Page: 4-5 - Mark A Whippet Page: 7-8 - Renault FT-17 Page: 8 Introduction The first ever project to build a tank was made by Leonardo da Vinci in 1487. Although he never realized it, the main idea of tanks did not change. He wrote the following in a letter to Sforza – “I can make armored cars, safe and unassailable, which will enter the closed ranks of the enemy with their artillery, and no company of soldiers is so great that it will not break through them. And behind these our …show more content…
opposite effect on enemy troops. Battle of Cambrai The first battle in WW1 when tanks were used in a big amount was the Battle of Cambrai, November/December 1917. 474 British tanks successfully attacked and broke the front and stormed into the German positions. The offensive broke down because the tanks were too slow and heavy. Therefore, they were destroyed by attacking airplanes at the end of the battle. Picture 5: Plan of the Battle of Cambrai Development of British and French Tanks Britain and France started to work on a new faster and lighter tank model. In 1918, two new tanks were invented: British - Medium Mark A Whippet and French - Renault FT-17. The tank Medium Mark A Whippet was very fast for those times, 13km/h. The name “Whippet” comes from the hunting dog breed Whippet (very fast 56 km/h). The crew only consisted of three people, so the Whippet was not so crowded like other Mark