The Tank: Creation and Use in World War One
by World War One degenerated into a stalemate. What was needed were new methods to overcome the obstacles of a level playing field with enemy forces. The British developed an invention with the potential for turning the tide of the Great War: the motorized, armored vehicle known as the tank.
German tanks were also developed, such as the 18-man A.7.V tank, but they were seldom used in battle. Prior to the conclusion of World War One, British Colonel J. F. C. Fuller had organized Plan 1919, which included a massive offensive maneuver including several thousand tanks and aircraft for crushing the Western Front, and this plan would have been carried out had the war continued. The tank’s battle record was not extensive, nor was it remarkably successful, but the tank was an asset to the Triple Entente and, to some degree, the Central Powers.
As World War One began and progressed, old standards needed to be raised in order for any side to prevail. As such, innovations in trench warfare were necessary, and the minds of the British forces rose to the challenge of creating a war machine entirely revolutionary in its design. The tank was this machine, unique in its ability to cross trenches, house soldiers and carry weaponry in its hull. The armored and armed vehicle had the potential to be a deadly weapon to be used against the Germans on the Western Front and elsewhere in the war. However, the tank’s capabilities were not fully exploited by its makers, and its conception did not spell the end of World War One. Despite its faults, and the faults made by those who employed its use, the tank was a significant invention in warfare, and while it was not used to its full extent in its first three years of existence, the tank would develop and someday be used much more effectively in the future.
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