Developed in the hope of breaking the first World War’s trench-bound stalemate, and referred to as ’tanks’ to maintain secrecy and disguise their true purpose, armoured fighting vehicles would go on to play a decisive role on the battlefield.
Tanks would also become symbols of brutal repression, deployed to crush dissent and signify power and prestige, both military and political. Yet today, in the age of drone warfare, these crawling monsters are arguably the terrestrial equivalent of battleships, outdated relics whose time has passed.
Discover the tank’s diverse and fascinating story, one in which technology, psychology and culture would all interact, as historians and military experts explain in The Tank: Weapon Of The Twentieth Century (Thursday 12th, 8.15pm). How much did the tank help shape the modern world? And does it have a future?
