WWI: The First Modern War

Tanks were the first armored fighting machine to be used on the battlefield. These "land ships", as they were first called, were championed by Head of the British Admiralty Winston Churchill. Adapted from an American tractor with caterpillar tracks, the machine was designed in secrecy to break through the heavily fortified trenches and offer protection for troops that were being mowed down by heavy artillery. Though a massive failure in their first combat in the Battle of the Somme– they broke down and got stuck in the mud–British government propaganda reversed the story and paved the way for thousands of tanks to be built and become a decisive weapon in the war.