Two Tanks, fighting vehicles drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1485-88


Leonardo wrote the following in a letter to his patron Ludovico 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 infantry will be able to follow quite unharmed and without any opposition.” It would be another 4 centuries until the British made the first physical tank during ww1. From The Drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci by A E Popham 2nd edition published 1947. Note the image is the correct way round. Da Vinci wrote in his own shorthand and also practised mirror writing. There are numerous speculations as to why he did this, but probably he was just doing it because he could, and it defied convention.


Size: 5176px × 2200px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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