Osprey - General Military - Tanks. 100 Years of Evolution.pdf

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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
TANKS
100 YEARS OF EVOLUTION
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
TANKS
100 YEARS OF EVOLUTION
Richard Ogorkiewicz
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgements
7
9
Chapter 1: The Origin of the Species
Chapter 2: The ‘Invention’ of the Tank
Chapter 3: First World War Battlefield Debut
Chapter 4: Post-War Anticlimax
Chapter 5: Britain’s Lead and Failings
Chapter 6: Tank Development in Europe and America
Chapter 7: Creation of the Armoured Forces
Chapter 8: Panzers and their Second World War Opponents
Chapter 9: The Cold War’s Five Dominant Countries
Chapter 10: On the Peripheries of Major Powers
Chapter 11: Asia Catches Up
Chapter 12: Epilogue
Appendices
I Growth of Gun Power
II The Quest for Greater Protection
III Different Aspects of Mobility
11
22
37
49
56
73
101
117
149
199
224
243
247
266
281
Notes
Index
308
337
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Introduction
The aim of this book is to present a comprehensive account of the worldwide
evolution and employment of tanks from their inception a century ago to
this day.
Because of their military importance and general interest much has been
written already about tanks, including three books of which I have been the
author.
1, 2, 3
However, there is much more to be said about them, not only because
of the more recent developments or because of tanks’ worldwide proliferation
but also because of the misconceptions about their origins and other developments.
In consequence, the present account starts with a reappraisal of what led to
the development of tanks and how they came into being during the First World
War. By the end of that conflict tanks had gained considerable importance
but this was not sustained in its immediate aftermath, and a revival only began
when the British Army started in the 1920s to experiment with a more mobile
use of tanks. The subsequent rise in the importance of tanks was accompanied
by and was partly due to the advances in their design and performance that were
achieved in Europe and America before the Second World War. The enhanced
capabilities that tanks consequently acquired enabled them to become the core
of combined arms, mechanized formations and these provided the most
effective way of employing them, which was demonstrated by the German
panzer divisions at the outset of the Second World War.
The successes of the panzer divisions were followed by a widespread
expansion of the armoured forces, which came to dominate ground warfare
7
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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