The Evolution Of German Tanks Evolutionary comparison between the first German tank to enter mass-production and the most recent German tank to enter mass-production: the 1918 A7V SturmPanzerWagen and the 1979 Leopard 2 (in the 1985 Leopard 2A4 configuration).
Germany was late to develop her own tanks in World War 1, fielding just 20 A7V heavy tanks in 1918, while Britain and France built over 1500 and over 3000 tanks between 1916 and 1918, respectively.
After the Great War, however, Germany more than made up for its delays, and began a cautious tank development program in the 1920s, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which forbade Germany from developing any new tanks.
Furthermore, part of this development and training took place at the Kama Tank School, near Kazan, in Russia, which operated between 1929 and 1933 – operations ceased after Hitler and the National Socialist party came to power, and Germany began to more openly go against Versailles.
Between 1933 and 1945, German tank development continued at an incredible pace.
Moreover, with the nation producing and fielding some of the most impressive tanks of World War 2.
The end of World War 2 again saw Germany forbidden from developing her own tanks, instead relying on vehicles of the former Allied nations that split the nation in half and effectively occupied it.
In 1956, the first new effort was begun to develop a German tank, which ultimately led to the Leopard 1 main battle tank, produced in 1965.
Joint development with the US Army under the MBT-70 program had shown German engineers the need for a much more capable tank, so a series of internal development programs were conducted between 1967 and 1975, which led to the Leopard 2 main battle tank, ordered into production in 1977 and first entering service in 1979.
Since then, the Leopard 2 has seen several major standard upgrades (the latest being the Leopard 2A7).
As well as a variety of nation-specific upgrades for NATO members that operate the tank. Lastly, it remains one of the most widely used European tanks of the modern world.
The Evolution Of German Tanks Written by Oleg Sapunkov
Military History | WWI, WWII, Vietnam War | Rebellion Research
