But it was after the War began, that tank development really picked up pace. With internal combustion engines getting increasingly better, it was a matter of time before the jump was made from sci-fi to science. In the 19th and early 20th century, tank-like contraptions were subject of science fiction, with legendary HG Wells even writing a short story The Land Ironclads (1903) centred around what would later be known as tanks. The idea behind a tank, though, can be traced as far back as Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and his famous sketches. The British were the first to deploy tanks, deriving their name from British attempts at ensuring secrecy of their new weapon under the guise of ‘water tanks’. “It was a weapon designed for one simple task: crossing the killing zone between trench lines and breaking into enemy ,” military historian Williamson Murray wrote in ‘Armored Warfare: The British, French, and German Experiences’ (1996). It was the stalemate of the Western Front that led to the development of tanks - vehicles which could provide mobile protection and firepower for troops in order to take down trenches. Moreover, between the two sets of trenches dug up by the opposing armies lay “no-man’s land” covered with barbed wire and sometimes, mines. While frontal assaults were still carried out, especially in the early days of the War, even when successful, they came at a huge cost, and it was nearly impossible to hold onto a trench after capture anyway. Modern machine guns, with their high rates of fire, allowed defenders to nullify a large number of attackers with only a few men. This kind of warfare was a direct outcome of advances in weapon technology. The Western Front, after initial back and forth, was largely stable for the duration of the War. Thus, through the War, German and Franco-British forces lost millions of lives for very little territorial gains on the Western Front. What this resulted in was highly static warfare where defence always held the advantage. Along both sides of the Front lay systems of highly fortified trenches, making it near impossible for either side to advance. The now mythic Western Front was one of the main theatres of the Great War, stretching from Alsace-Lorraine in the south, across France and Belgium, all the way to the North Sea.
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