The tank is an armored fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat, with heavy firepower, strong armor and caterpillar tracks that provide solid battlefield maneuverability. The first tanks were designed to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare; they are now a mainstay of modern ground forces and a key component of combined-arms combat.
It was first developed by the Confederate States of America in 1915. General J.E.B. Stuart, recognizing their potential, began using them for massed offensives against a weak point in the enemy lines in 1916. In 1917, he used the tank tactics he laid down, soon to become known as blitzkrieg, in his Plan 1917 to completely smash the Federals and bring the Great War to an end.
Between the wars, the Confederate States, Germany and Britain led the world in tank development. Following the end of the Confederate ban on tanks in the North, the Reds began development of their own, and caught up to Confederate tank technology by the Second Great War.
Tanks played a prominent role in the Second Great War, where they were used as the spearhead for the two sides' blitzkreigs.
Types of Tanks in the Great Wars[]
Confederate States Models[]
- Mark I (Great War): The first tanks to ever be put into action. However, they performed poorly in the Harper's Ferry Offensive, giving the North a poor opinion of them.
- Mark II (Great War):
- Mark III "Dixie" (Between the Wars):
- Mark IV "Rebel" (Second Great War)
- Mk V "Lee" (Second Great War): The main Confederate heavy tank during the war, developed in 1942. Boasting an 88 mm flak gun and 25-120 mm armor, the Lee is considered by many to be one of the best tank designs of the war, and it outclassed the Northern Mk3. It saw service throughout the American theater, particularly in Kentucky.
- Mk VI "Traveller" (Second Great War): Developed, fittingly, along with the Lee, the Traveller was the best medium tank of the war, with a design advanced for its time, and constant contender for one of the best tank designs of the war. With 88 mm frontal armor and a 75 mm flak gun, it became valuable and feared for its reliability, firepower, and protection, and being generally cheaper than the Lee, it was deployed en masse to smash the Reds and drive them back north.
United States Models[]
- Mark I ( Great War): The first Northern tanks to be developed. The North either used models from captured Confederate tanks or simply used the tanks themselves. Northern Mk1s were usually rushed into production through the North's superior industry, but when they found themselves in combat deployed in great numbers during the last days of the war, they found theselves completely outclassed by Southern Mk2s. Mk1s, and all Northern production of tanks, were banned by the terms of the Treaty of Philadelphia.
- Mark II (Between the Wars):
- Mark II.V (Between the Wars):
- Mark III (Second Great War): The main Federal tank of the Second Great War. It proved a match for the Rebel before being outclassed by the Lee and Travellers.
- Mark IV (Second Great War):
