This Strange Tank Was Suppose to Help Russia In World War I
Whereas the tanks of France, Great Britain, and even Germany utilized the familiar caterpillar treads, the Russian designers instead opted for massive wheels that could quickly cross most any terrain. It was a concept that seems simply hare-brained in retrospect.
Key point: Everyone wanted tanks when they were first invented, but folks were trying to figure out how to make these new weapons work. Here was one of Russia's stranger attempts at making their own tank.
Even 100 years later, most tanks developed during the First World War remain familiar. Even with the lack of turrets on British and German tanks, the profiles remain familiar enough, and it is easy to see how these massive hulking vehicles evolved into today's modern main battle tanks (MBT). Then there was the Russian Lebedenko, or "Tsar Tank," which goes down in the annals of military hardware as the most unusual, and arguably most impractical armored vehicle ever devised.