Editing Armoured fighting vehicle (section)

====Pre-modern====
[[File:Helepolis.png|right|thumb|A [[Helepolis]]-like Siege Engine showing ballistae, stairs and movement capstan]]
Modern armoured fighting vehicles represent the realization of an ancient concept – that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Armies have deployed war machines and cavalries with rudimentary armour in battle for millennia. Use of these animals and engineering designs sought to achieve a balance between the conflicting [[paradox]]ical needs of mobility, firepower and protection.

===== Siege machine =====
[[File:DaVinciTankAtAmboise.jpeg|thumb|Model of a [[Leonardo's fighting vehicle|vehicle]] sketched by [[Leonardo da Vinci]]]]
[[Siege engine]]s, such as [[battering ram]]s and [[siege tower]]s, would often be armoured in order to protect their crews from enemy action. [[Polyidus of Thessaly]] developed a very large movable siege tower, the ''[[helepolis]]'', as early as 340 BC, and Greek forces used such structures in the [[Siege of Rhodes (305 BC)|Siege of Rhodes]] (305 BC).

The idea of a protected fighting vehicle has been known since antiquity. Frequently cited is [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s 15th-century sketch of a [[Leonardo da Vinci's fighting vehicle|mobile, protected gun-platform]]; the drawings show a conical, wooden shelter with apertures for cannons around the circumference. The machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of [[Hand crank#Hand-powered cranks|hand cranks]] and [[Gear#Cage gear|cage (or "lantern") gears]]. Leonardo claimed: "I will build armoured wagons which will be safe and invulnerable to enemy attacks. There will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yousense.info/6c69676874/light-armor-armaholic.html|title=Summary -> Light Armor Armaholic|website=yousense.info|language=en|access-date=2018-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126051036/http://yousense.info/6c69676874/light-armor-armaholic.html|archive-date=26 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Modern replicas have demonstrated that the human crew would have been able to move it over only short distances.

===== War wagon =====
[[Hussite]] forces in [[Bohemia]] developed [[war wagon]]s – [[Middle Ages|medieval]] horse-drawn [[wagon]]s that doubled as [[wagon fort]]s – around 1420 during the [[Hussite Wars]]. These heavy wagons were given protective sides with firing slits; their heavy firepower came from either a cannon or from a force of [[Hand cannon|hand-gunners]] and [[crossbowmen]], supported by [[light cavalry]] and [[infantry]] using [[pike (weapon)|pike]]s and [[flail (weapon)|flail]]s. Heavy [[arquebus]]es mounted on wagons were called ''arquebus à croc''. These carried a ball of about {{convert|3.5|oz|-1}}.<ref>{{Cyclopaedia 1728|title= ARQUEBUSS|url= http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0187&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&isize=M |page= 342|inline=1}}</ref> [[File:Husitsky bojovy vuz replika.jpg|thumb|Modern reconstruction of [[Hussite]] [[war wagon]]]]