Renault, though he had no experience with tracked vehicles, took up the challenge and ended up helping pioneer a century of armored vehicle development. French general Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, considered to be the 'father of French tanks,' asked Renault to build a tank that was lighter and more nimble than the models already in service, which were large, heavy, and slow. Much of the FT was designed by Louis Renault, founder of the French automaker that still exists today. The FT has been called the world's first modern tank. To find the root of the tank’s dominance over how we fight now, we have to look back to May 1918, when France’s Renault FT tank first rolled into battle. It wasn’t always that way-a century ago, horses were still important to ground campaigns and motor vehicles were just beginning to ferry officers on European battlefields.

Tanks play a fundamental role in modern warfare.

One hundred years after the start of the war, we’re taking a look back at the most remarkable vehicles-planes, cars, tanks, zeppelins-the war helped bring about. World War I was shaped by a whole pile of new vehicles developed during the fours years of conflict.

First tank used in battle