section_path: Vehicle/History/Armoured fighting vehicles
section_name: Armoured fighting vehicles
paragraph_text: Armoured fighting vehicles
  
  Ancient siege engines were usually protected by wooden armour, often covered with wet hides or thin metal to prevent being easily burned.
  
  Medieval war wagons were horse-drawn wagons that were similarly armoured. These contained guns or crossbowmen that could fire through gun-slits.
  
  The first modern armoured fighting vehicles were armoured cars, developed c. 1900. These started as ordinary wheeled motor-cars protected by iron shields, typically mounting a machine gun.
  
  During the First World War, the stalemate of trench warfare during on the Western Front spurred the development of the tank. It was envisioned as an armoured machine that could advance under fire from enemy rifles and machine guns, and respond with its own heavy guns. It used caterpillar tracks to cross ground broken up by shellfire and trenches.