Tanks: A Century of Dominating the Battlefield 1916-2016

Written and directed by Clyde Hoch, a former tank commander who fought during the Vietnam War, Tanks is largely aimed at armchair military fans interested in the tech specs of battlefield equipment. But it also serves up a general history of a weapon that was initially envisioned as a battleship on dry land. The first generation of tanks produced toward the end of World War I by the U.S., Britain, and France, were sluggish vehicles that had limited mobility, were vulnerable to attack, and were internally dangerous for crews (bits of metal within the tank could suddenly go flying). These tanks were made by automobile companies (Ford, Renault) and ran on similar engines and fuel as cars. After the war concluded, interest in tanks waned, but when the U.S. Army infantry sought out a smaller, lighter tank during the 1930s, technological evolution suddenly took off, improving tank utility over the decades to fight in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and beyond. Tanks ultimately expanded their capabilities to be able to shoot flames, bulldoze, and travel in near silence at rapid speeds. With the ascension of drones in modern warfare, the place of tanks is now questionable, but they certainly made a notable mark over the past century of military history. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)