Although tanks have become a symbol of military power, the first tanks were created as a temporary solution to the deadlock created by trench warfare. The early designs were unsophisticated and had little success when they were first used by the British Army on the Somme in 1916. The battle of Cambrai, however, proved that tanks were effective, and they were used extensively in the final year of the war. By 1918 over 2,700 tanks had been built in Britain, while France, Germany, the United States, Italy and Russia had all produced tanks of their own. This book covers the design and development of tanks during the First World War, describing the types that were used in action and the most important battles in which they fought. It is illustrated with photographs from the archives of the Tank Museum, at Bovington in Dorset.