--- title: The Tank Was First Used 100 Years Ago Today description: It traveled at just 3 miles per hour canonical: https://time.com/4494957/tank-100-year-anniversary/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T13:56:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:10:15.838Z article:section: World og:title: This is What the First Tank Used 100 Years Ago Looked Like og:description: It traveled at just 3 miles per hour og:url: https://time.com/4494957/tank-100-year-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9416202d03b1eec/6988a636196cf433c803d389/trafalgar-square-tank.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: WW1 Tanks In Trafalgar Square To Mark Their Centenary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This is What the First Tank Used 100 Years Ago Looked Like twitter:description: It traveled at just 3 miles per hour twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9416202d03b1eec/6988a636196cf433c803d389/trafalgar-square-tank.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The First Tank Was Used 100 Years Ago Today. This is What it Looked Like by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2016 1:56 PM CUT  An Army photographer takes a photograph of a replica British Mark IV tank as it is displayed in Trafalgar Square in London on Sept. 15, 2016. An Army photographer takes a photograph of a replica British Mark IV tank as it is displayed in Trafalgar Square in London on Sept. 15, 2016.Leon Neal—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2016 1:56 PM CUT One hundred years ago today, the first tanks were used during World War I. As British and French soldiers fought the Germans at Flers-Courcelette, an attack during the famous Battle of the Somme on Sept. 15, 1916, the British forces unleashed a [new weapon](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tanks-introduced-into-warfare-at-the-somme "undefined") that could cover terrain previous military vehicles could not. To mark the anniversary, a replica of the original Mark IV tank has been placed in Trafalgar Square in London, the [_BBC reports_](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-37370764 "undefined"). The first tanks were far from perfect. They were originally designed to travel at walking pace to support the British infantry, and not all the tanks the British made were ready to use that day in 1916\. But the introduction of the tank ushered in a new era of modern warfare that brought more advances and much deadlier weapons. The replica tank has been provided by the [Tank Museum](http://www.tankmuseum.org/whats-on/events/bovevt53512 "undefined") in Dorset, England, which is hosting a Tank 100 event on Saturday in honor of the vehicle’s centennial. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4494957/tank-100-year-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4494957/tank-100-year-anniversary/"},"headline":"The First Tank Was Used 100 Years Ago Today. 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