Evolution of German Tanks | Animated History

hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian given the sheer amount of vehicles designed by germany during the 20th century we're only going to be featuring the tanks that were produced in large numbers as well as a couple of significant interwar prototypes if you want to see more videos covering different german tanks like self-propelled guns and tank destroyers don't hesitate to let us know in the comments below now enjoy my horrible attempts at german pronunciation first i'd like to thank our sponsor conflict of nations is a free online pvp strategy game that lets you fight up to 128 other players in weeks-long real-time matches build an army with dozens of different units from tanks such as the t-80 or the 2525 sprut sd and infantry to jets and nuclear submarines then deploy them all to conquer the world fighting alone or as part of an alliance i especially like the strategic depth and unit variety that makes every battle unique the games also cross-platform and allows you to use the same account on both pc and mobile devices use the link in the description within 30 days to get 13 000 gold one month of premium subscription and the chance to enter a special game set up for viewers more on that at the end of this video germany's first foray into armored warfare began during the great war with the sturm panzerwarden art sieben fowl or sturm panzerwagen a7v created in response to the british tanks that had started appearing on the western front in september of 1916 the a7v was quickly prototyped and entered production almost exactly one year later due to being manufactured by hand no two a7vs were entirely alike although arguably just as effective as the british mark iv the a7v was only built in very small numbers and saw action in a mere handful of engagements before the end of the war following its defeat at the hands of the allies in the first world war germany was forced to cease all domestic tank production until the treaty of apollo in 1922 enabled the creation of the kama tank school near kazan in the soviet union safely away from prying eyes various german companies began competing to produce new tank designs under a veil of absolute secrecy the first major entry of this program was equals taktor or gross tractor which translates directly to large tractor a code name designated for a 16 ton tracked vehicle with two turrets one equipped with a 75 millimeter cannon and the other mounting a 7.92 millimeter machine gun six prototypes were built and underwent testing but were rejected for mass production if anything it was the soviets who gained most from the gross tractor using it as inspiration for their own multi-turreted tanks such as the t28 during this same period several prototypes of a second much lighter vehicle codenamed the leicester were built by croup and reinmatal armed with a 37 millimeter cannon and capable of speeds up to 19 miles or 30 kilometers per hour the prototypes provided crucial insights into the development of new and better vehicles with improved ergonomics and crew layouts despite the obvious shortcomings of the gross tractor some german officers still clung to the outdated concept of the tank as a land battleship therefore in 1934 the enormous three turreted neu beforezoyg was constructed this lumbering behemoth was an effective propaganda tool and took center stage during berlin's international automobile exposition in 1939. unfortunately it proved totally useless on the battlefield due to its slow speed and weak armor that could easily be pierced by rifle caliber ammunition fortunately for the vehmasht much more practical designs were already in the works the first of these was the panzer eins infantry support tank or panzer one armed with twin light machine guns over a hundred panzer ones participated in the spanish civil war the first time german tanks had seen combat since the first world war this combat experience proved vital to the development of germany's armored doctrine and the panzer one would go on to see combat in just about every theater of the second world war its chassis was also used by a number of early tank destroyers and self-propelled guns although german tank doctrine was already shifting towards the use of heavier vehicles delays in their production led to the creation of an interim design the panzer zvay or panzer ii armed with a magazine magazine-fed 20-millimeter auto cannon this light tank could punch above its weight class panzer twos formed the bulk of the vermont's armored divisions during the invasion of poland and gave a good account of themselves in most engagements the panzer ii saw service right up to the end of the war with the chassis serving as the basis for many specialized vehicles such as the martyr 2 tank destroyer and west self-propelled artillery piece by 1937 production of heavier vehicles had finally gotten underway starting with 10 prototypes of the panzer 3 or panzer 3 medium tank thanks to its superior ergonomics the crew of a panzer iii could operate much more efficiently than their french or british counterparts the prototype saw limited combat during the invasion of poland but these encounters gave valuable insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of the design by the time of the invasion of france the panzer iii had been upgraded to the aspergeron a or variant e which had thicker armor and improved suspension [Music] thanks to their excellent leadership coordination and usage of radio communication the panzer iii was able to run rings around many of the slow lumbering french tanks they encountered despite often being substantially outgunned by them the panzer iii continued to rapidly evolve after the invasion of france and by the time of the north africa campaign most were equipped with the short barreled 50 millimeter cannon which would be standardized with the variant h but the fighting in north africa also brought the germans into contact with their first american tanks whose long-barreled 75 millimeter guns could easily pierce the armor of any panzer iii additionally the short 50 millimeter cannon proved inadequate against russian tanks such as the kv-1 and t-34 seeing this weakness adolf hitler ordered an upgrade resulting in the variant l which included spaced armor around the turret mantlet and upper hull soon afterwards the panzer 3 reached its ultimate evolution with the variant m which added a deep wading exhaust for river crossings and shirts and armor panels for protection against man man-portable anti-tank weapons of course the panzer 3 was not the only medium tank that began production in the 1930s following an extensive series of prototype designs by multiple companies the first panzerfia or panzer fours began to roll off the production line just in time for the invasion of poland these were initially infantry support tanks lobbing high explosive shells from their short 75 millimeter cannons to destroy enemy bunkers and machine gun nests a job they excelled at the cannon was also more than adequate to deal with the lightly armored vehicles used by the polish army just like its smaller counterpart the panzer iv received extensive upgrades just prior to the invasion of france resulting in the variant d which had better suspension and improved armor protection the panzer iv proved an excellent vehicle during the early stages of the war but it was outgunned by most british and american tanks and still vulnerable to even low caliber anti-tank guns in early 1941 the panzer iv was upgraded further with the aspirjung f heinz or variant f1 which increased the frontal armor thickness to 50 millimeters and improved the turret armor thickness by 30 millimeters the tracks were also widened and the suspension redesigned but just like the panzer 3 the short-barreled cannon was never powerful enough at a long range a solution was found in november of 1941 when the panzer iv received a long-barreled 75 millimeter cannon that could penetrate all but the thickest armor this transitional model was initially known as the variant f2 and was later renamed the variant g after receiving additional armor plating by 1944 the panzer iv had reached its full potential in the form of the variant h which featured shirts and panels similar to those on the panzer iii however it would be all downhill from here as supply shortages forced the vermost to simplify the design with the variant j which removed the turret motor and replaced the scherzen with wire mesh even so the panzer iv continued serving the vermont faithfully right up until the end of the war as useful as the panzer iii and fours were plans for larger and more powerful vehicles had been floating around since as early as 1935. after the total failure of the neue beforezoyg german engineers went back to the drawing board and came up with a series of prototypes that slowly but surely evolved into arguably the most iconic tank of all time the tiga ice or tiger won with its thick armor devastating 88 millimeter cannon and surprisingly good mobility the tiger one was a terrifying force on the battlefield exemplifying the german idea of quality over quantity as such production figures were very low fewer than 2 000 units overall during its operational lifespan the tiger one received minor upgrades including a new periscope cupola various internal modifications and a new exhaust system while expensive the tiger one was effective in its intended role with its only real shortcoming being the lack of units available for deployment but hitler was convinced that the problem lay not in the number of tiger tanks on the battlefield but instead with their size and armament his solution was the tiga osferon bay a massively oversized and overloaded vehicle seemingly built from the ground up to devour germany's resources as fast as possible to make matters worse it was later discovered that many tiger twos had inferior welding to their older counterparts and even shells unable to penetrate the armor could slowly crack and deform the chassis to the point of breakdown german supply shortages eventually reached a point where as many king tigers were being abandoned due to the lack of spare parts and fuel as were being destroyed by enemy fire in the end the tiger ii caused far more panic among its own mechanics and quartermasters than it did among enemy troops not all of germany's late war tank designs were as impractical as the tiger ii however in 1943 the allies would encounter the vermont's second big cat the panta or panther envisioned as a replacement for the panzer iv the panther boasted well-sloped frontal armor a mighty 75 millimeter gun and on-road speeds of up to 55 kilometers or 34 miles per hour while much larger and more advanced than the panzer iv the panther was not especially difficult or expensive to produce compared to the tiger and around 6 000 were built between 1943 and 1945. the initial version was called the variant d and was modified part way through production to mount a new cupola and eliminate weak spots created by the driver's vision slit and whole machine gun port side armor panels were also added after the panther was proven vulnerable to the 14.5 millimeter anti-tank rifles used by russian infantry overall armor thickness was further increased with the variant a though the design remained the same except for minor details unfortunately the panther suffered from the same reliability problems and parts shortages as the tiger ii the suspension system in particular was over complicated while the transmission was prone to failing in the heat of combat the turret was well armored but the mantlet was eventually redesigned with the variant g eliminating the tendency for it to deflect rounds straight downwards into the hole the panther served until the fall of the third reich and despite its issue remains one of the best late war tanks fielded by the german military in the end not even the tiger and panther were able to save the nazi regime for destruction and for many years the divided german nation had to make do with equipment borrowed from either the americans or the soviets but in 1956 the bundeswehr received permission to begin fielding domestic tank designs once again resulting in the birth of the leopot eins or leopard 1 a main battle tank that gave up thick armor plating in favor of superb mobility the leopard one was soon recognized as one of the best tanks on the market and orders flooded in from all around the world german engineers quickly improved the base design adding a thermal jacket to the barrel and side skirts for better track protection but despite rave reviews by operators across the world the leopard 1 would not see sustained combat until the bosnian war where leopard 1a5s were used by peacekeeping forces during several operations still not wholly content with their design german engineers continued to work with their american counterparts during the cold war to produce an even better armored fighting vehicle but this super tank codenamed the m beitei tsipsek or mbt 70 was eventually cancelled and the bundeswehr struck out on their own with the leopot zvei or leopard 2 built to take advantage of new advances in armor and fire control technologies the leopard 2 swiftly came to be regarded by most operators as the best tank in europe easily competitive with the american m1 abrams the leopard 2 remains germany's primary mbt and a whole seven different versions have been produced domestically thanks again to conflict of nations for sponsoring this video join our special match in this free online pvp strategy game by signing up for the game through our affiliate link using the game name the armchair historian and the password the armchair historian which are displayed on screen right now [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 989,229

Rating: 4.9421616 out of 5

Keywords: German tanks, evolution of german tanks, panzer i, panzer ii, panzer iii, panzer iv, panzer v, panzer vi, panther tank, tiger tank, leopard tank, leopard i, leopard ii, panzer tanks, German armor, history of the tank, armor doctrines, world war two, second world war tanks, ww2 tanks, tanks in ww1, tank development, leichttraktor, grosstraktor, neubaufahrzeug

Id: S7tz1bNiV4s

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/COMPUTER1313]

And he did not have kind words for the Tiger 2: https://youtu.be/S7tz1bNiV4s?t=704