Modernisation

“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it”
― Mark Twain,The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The military tank was born to counter the stagnation of trench warfare during the Great Wars. Defences based on trenches, protected by anti-personnel measures like wire obstacles, minefields, booby-traps, et al, brought warfare to a grinding halt. Soldiers died more of disease and boredom than from gunshots. Emergence of the tank infused fresh impetus to the battlefield, rendering trenches and anti-personnel obstacle systems as redundant as a man’s nipples. The consequent return of “manoeuvre” to the battlefield resulted in new tactics, doctrines and weapon-systems from the 1920s to 1980s.