hey, all. one thing i decided on a long time ago for my ASB ATL (which may extend to some of my other TL projects as well) is that WW1 as we know it does not occur (though a regional war in southeast Europe takes its place). however, this in turn brings up one complication: no WW1 as we know it, no tanks as we know it
therefore, i want to start up a discussion about how tanks could potentially arrive on the battlefield before the date of the outbreak of WW1 IOTL. according to what i've looked up so far, the earliest date at which something resembling what we would recognize as an OTL tank was in 1903 by a French captain (hence why i put this in post-1900). since France would largely be uninvolved in the replacement war, does anyone have any ideas as to where these earlier tanks would first be fielded and move on to being developed/reverse-engineered by other countries? alternatively, another country could potentially develop them (i'd like to figure out which one would be the most likely) or steal the designs for such a weapon beforehand
also, another thing that comes to mind here could be that tanks aren't called tanks ITTL (in much the same way that tanks are called barrels in TL-191). as an official term, i'll probably default to armored-fighting-vehicle, but unless these tanks are built in secret and thus need an unassuming "code name" as IOTL, they might not get their name shortened and simplified
therefore, i want to start up a discussion about how tanks could potentially arrive on the battlefield before the date of the outbreak of WW1 IOTL. according to what i've looked up so far, the earliest date at which something resembling what we would recognize as an OTL tank was in 1903 by a French captain (hence why i put this in post-1900). since France would largely be uninvolved in the replacement war, does anyone have any ideas as to where these earlier tanks would first be fielded and move on to being developed/reverse-engineered by other countries? alternatively, another country could potentially develop them (i'd like to figure out which one would be the most likely) or steal the designs for such a weapon beforehand
also, another thing that comes to mind here could be that tanks aren't called tanks ITTL (in much the same way that tanks are called barrels in TL-191). as an official term, i'll probably default to armored-fighting-vehicle, but unless these tanks are built in secret and thus need an unassuming "code name" as IOTL, they might not get their name shortened and simplified
