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This horse-powered tank appears in my Confederacy-Wins timeline. In 1885, the CSA (which, while not being an industrial power, has industrialized somewhat and has capital) invades Mexico. During the war, a Frenchman OC named Algernon Lewthwhaite develops a number of weapons for the CSA (the Mexicans can't afford as many).

BALLOON WEAPONRY
I realize that balloons are almost useless as weapons. The purpose of the balloons is recon. After the CSA starts using balloons frequently, Lewthwhaite develops a balloon that has the gunner hang from the basket, connected to the basket by metal rods and held in place by a metal breastplate and codpiece. The weapon is either a scaled-down Maxim gun (Lewthwhaite guns) or a small mortar. The idea behind this is that, if the place where the balloons are tethered is overrun, Lewthwhaite guns can assist in defending, and mortars can fire chlorine shells at enemies far off in the distance. The fact that the wind blows around the balloon makes the mortars inaccurate, but it is still useful.

TANKS
The tanks are another invention of Lewthwhaite. These are basically metal shells with wheels, propelled by two side-by-side horses in the middle. A square hole in the bottom gives the horses room to walk. The cannon is a small breechloading gun, and the crew of the tank sees out a slot above the gun. There are four members of the crew: a commander, a gunner, an extra gunner, and a man who handles the horses (the "driver").

The armor is not resistant to artillery, and relying on horses makes them slow, but the tanks have enough armor to be invulnerable to small arms fire.

Do you see any problems with this, weight-wise or having to do with keeping the horses calm?
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