The U.S. Army and Marine Corps are on the cusp of a centennial—the 100th anniversary of the tank in U.S. service.

This animated GIF, put together by the folks at partcatalog.com, shows the evolution of the American tank—from the clanky M1917 light tank to the M1A2 Abrams—and shows how the U.S. went from a newcomer to the world of tanks to world leader. The M1917 light tank, for example, was merely a copy of the Renault FT-17. That kind of copycat engineering is an idea that would be unthinkable now. Today the U.S. is a leader in tank development, and the M1A2 Abrams is the most successful, battle-tested main battle tank of its era.

Here are the tanks you can see in the GIF above:

World War I:

Interwar Period:

World War II:

Cold War/Vietnam/Kuwait/Iraq/Afghanistan

[link href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M48_Patton' link_updater_label='external' target='_blank']M48 Patton medium tank

Source: Partcatalog.com

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