The World of Tanks YouTube channel has a new segment out on one of the strangest tanks ever seen—the so-called “ Tsar Tank “. The tank, which looked like a cross between a plow and a Martian war machine, stood an astonishing three stories tall.

Tanks were invented in World War I, and before the design was more or less standardized as a turreted vehicle with a pair of treads, all sorts of weird ideas were tried out. None may have been weirder than the Tsar Tank, a giant armored vehicle proposed by Imperial Russia’s engineers.

Designed to terrify opposing German troops into fleeing the battlefield, the tank certainly looked the part. Instead of two sets of self-laying tracks, the tank had two giant 27-foot wheels. A third steamroller-like wheel balanced the tank from the rear. A turret with machine guns rode high in the center, and two cannons were placed in sponsons on the left and right sides.

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Image courtesy of WorldWar1Gallery.com