The Italian Behemoth | Fiat 2000 heavy tank

The Kingdom of Italy fought on the side of the Allied powers of France and Great Britain in World War 1, declaring war against the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and Germany in August 1915, October 1915, and August 1916 respectively. Their battlefields were mostly different to the open trench covered battlefields of northern France and Belgium, however. Other than the plains of the north-east, most of northern Italy is rugged mountainous country and Italy’s war on its northern border was one of the most brutal of a very brutal war. Any tank for Italian use would have to not only fill the need to fight in very mountainous terrain but also in colonial wars in Africa. The British had already deployed tanks in World War I and so had the French. The use of the Renault FT by France had been witnessed by Italian observers in 1917, and tanks were the crucial element that was helping the British to advance in France.

In a contract dated 13th October 1915 the Fiat company had already been tasked by Major General Giulio Martini with the design of a 40-tonne armored vehicle with a 65mm gun in the turret and armor superior to an armored car. By the time a design was ready by Fiat, though official interest was being shown in the French tanks instead. The Fiat design, from the pen of Carlo Cavalli (a technical director at Fiat) and Giulio Cesare Cappa (formerly a car designer at Aquila, famous for racing cars) was finally ready in January 1917. This design under the original contract was the ‘Automobile blindata d’assalto tipo 2000' and this design from Fiat was instead to now be commonly known as the ‘Fiat 2000’ although at least one blueprint refers to it as a ‘mobile fort’.

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Information sources:
Fighting Tanks Since 1916, Col. Robert Icks
Le Forze Armate, 1935 – Colonel Pederzini, Italian Tanks 1917-1945 by Dr.Emiliano Ciaralli,
Der Taschenbuch der Panzer, Fritz Heigl
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/A... Chapter 12 – The Capture of Giarabub
Earlyaviators.net
Vonmorenburg.com
Il Giorniale D’Italia, 8th October 2017 https://www.ilgiornaleditalia.org/new...
La Stampa, 12th of September 2017 https://www.lastampa.it/2017/09/12/so...

Image sources:
David Bocquelet and Bernard 'Escodrion' Baker
vonmorenburg.com
Fulvio Miglia
Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra di Rovereto
Pignato
La Stampa, 12th of September 2017 https://www.lastampa.it/2017/09/12/so...
IWM
AUSSME
earlyaviators.net
Luce

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An article by Andrew Hills
Video mounted by Kraiger
Audio edited by Kraiger
Voicing by Nathaniel McDonald