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By the fall of 1916, the Western front of World War I had stagnated. The Allied and Central powers had entrenched themselves along the French countryside. The technological advances of the previous decades had made the traditional tactics obsolete. Defensive weaponry dominated the battlefield, making any offensive effort difficult, costly and unlikely to succeed. It quickly became clear that technological advances in offensive weaponry would be needed to counteract the defensive might. To that end, the British, French and Germans had begun work on armored vehicles that could withstand machine gun fire, move unhindered through barbed wire, and cross over enemy trenches during an advance. The British were the first to use their new tank on the battlefield, on September 15, 1916, as part of the Somme offensive. The new vehicles were unreliable and difficult to transport, and had little immediate effect. Even as the technology and tactics of tanks improved, they ultimately had only a minor impact in the offensives of the war. However, as time moved on, tanks became a dominant offensive weapon in World War II and through the rest of the twentieth century.
Despite the initial technological weakness of early tanks, they ultimately shaped nearly a century of military history. The tank was designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare. It was not able to do so. However, the technology available was used to change the nature of twentieth century warfare. Sometimes, a good idea just needs time to develop. Sometimes, it may not even do what it was originally intended to do. However, if someone takes the time to develop an idea, look for new angles and uses, and smooth out the rough edges, then that idea may achieve results that were previously unimagined.
So what? That's what.
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