Fiat 2000
In service 1918 - 1934
Italy's first tank and the first heavy tank anywhere with a fully rotating turret on top of the hull.
Built byFiat
Development history
Fiat designed the 2000 independently of Allied practice and arrived at a layout closer to the modern tank than any 1918 rhomboid: a tall box hull with a central revolving turret carrying a 65 mm howitzer and machine guns covering every arc. Only two were built. One was sent to Libya in 1919 for colonial operations, the other paraded in Rome and took part in trials through the 1920s. Neither saw significant combat, but the turret arrangement was prophetic.
Notable actions
- Italian operations in Libya (1919)