[TheThirdRuffian]

I don’t think the list is “best tank” or “most innovative.”

It’s “tanks that changed history.”

The Kentucky Rifle, for example, was a fine rifle, not the best, but it changed history.

The M1 is a fantastic tank, arguably among the best ever. It also has not been that game changing in any way.

[DCBryan1]

Agreed: Most historically significant?

British Mk I, Panzer II, Panther, T-34, and T-55 (M1 may supplant T-55?...give it another 20 years).

Most innovative? Lots, but I hope someone mentions the T-64B....scared the bejebus out of NATO when first introduced. Bigger gun, autoloader, etc.

Most influential? MkI British, T-34/KV-1 (love reading first contact reports on the eastern front), Tiger, Panther, King Tiger...nevermind...airpower negated that one for allies......T-55, T-64, M1, Leopard II?....lots to choose from.

[edpc]

I don’t know. It would seem the M1 exposed the myth of Soviet/Russian armor when it dominated the feared T-72 in Desert Storm.

[Hiddigeigei]

"The Kentucky Rifle, for example, was a fine rifle, not the best, but it changed history."

"I never in my life saw better rifles (or men who shot better) than those made in America: they are chiefly made in Lancaster, and two or three neighbouring towns in that vicinity, in Pensylvania," Col. George Hanger, commander of light dragoons in Tarleton's British Legion in the Revolutionary War.