Dead again? The tank...

The Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces (ZMSBw) invites you to the first quarterly lecture of the year in Potsdam. On March 19, 2026, Ralf Raths, director of the German Tank Museum in Munster, will speak on the topic: “Dead again? The obsolescence of the tank from the Western Front to Ukraine.”

The final end?

With astonishing regularity, the tank has been and continues to be declared dead. Every decade or two, some people seem to believe that the “end of the tank” has come. Even though none of the previous predictions have come true, the mass presence of drones in Ukraine has heralded the next round of this debate. The fact that tanks are still rolling across the battlefields there after four years of war does not seem to count as a counterargument. The lecture outlines the various chapters of the dirge for the tank over the last 130 years. Ralf Raths approaches the question of whether this constant questioning is unique and, if so, what the reasons for it might be. Informed by this historical overview, he then takes a look at Ukraine and explores the question of whether the final “end of the tank” can now reasonably be expected on the battlefields there.

Experts discuss

After the lecture, Ralf Raths will discuss with the renowned tank expert Dr. Markus Pöhlmann from the ZMSBw. Markus Pöhlmann heads the “Operations” research department and is an expert on World War I and military intelligence in the early 20th century. He is also the author of the book "Der Panzer und die Mechanisierung des Krieges. Eine deutsche Geschichte 1890 bis 1945" (The Tank and the Mechanization of War: A German History from 1890 to 1945). The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Alaric Searle, Senior Researcher at the ZMSBw.

Further information is available on the ZMSBw website.