Nikolay Lebedenko (russian: Никола́й Лебеде́нко) was a Russian military engineer, mostly known as the main developer of the Lebedenko Tank, or the Tsar Tank, which was the largest

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighting ...

in history, constructed in 1916–1917. Lebedenko was employed in a private firm, that worked for the Russian War Department, designing artillery devices before and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, as well as the bomb release mechanism for the

Ilya Muromets Ilya Muromets (russian: Илья Муромец), or Ilya of Murom, sometimes Ilya Murometz, is one of the ''bogatyrs'' (epic knights) in Bylinas of Kievan Rus. He is often featured alongside fellow bogatyrs Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Pop ...

bomber. There is little known about the biography of Lebedenko or his year of birth and death. During the war, he owned a private laboratory on Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he developed his projects for the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

, including the Tsar Tank. His idea intrigued Nikolai Zhukovsky, a scientist he had met earlier in a scientific and medical conference before the war, and thus, development began. After he left Russia for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the autumn of 1917, nothing is known about the fate of Lebedenko. It is quite possible, however, that Lebedenko died a quiet natural death, being about 70 years old in 1917.

References

Lebedenko (or Tsar) Tank
Russian inventors Year of birth missing Year of death missing Russian military engineers {{Russia-bio-stub