The immobility of the trench warfare characterizing the First World War led to a need for a powerfully armed military engine that would be at the same time protected from enemy fire and could move on the extremely irregular terrain of battlefields.

As early as 24 August 1914, the French colonel Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne articulated the vision of a cross-country armoured vehicle:[4] "Victory in this war will belong to the belligerent who is the first to put a cannon on a vehicle capable of moving on all kinds of terrain"One of the first attempts was made in France with the early experiment made with the Boirault machine, developed in 1914 by French engineer Louis Boirault, proposed to the French War Ministry in December 1914, and ordered for construction on 3 January 1915.

[3] Upon the insistence of the inventor, modifications were made, a new commission was formed and new trials organized on 4 November 1915,[3] for the benefit of the Engineer Arm.

It was composed of six metal plates rotating around the core chassis, and had some level of steering control, allowing for a turning radius of 100 meters.

[3] General Henri Gouraud commented on the performance of the machine on 20 August 1916, explaining that it ran for 1,500 meters in flat terrain, at about 1 km/h.

A few months before, in October 1914, the French arms manufacturer Schneider & Co. had already sent out its chief designer, Eugène Brillié, to investigate tracked tractors from the American Holt Company, at that time participating in a test programme in England.