Almost all production effort was thus concentrated into the Mark I and its direct successors, all very similar in shape. In Britain a single committee had coordinated design, while the major industries remained passive. While the British began the design and use of tanks in World War I, France at the same time developed its own tracked AFVs, but the situation there was very different. History World War I Schneider CA1, the first French tank

The most significant French tank development during the war was the Renault FT light tank, which set the general layout for future tank designs and was used or redesigned by various military forces, including those of the United States. Another 400 Saint-Chamond tanks were manufactured from April 1917 to July 1918 but they were underpowered and were of limited utility because the caterpillar tracks were too short for the tank's length and weight.

The French also experimented with various tank designs, such as the Frot-Laffly landship, Boirault machine and Souain experiment. The Schneider CA1 was the first tank produced by France, and 400 units were built.

French development into tanks began during World War I as an effort to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare, and largely at the initiative of the manufacturers.

Ww2 tanks in battle