it is undeniable that soviet tanks are some of the most recognizable and mass-produced armored
vehicles in history it began with the legendary t-34 from world war ii and this eventually
proceeded to the equally legendary t-54/55 that saw over 100 000 built from 1946 to 1983. not only
did the soviets outmatch the western powers and production numbers but for a significant amount
of time they also outmatched them technologically as well the first red scare in terms of armored
vehicles for the west was the unveiling of the is-3 shortly after world war ii as this vehicle
was believed to outmatch anything in the western arsenals they reacted by developing the well-known
royal ordnance l7 a 105 millimeter cannon that changed the nature of tank design for western
powers delivering a gun capable of defeating soviet armor while also being very light and
allowing for the development of fast and nimble main battle tanks while the balance had been
shifted in the west's favor for some time this would not last long as the t-62 would deploy the
first mass-produced smoothbore tank cannon in 1961 and in 1964 the soviets fielded the world's most
advanced mbt the t-64 over a century ago the first tanks entered combat in the battle of the
somme since then hundreds of designs have seen use in every conflict from small local battles
to the largest wars some of these are destined for failure cursed by their own design those
that succeed went on to shape warfare in ways no one could have imagined prepare to dive into the
complex stories of tank development as we peel back the pages of history on some of the world's
most iconic designs through ingenuity sweat and blood these machines have been forged for battle
i want to give a special thanks to armored warfare for sponsoring this portion of today's
video and providing a special code just for my viewers which i'll talk about in just a minute
armored warfare is a free-to-play online tank combat game which allows you to take control of
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those of you who clicked on this video because you love the t64 you'll be happy to hear that you get
the choice of just about every variant of the tank in armored warfare you can then use them in either
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again to them for returning as a sponsor of the channel now let's talk a bit more about the t-64
the t-64 changed the game by being the first production tank to incorporate composite armor
in both the turret and frontal hull this gave the vehicle incredible protection from both
chemical and conventional rounds it matched this protection with an equally impressive 125
millimeter gun capable of penetrating any nato tank from distances of over three kilometers
multiple upgrades to the base vehicle saw the inclusion of laser rangefinders gun launched
atgms and explosive reactive armor all of these features made the tank an innovative and fearsome
vehicle and it rightfully took its place in its assignments to elite units of the soviet army
from 1967 forwards we covered the development and design of this machine in the first part of this
two-part series so be sure to watch it if you haven't already in part 2 we'll be picking up
where we left off to cover some of the more recent upgrades as well as the combat history of this mbt
the tanks of the soviet union often boast impressive production numbers such as the t-64's
big brother the t-72 seeing over 25 000 vehicles produced soviet production numbers are often
matched by the vehicle's participation in a large number of conflicts with the t-55 and t-72 serving
in nearly every conflict in africa asia and eastern europe since their respective development
dates however despite the advancements made by the t-64 it never followed this trend only around
12 000 of them were produced and they were never exported to foreign nations during the existence
of the ussr with the fall of the soviet union in 1991 many t-64s were passed on to successor states
the newly declared russian federation decided to phase out their t-64s in favor of its derivative
the t-80 and the cheaper t-72 this led to the t-64 becoming a major workhorse for the ukrainian army
instead with them acquiring a number of these tanks while the fall of the soviet union had
created a significant power vacuum that caused multiple conflicts to arise in eastern europe it
also gave the t-64 the opportunity to prove itself in battle something that it had never been able
to do before during the entirety of the 1980s the soviet union found itself embroiled in a difficult
war to hold onto control of its puppet state in afghanistan this war had seen nearly every armored
vehicle produced by the ussr involved in the fighting but only saw the majority of main battle
tanks involved being the t-55 and t-62 series however according to steven zeloga and lr ready
afghanistan was the first time the t-64s had been deployed outside of europe or the ussr proper
zeloga states that there were a few t-64s sent to afghanistan for testing but did not see combat due
to their engines not being able to operate in the high altitudes or terrain as there was no evidence
to be found of t-64s operating in afghanistan these claims may be either mistaken through
mistranslations or the tanks were only tested for an extremely small amount of time with this
in mind the first true combat history of the t-64 begins in 1992 with the transnistrian war in 1992
the breakaway state of transnistria found itself with the military support of russia along with
a significant number of troops provided by the presence of their army group the transnistrians
also came into the possession of 18 bv variants of the t-64 the bv variant is essentially a b
with added Kontakt 1 explosive reactive armor to assist with defense against chemical warheads
despite the formidable nature of the t64 and its upgrade packages the mighty vehicle did not live
up to its reputation when used in the urban areas of transnistria according to moldovan reports in
1992 three t-64s were destroyed when approaching the town of bender two by 100mm t12 anti-tank guns
and another by an rpg that was able to light the engine on fire despite claims that many of the
tanks bore russian flags they claimed that the tanks had been stolen by the transnistrians for
a tank that had been waiting decades to prove its combat worth its first turn in action did not bode
well in the mid-90s came another russian-involved war which saw the russian federation attempt to
pacify the state of chechnya that had declared independence in 1994. while the gas turbine
variant of the t-64 the t-80 saw combat in the war there is no record of the former actually
being fielded by either side during the first or second chechen wars this would leave the tank in
another period of combat dormancy until it found itself at the forefront of another war this time
against the nation that had originally developed it one of the most well-known ongoing wars of our
time is that of the russo-ukrainian war which started in 2014 and continues today unlike many
armies that field former soviet equipment the primary workhorse mbt of the ukrainian army is
the t-64 and its many home-grown variants at the beginning of the conflict the ukrainians had just
fielded the newest variant the domestic upgrade known as the t-64 bulat which had entered service
in 2010. the bulat has seen extensive improvements on top of the original b variant including era and
even an active defense system however only about 76 of these vehicles have been completed by 2014
and therefore the rest of the ukrainian force consisted of t-64B and BVs it has been reported
that there are over 1 000 t-64Bs in service with nearly 400 BVs in 2014 and about 253 in 2017.
on the other side of the conflict the separatist states only have 46 tanks of all variants A, B,
BV and BM it was claimed by the donetsk people's republic that many of these vehicles were captured
in 2015 from ukrainian forces but this has been challenged by other sources that state
many were supplied directly by russia while most of the fighting has been conducted using
lighter vehicles such as bmps and other apcs the T-64s have seen action in various skirmishes
in early september 2014 separatist forces moved an offensive to take the city of mariappol that
had been a rallying point for government forces in the area according to ukrainian sources their
seven T-64s present at the battle had faced 30 russian T-80s and were able to repel the
attackers at the loss of four tanks following this battle it was stated by a separatist commander
that government forces had been using T-64s at the second battle of donetsk airport in late 2014 but
this cannot be confirmed due to images and videos online only showing destroyed T-72s and bmps this
accurately sums up the activity of T-64s in the years following the initial battles of the war as
they have been active in so many minor skirmishes that it is not possible to detail each one due to
the lack of information online available about these actions however it is possible to find
many videos online of tank crews filming their time in battle with their tanks in many of these
videos it is possible to see that the tanks are loaded with high explosive shells indicating that
they are being used for fire support against infantry or targeting light-skinned vehicles
with this in mind it can be likely assumed that the tanks are performing well in their duties
the war in ukraine has been the most widespread usage of the T-64 in combat but an unexpected
twist came in 2018 when the democratic republic of the congo received 25 T-64BVs from ukraine
this is the first time that the tank has been officially exported and it can be said to be a
strange choice for the nation due to the fact that the T-64 is more complex and expensive than the
T-72 to operate and maintain it appears that the cost of procurement was very cheap however as they
reportedly paid only 230 thousand dollars for each tank the tanks were said to have been involved in
anti-rebel patrols in 2017 but not much more is known about their activities in africa for such
a revolutionary tank the T-64 unfortunately found itself in a position of being too revolutionary
and being outshone by its relative the much cheaper T-72 and direct descendant the T-80
due to the lack of sources on the topic it is not possible to make an accurate determination of the
true performance of the tank in battle however due to the fact ukraine continues to order
upgrades and renovations to the vehicle it can be assumed that they are either doing well enough
not to fully replace with T-72s or T-80s in their inventory or cannot afford to switch to
these tanks while the T-64 itself was never able to prove itself on the battlefield it can be said
it technically has in the form of the T-80 which is essentially a descendant of the T-64 due to
its design and multiple aspects of the vehicle however that tank is deserving of its own video
hopefully you enjoyed today's video if you did i'd appreciate it if you left a like on it and if you
didn't please let me know why in the comments so i can improve future videos i want to give a special
thanks to my youtube members who continually support the channel and my content as well as one
final thanks to armored warfare for sponsoring the videos in this series remember to check
out the description to try the game out yourself with all that said i'll see you in the next video