Light tank (Red Alert 1)

The light tank was the Allied primary battle tank of the early Second World War. It was the lighter companion of, and was committed to combat earlier than, the medium tank.
==Background==
The light tank is the smallest and quickest tank in the game; its small footprint and high speed allow it to dodge enemy tank shells if directed properly. It is among the fastest armoured tracked vehicles in the game, only beaten by the APC and the minelayer. Like other armoured tracked vehicles, it can run over infantry and it is well suited to this due to its speed.
The light tank is armed with a 75 mm gun, which fires a HEAT projectile against hostile targets. Compared to the main guns of other tanks, while a single shot from the 75 mm gun causes the least damage, the damage tradeoff is not much compared to the 90 mm of the medium tank. Moreover, 75 mm gun's slight lack of power is made up with the fastest reload and rate of fire, thus giving the light tank the highest damage output rate.
However, the light tank's relatively weak armour means that it cannot match Soviet tanks in one-on-one duels without extreme micromanagement to avoid return fire. A light tank can also be instantly destroyed by a full discharge from a Soviet Tesla coil. Allied commanders often combine medium and light tanks, using medium tanks to absorb enemy damage, which helps prolong the survivability of the light tanks in order to exploit their higher rate of fire and quickly destroy targets.
That said, the light tank's firepower, speed, low price and fast production often make this tank a weapon of choice of many Allied commanders and many would opt for this vehicle as their main battle tank of choice over their heavier cousins.
===Legacy===
====Tiberium Universe====
Light tanks and similar vehicles were used by the Brotherhood of Nod as their main battle tank in the First Tiberium War, often adapting IFV's for this role by fitting them with light cannons.
====Red Alert Universe====
The light tank and its medium counterpart were replaced by the Grizzly battle tank during the Third World War and the Psychic Dominator Disaster.
==Game unit==
Put it simply, the light tank is the tank equivalent of the rifle infantry, focusing on quantity over quality while having medium armor and high agility. Since they are cheap and quick to produce, it would allow Allied commanders to simply straight up overwhelm most ground threats, armour-vs-armour engagements, as well as reducing bases to rubble by just sheer weight of numbers. For their cost, their firepower is not shabby either, in fact their DPS outclasses the medium tanks. Their rapid firing guns have quick rates of fire while each shot deals almost as much damage as standard rounds from the medium and heavy tanks.
Additionally being cheap and fast brings immense flexibility other tanks do not possess. The high speed of these little fighting vehicles makes them useful as scouts or raiders, perfect for hit and run attacks on weak positions or single high value targets. Because of this, they complement well with the Ranger and the APC. This combination of light vehicles with their hit and run tactics are ideal for hunting ore trucks and other stray targets then speeding themselves out of battle before the enemy commanders can react. Light tanks can use their speed to dodge enemy tank fire and other projectiles with ease and overwhelm enemy forces when en masse. This is often the case especially when overcoming much heavier vehicles like heavy tanks and Mammoth tanks. It can be a major annoyance to an enemy base if enough tanks simply rush through base defenses with minimal casualties and are left unchecked while taking out structures behind enemy lines. Therefore, under the right hands, the light tank alone can suffice as a very competent and capable main battle tank over its heavier brethren.
However light tanks cannot withstand too much punishment. Their average armor is tough enough to take some small arms fire and explosives adequately but they don't match well against heavier caliber fire and can easily be destroyed by base defenses like the Soviet Tesla coil. Moreover their guns are not as effective on infantry, making them vulnerable to rocket soldiers although light tanks can easily dodge their attacks and simply run them over beneath their treads. Despite this slight deficiency of armour, huge packs of light tanks can prove to be a formidable foe and a challenge to counter.
==Behind the scenes==
The light tank is depicted by two different vehicles. In cinematic cutscenes, it bears some resemblance to the M41 Walker Bulldog, which is indeed a light tank from the 1950's with a marginally-effective anti-armour ordnance of 76mm caliber and just enough protection against small arms fire, while the sidebar image erroneously portrays an M2 Bradley IFV, due to Westwood simply re-using a render of Nod's light tank from Tiberian Dawn.
It would make much more sense for the light tank to be depicted as a World War II or early Cold War era tank, as the M2 Bradley and similar Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) were only developed in the late 1970's, and are also technically not tanks. The M2 Bradley's main weapon is a 25mm chain gun; there is also a co-axial machine gun next to it and a pintle-mounted .50 caliber M2HB Browning machine gun by the commander's hatch, giving it a limited anti infantry capability. IFVs are much less heavily armed and protected than main battle tanks, nonetheless when equipped with larger cannons or anti-tank guided missiles they can pose a significant threat to all but the heaviest armoured fighting vehicles. However, IFVs are not supposed to go into battle against enemy tanks, in contrast to in-game where the Allies initially only have light tanks to go toe-to-toe with Soviet heavy tanks. 
Besides the M41 Walker Bulldog, another possible contender for an Allied light tank is the M24 Chaffee, a light tank from the late-WWII period which had a 75mm cannon and was the immediate predecessor to the M41. There are also many European tanks which very well could have served in this role at the time, including the British Cromwell tank, which was a very fast tank at its time and also lightly armoured with a 75mm gun, the Comet tank which had a much more effective 76.2 mm gun, and the French AMX-13 with a 75 mm auto-loading gun. The German Panzer IV with its 7.5cm cannon, although classified as a medium tank in the 1940's, could have been reclassified as a light tank in Red Alert's timeline. The Panzer III/IV, a design proposed during WWII which was meant to combine the best aspects of the Panzer III and Panzer IV, is also a likely possibility, especially as a successor to the Panzer III shown in historical footage during a Red Alert 2 cutscene.
The game designers' choice in giving heavy tanks to the Soviets and light tanks to the Allies may have had historical precedent in the Western European theatre of 1944-45; the American M4 Sherman medium tank had weaker armament and protection than the German Tiger I heavy tank, however the the Allies used the M4's numerical superiority and speed to make up for this shortcoming.
==Gallery==
File:RA1 Power Plant Attack 1.jpg|Light tanks assaulting a small enemy base.
File:RA1 Power Plant Attack 2.jpg|Ditto.
File:MediumTank RA1 Cine2.jpg|Light tanks supporting a medium tank during an Allied assault.
File:RA1 Light Tank Firing.png|Light tank opening fire on Soviet tanks sometime during the latter stages of the war
===Cameos===
==See also==
* Medium tank, alternate Allied main battle tank
* Heavy tank, Soviet counterpart
* Light tank (Tiberian Dawn)
*Light Tank (Red Alert 2), cut unit
Category:Red Alert 1 vehicles