Anti-tank warfare arose as a result of the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks and their supporting infantry during the First World War. Because tanks represent an enemy's greatest force projection, anti-tank warfare has been incorporated into the doctrine of every combat arm and service.

The predominant anti-tank weapons at the start of the Second World War were the tank-mounted gun, limbered (towed) anti-tank guns and anti-tank grenades used by the infantry. Anti-tank warfare developed rapidly, particularly on the Eastern Front, to include infantry and infantry support weapons, anti-tank combat engineering, towed anti-tank artillery, tank mounted guns, ground-attack aircraft and self-propelled tank destroyers. Both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht developed complex combined-arms methods of combating tank-led offensives, including deployment of static anti-tank weapons in in-depth defensive positions, protected by anti-tank obstacles and minefields, and supported by mobile anti-tank reserves and ground attack aircraft.