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T-54/T-55 operators and variants

main battle tank

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ4481789
Source-derived summary

The T-54/T-55 tank series is the most widely used tank in the world and has seen service in over 50 countries. It has also served as the platform for a wide variety of specialty armoured vehicles. It was produced in Poland until 1979, in the USSR until 1981, in Czechoslovakia until 1983, in China until 1985.

Current operators

Algeria: 40 T-54s were ordered in 1963 from the Soviet Union and delivered in 1963 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). 25 T-54s and 25 T-55s were ordered in 1965 from the Soviet Union and delivered in 1966 (T-54s were previously in Soviet service). 100 T-54s were ordered in 1966 from the Soviet Union and delivered between 1966 and 1967 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service). 100 T-55s were ordered in 1966 from the Soviet Union and delivered in 1967. 50 T-55s were ordered in 1981 from the Soviet Union and delivered in 1982 (the vehicles were probably previously in Soviet service). 324 T-54s and T-55s were in service in early 2001 and 320 in early 2003 and 2004 and 270 in 2006.

Angola: 150 T-54s and possibly T-55s were ordered in 1975 from the Soviet Union and delivered between 1975 and 1978 (the vehicles were previously in Soviet service).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “T-54/T-55 operators and variants” as main battle tank. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around T-54, T-55 and operators.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1979, 1981, 1983, 1985—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with T-54, T-55 and operators providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “T-54/T-55 operators and variants”, the useful work is to connect “main battle tank” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4481789. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “T-54/T-55 operators and variants”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow T-54/T-55 operators and variants primary sources, T-54/T-55 operators and variants archive and T-54 research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “T-54/T-55 operators and variants”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from T-54/T-55 operators and variants” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.