Hi, r/AskHistorians. My name is Peter Samsonov, and my area of research is primarily in armoured warfare in World War II. You may have seen me answer some questions in this subreddit in the last few years. I also maintain the Tank Archives blog and regularly write for a number of other publications. I don't only write about Soviet tanks! Some of my most popular and interesting articles have been about German and Commonwealth armour.

Recently, I wrote my first book, "Designing the T-34: Genesis of the Revolutionary Soviet Tank", which is available for either purchase or preorder, depending on your region. The book briefly covers the development of Soviet armour from 1919 to 1936, discusses how the Spanish Civil War impacted the direction of Soviet tank design, and then goes into detail on the development and production of the T-34 and its precursors.

Edit 18:03 EST: thank you everyone for your wonderful questions! I am off for the night, I will try to answer the remainder in the morning.

Edit 2 16:21 EST: all the leftovers finally dealt with. Thank you all again, lots of wonderful questions. If you did not feel that you got a full answer, you are always welcome to post a front page question for me and other historians to explore.