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How did tank tracks help vehicles cross trenches and barbed wire?

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Kuwait: U.S. 1st Armored Division M1A1 Abrams tanks — tank M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks of the U.S. 1st Armored Division moving across the desert in northern Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, February 1991.

During World War I, the development of tanks was specifically driven by the need to overcome the limitations of wheeled vehicles, which could not navigate the broken terrain, trench systems, and barbed wire that defined the battlefield.1

Tank tracks provided the necessary mobility to cross these obstacles by distributing the vehicle's weight over a larger surface area, allowing it to traverse soft or uneven ground that would otherwise trap a conventional vehicle. This tracked design enabled tanks to physically drive through belts of barbed wire, effectively clearing paths for following infantry. To cross particularly wide trenches, tanks were sometimes equipped with additional aids, such as dropping fascines (bundles of sticks) into the gaps to create a bridge. By serving as mobile cover and neutralizing strongpoints, these vehicles fundamentally changed the nature of trench warfare.21