The history of Hanomag (or Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG) can be traced back to 1835, when Georg Egestorff founded the company Eisen-Giesserei und Maschinenfabrik Hannover to build lightweight steam engines and machine tools. The product line soon expanded to include farm machinery, and in 1846 the company built their first railway locomotive for Hannover State Railways. Locomotive production went from strength to strength and in 1871 the company changed their name to Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG. In 1905, Hanomag received a contract to build steam wagons for the German army and they subsequently offered a range of petrol-engined passenger vehicles. A four-cylinder petrol engine formed the basis for a large motorplough, the WD Grosspflug, which was built in 1912. Other motorplough designs followed, but it was not until 1924 that the first true tractor, the WD 26, entered production. Along with Benz and others, Hanomag were quick to appreciate the merits of diesel engines, and after experiments in the late 1920s, they introduced their first diesel-engine tractors in 1931. Many more diesel tractors followed over subsequent decades, and these found a huge market both at home and overseas, until Hanomag was taken over by Massey-Ferguson in 1974.

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