Overview

In the summer of 1888, Bertha Benz set out before dawn with her two teenage sons on a 106-kilometre journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim. Her vehicle-a three-wheeled experimental Motorwagen built by her husband, Karl Benz-had never been tested over long distances. With no fuel stations, no road signs, and no public support, her unannounced journey became the world's first long-distance automobile drive, transforming skepticism into recognition and launching the modern age of personal mobility. This deeply researched, fact-driven narrative chronicles the intertwined lives of Karl and Bertha Benz-engineer and entrepreneur, inventor and advocate-against the backdrop of Germany's industrial transformation. From Karl's early experiments with gas-powered engines and the founding of Benz & Cie., to Bertha's pivotal role in financing, promoting, and literally test-driving the concept of the automobile, the book unpacks the engineering breakthroughs, business struggles, and cultural shifts that defined a new era of motion. Through detailed accounts of technical milestones, patent filings, early races, public exhibitions, and royal endorsements, this book repositions the Benz story not just as an engineering feat but as a human story of risk, resilience, and revolution. With an unwavering commitment to documented fact, this is the definitive account of how a single road trip changed the world.

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9781923525689

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