0:00 [Music] this cares the first here it Mercedes-Benz is one of the oldest and most luxurious car companies in the world, worth around $80 billion. But being among the most desired and expensive cars today it's easy to forget it's early humble beginnings. It all started with a poor engineer who faced many doubts and failures in his pursuit of building the first horseless carriage. In spite of his challenges he proved everyone wrong and turned his small venture into the world's first and biggest production
0:47 car company during the late 19th century. But what started as an inspiring success story took a surprisingly dark turn, when the company profited from supplying military vehicles to the nazis, under the work of forced laborers. So sit back and relax because today we'll be covering the insane story of Mercedes-Benz and the man who brought automobiles to life, Karl Benz. [Music] Karl Benz was born in November 1844 in the German Town of Mühl berg. Born into a low-class household his father was a locomotive driver who barely managed to sustain his family enough to get by.
1:36 However when Carl turned 2 years old his father passed away leaving him and his mother in dire financial straits. Needless to say Ben's childhood wasn't easy but despite living in poverty and going to bed with an empty stomach his mother did everything she could to make sure her son had a good education. Thanks to her Carl was able to attend school and showed signs of brilliance at a very young age most notably in chemistry and mechanics. By the time he was 15 Carl decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pass the entrance exam for mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe where he met a teacher that would eventually play a big role in his life Ferdinand Redtenbacher. Redtenbacher is regarded as the main figure who transformed mechanical
2:26 engineering from a workshop-based profession into a technical science in Germany and was a huge believer that steam engines which were mostly used for Railways and boats at the time were quickly becoming a thing of the past. Under his teaching Benz's interest in horseless carriages really started to take off and being a regular bicycle rider himself he began tinkering around with his bike experimenting with possible ways he could create a motorized vehicle. By then many engineers and inventors had already attempted to create the first automobile and while a few of them did manage to build self-propelled vehicles these early inventions weren't fully practical yet. Karl noticed that most of these early vehicles were based on steam engine technology and under
3:12 the guidance of professor Redtenbacher he soon realized the need for a totally different concept. While many people initially laughed at his vision he always believed it was possible he just needed more time to prove it. Thus after graduating from Karlsruhe at the age of 19 Benz spent the next 7 years working several engineering and construction jobs and while he struggled to fit in with any of them he used everything he learned to kickstart his own venture in 1871. At age 27 Carl partnered with a mechanic named August Ritter and together they began operating an iron foundry and mechanical Workshop in Manheim. At that same time Benz kept working on his side project trying to develop a motorized carriage so having a partner to help him run the business seemed essential.
4:02 But unfortunately for Karl his business partner turned out to be unreliable and after their tools were impounded by local authorities their company struggled immensely during its first year. Luckily Karl had also met a woman around that time Bertha Ringer who would go on to become his wife a few years later. Born into a wealthy family Bertha was a woman of strong values and couldn't stand to see her fiancé's efforts being wasted by his business business partner so she decided to use her own dowry to buy out Ritter's entire share of the company placing her and Karl in full control of the business. Together they were able to turn the situation around and keep the business afloat during the next 10 years. Despite all the struggles it was during this period when
4:49 Carl was able to show his true genius making major developments and breakthroughs in his side experiments most notably developing a gasoline two-stroke engine in 1879. To earn more revenue he also began to patent his inventions such as his engine speed regulation system, ignition via a battery system, spark plug, carburetor, clutch, gearshift and a water radiator. With these designs Karl was not only getting closer to achieving his dream of a horseless carriage but they also allowed him to add more products that he could sell from his business. However the business wasn't going as well as he had hoped. You see the production costs from Karl's venture had risen so much the banks demanded that it be incorporated. This forced him to associate with other investors
5:39 and eventually turn his business into a joint stock company in 1882. at the end Karl was left with only 5% of his company's shares and thus was downgraded from his position to make matters worse his ideas were no longer taken into account when the company designed new products. In fact, he had no say whatsoever in the company anymore. Frustrated and hurt with this arrangement, Karl packed up his things and left the corporation the following year. Leaving his company came as a hard blow for Carl but the disappointment made him even
6:26 more determined to be successful his longtime passion for bicycles would bring him to Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm two men who owned a bicycle repair shop in Manheim together they established Benz and sea and focused on manufacturing industrial machines and stationary gas engines unlike Carl's previous Venture this one started pretty well and became quite profitable within a short period of time with steady income pouring in and a staff of 25 people Benz finally directed his main focus toward his lifelong dream building an automobile using his gas engine instead of Simply adding a motor to a carriage Carl built the carriage around the motor and using similar technology to that of a bicycle he constructed what many considered to be the first true
7:15 automobile in 1885 the Benz patent motor vagen this two-seater vehicle ran on three wire wheels forming a tricycle and was powered by a gasoline fourstroke motor its one-cylinder engine produced 2/3 of a horsepower and could go around 7 mph Benz knew this was revolutionary and after testing and refining his vehicle he drove his Wonder car out to the public in the summer of 1886 however he received mixed reviews from critics while some admired his creation most people were skeptical about the machine and many didn't want him to drive around on the main streets for fear that the vehicle might explode others were even convinced that Ben was the devil driving an
8:02 infernal Carriage Carl's business partners weren't too happy about it either his obsession with the automobile kept him away from his work and they couldn't see how his invention could be of use why would anyone buy such a machine they argued it's no quicker than a horse it can break down easily and it can run out of fuel nevertheless Carl Benz was convinced that his Horseless Carriage was the future and began man manufacturing cars for sale in 1888 the first person in the world to do so his biggest supporter was his wife who would often stay with her husband in the workshop offering him new suggestions but even after adding improvements people still couldn't see Carl's Vision on the
8:48 other hand the few people who bought the cars could only use them to cover short distances and even with that they needed mechanics to be with them at all times it also didn't help that they were very expensive leaving them only accessible to the rich and Elite and even many members of the so-called Elite didn't fancy them because they were so loud and messy with that being said one thing was clear Carl needed to convince the world that the automobile was here to [Music] stay one morning in the summer of 18 1988 Bertha Ben got up very early while Carl was still in bed
9:34 and hopped into her husband's car to embark on one of the most important Journeys in automobile history she brought along her two sons and set out to visit her mother in forzheim which was 66 Mi away from Manheim Bertha didn't inform her husband nor the police about her plans most likely because if they knew they wouldn't let her go at the time no car or motorized carriage had ever previously attempted a journey that long but she was determined to prove the importance of Ben's invention however her trip was no walk in the park Bertha encountered many problems along the way like Crossing Dusty and Stony roads that were made for horses having to stop by a pharmacy to get more gas and even having to perform a few
10:21 mechanical repairs the 66m trip took Bertha and her two sons over 12 hours but eventually they they all made it safely to forzheim more than anything the trip achieved the goal Bertha had set out to achieve to make people notice that the automobile was the next big thing with this the Benz motoragon became the Talk of the Town and received great publicity for Carl's business soon enough Benz and SE began to expand quickly so much so that by 1890 it had become the second largest engine manufacturer in Germany though not by selling their cars but rather their stationary gasoline engines but with the addition of two new business partners friederick Von fer and Julius Gans they would soon help to turn this around as they took care
11:11 of the business and marketing side of things Benz could focus more on his engineering goals and was able to patent several new car Innovations such as the planetary Gear transmission the double pivot steering and the flat engine with a boxer configuration he also designed and manufactured a new and improved automobile at the recommendation of his business partners which hit the market in 1893 he called it the Ben Victoria this was a more luxurious two passenger vehicle that came with a 3 horsepower engine capable of reaching 11 mph thanks to its reliability the vehicle sold fairly well but it was its follow-up design the cheaper Ben's Veo that really took off with a total production sum of about 1,200 units the Ben Veo became the world's first large-scale production
12:02 car in history making Ben and C the largest automobile company in the world during the 1890s and early 1900s however while the Benz company was enjoying its Newfound success it was also feeling a lot of pressure from another company that was stationed not too far away Daimler motorin Cassel shaft now before we go on to the next chapter I want to thank today's sponsor who made this video possible course careers if you're looking for a high-paying job in the tech industry but don't have a degree or experience whatsoever then course careers has got you covered they are replacing the modern way people start their careers where instead of going to college all you do is simply complete an affordable online course where you learn everything required
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13:53 both were brilliant Engineers but gly Daimler in particular was known for being very competitive and had a lot of connections and knowledge of how to run a business knowledge that Carl Benz seemed to lack the first diimler car to be sold commercially appeared in 1892 2 years later they followed up with a two-cylinder car and in 1897 they introduced their first front engine model the Daimler Phoenix it was clear that the Daimler company was catching up to Benz as their vehicles looked more appealing and comfortable for the public Mr Daimler unfortunately passed away in 1900 leaving Maybach in charge of the company but it was under Mayo's control that he designed his crowning achievement the Mercedes 35 horsepower in 1901 what makes this vehicle so special is
14:45 that it was the first automobile to resemble our modern idea of a car it was equipped with a powerful gas engine the body was wider and larger with a tailored steel chassis and its Center Mass was near the ground initially built for racing this vehicle was made at the request of a wealthy businessman Emil jelene who decided to name the car after his daughter Mercedes this car would go on to win multiple street races and Hill Climb events going at a top speed of 56 mph Superior to any other vehicle of its day this drew a lot of attention to the Daimler company who decided to Rebrand all their vehicles to Mercedes and began producing new models for racing and public use under the same name on the flip side however this new trend didn't sit well for Carl benz's Partners
15:37 who wanted an immediate response to counter their competition they brought in some French designers to help with a new faster model without the approval of Carl Ben was angry and upset with their decision he never liked the idea of auto racing and always preferred to Drive slowly and carefully he was horrified by the noise and danger of someone driving at high speeds on public roads the car built by his team was not a success either and this became damaging for the Benz company which suffered further crises between 1903 and 1904 angry and disappointed Carl decided to leave his company while still remaining on its board of directors in the end he agreed to allow his
16:22 cars to race and it ended up being these racing successes that eventually rescued his company by 1908 Benz had a 120 horsepower racer a monster that roared from Leningrad to Moscow in 8 and 1/2 hours with an average speed of 50 mph which was an incredible feat considering how primitive the tracks were at the time but it was the 200 horsepower Blitz and bz that would ultimately put the brand in the spotlight built in 1909 this race car would break the absolute speed record made by any plane train or automobile of that time reaching speeds of over 140 mph in 1911 this placed Benz alongside Daimler as one of the most desired cars at the time and
17:11 both companies enjoyed good sales in the years to follow however this success was shortlived as the first world war broke out shaking up everybody's lives as well as the global economy following the defeat of Germany in World War I the country went through an economic recession and both companies Daimler and Benz ended up struggling immensely to strengthen their possibilities of survival the two companies put their rivalry aside and signed an agreement in 1924 in which they agreed to combine their production and marketing efforts while still retaining their individual names in order to save costs but this agreement only lasted for two short years as the German economy got worse and the two companies were forced to merge completely in 19 1926 creating a new Enterprise called
18:01 Daimler Benz under Daimler Benz the company rebranded their vehicles as mercedesbenz and released several impressive models during the late 1920s such as the Mercedes-Benz type 630 and models s SS and ssk one of their best and brightest Engineers who helped develop these vehicles was Ferdinand Porsche whose name would later become quite famous in the car industry as for Carl he remained on the Daimler Benz board of directors and was able to see the success of his Automobiles and Marvel at just how far the Auto industry had come in his lifetime Carl Benz passed away just a few short years after the company's merger in April 1929 at the age of 84 after his
18:49 death the company continued to grow in size and strength becoming one of the best performance car makers in the world but it enjoyed some of its best years under the unlikely leadership of ad when Hitler Rose to power in Germany in 1933 he wanted to Showcase German engineering and Technology to the world hoping to elevate his political standpoint above those of his contemporaries one way he decided to impress the world was by by exhibiting German cars in international Motorsports almost immediately he provided a big subsidy to Daimler Benz to get
19:36 involved in Grand Prix races no other car company of that era would spend as much time and money building cars as fast as Daimler Benz did and that fact became evident on the racetrack from 1934 to 1939 Mercedes dominated Grand Pre races driving as fast as 200 mph with their w25 and w125 models however they were also challenged by a new rival Auto Union another German automaker sponsored by their own Country Auto Union would also go on to have its fair share of success during the same period winning 25 races from 1935 to 1937 these successes put Germany on top of the world with
20:21 Motorsports events especially Mercedes-Benz which even became Hitler's preferred car brand in fact one of the automobiles he was frequently seen in was the Mercedes-Benz 770 a large luxury vehicle mainly used by high-ranking Nazi politicians and other axis officials however with the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 the Daimler Benz company would soon find themselves in serious Jeopardy as the demand for civilian Passenger cars became scarce they began manufacturing military vehicles submarines tanks and aircraft engines for the Nazi military their biggest line of business were military trucks capable of transporting 3 to 6 and 1/2 tons of supplies by 1942 they
21:08 stopped producing public cars alt together as all their resources were directed toward the war effort and as the war escalated new staff were needed to handle the increased Armament production since the entire Workforce were now fighting on the front lines Daimler Benz started recruiting women in order to keep up with their required unit volume however this still wasn't enough to meet the demand so the company resorted to using forced labor these prisoners of War abducted civilians and detainees from concentration camps were housed close to the plants and forced to work long hours under immense pressure from the Germans most of these workers were from Eastern Europe who were interned in Barrack camps with poor prison-like environments while concentration camp detainees
21:56 were monitored by the SS under inhumane living conditions many people died in these camps either from severe malnutrition mistreatment or even torture and by 1944 almost half of all Daimler Ben's 63,000 employees were forced laborers when the war ended in 1945 The company took a big hit because of the pot Stam agreement all German assets abroad were confiscated and used for payment of reparations this led to Daimler Benz losing all of its foreign sub subsidiaries Affiliates and branches and they were stripped back to their own plants in their home country in other words they had to start all over and build themselves back up again Daimler Benz was
22:41 then restructured and had to den naify their top management because of these drastic changes the company was able to obtain a production permit from the American occupation authorities in 1946 although their Factory suffered severe bomb damage Mercedes-Benz still had the advantage of owning its own plant as many other competitors such as BMW or Adler lost their sights when they ended up in Soviet territory the Mercedes-Benz company then focused their efforts on producing ambulances police patrol vehicles and delivery Vans based around their 170v models and used one of their plants as a repair facility for US military transports by 1947 they were back to producing passenger vehicles with only 1,045 of their 17 V models being produced that entire year
23:31 but even under these less than ideal conditions Daimler Benz still managed to turn a profit just one year later by the 1950s Mercedes-Benz was able to regain much of its influence making a strong comeback in Motorsports events as well as achieving successful sales worldwide so much so that by 1954 the company had already profited over a billion dollar over the years Mercedes has complet completely shifted their image and has become one of the most valuable car brands in the world however none of that would have been possible without Carl Ben who in spite of his humble background challenges and critics had the courage and determination to turn his dream into a reality thank you guys for watching hope you enjoyed the video and
24:18 please don't forget to like And subscribe until then I'll see you in the next one
