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От
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Colder
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К
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Дмитрий Козырев
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Дата
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05.03.2010 14:49:26
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Рубрики
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11-19 век; WWI;
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Цитирую. Причем что интересно, Даймонд ни слова не обмолвился о России :)
The motor vehicle is another invention whose uses seem obvious today. However, ot was not invented in a response to any demand. When Nikolaus Otto built his first gas engine, in 1866, horses hand been supplying people's land transportation needs for nearly 6000 years, supplemented increasingly by steam-powered railroads for several decades. There was no crisis in availability of horses, no dissatisfaction with railroads.
Because Otto's engine was weak, heavy and seven feet tall, it did not recommend itself over horses. Not until 1885 did engines improve to the point that Gottfried Daimler got around to installing one on a bicycle to create the first motorcycle; he waited until 1896 to build the first truck.
In 1905, motor vehicles were still expensive, unreliable toys for the rich. Public contentment with horses remained high until World War I, when the military concluded that it really did need trucks. Intensive postwar lobbying by truck manufacturers and armies finally convinced the public of its own needs and enabled trucks to begin to supplant horse-drawn wagons in industrialized countries. Even in the largest American cities the changeover took 50 years.