"You are already walking at the forefront of the world. Believe me—the future will belong to the internal combustion engine. Miniaturized internal combustion engines will soon trigger industrial revolutions across every trade and profession.
Their influence will by no means be limited to transportation. Manufacturing, military industry, and energy will all be affected by them. You must believe that you are doing something great. You have given industry a new heart."
Franz's assessment was no exaggeration. The internal combustion engine could absolutely be considered industry's second heart.
Thanks to the invention of the internal combustion engine, the price of oil would soon soar, gradually replacing coal across numerous fields.
Relatively speaking, however, the Austrian Empire's military was even more interested in small internal combustion engines.
Cannons were becoming heavier and heavier, and relying solely on draft horses to haul them was increasingly beyond their strength. Even heavy draft horses could be worked straight into ruin pulling artillery.
Steam locomotives certainly possessed powerful motive force, but they were too slow, demanded too much from the roads, and were just as fragile.
Besides that, the Austrian Empire's military was considering fitting airships with a new power source. Steam engines were too large and cumbersome, lacking practicality, while the lightweight nature of internal combustion engines left room for imagination.
Internal combustion engines could likewise replace the steam engines used in tanks at this time. Steam engines could provide tremendous power, but the problem was that their bodies were exposed outside, making them far too easy to damage from without.
Forget direct hits from shells or bullets—even the vibrations created by impacts on bulletproof steel plates could potentially damage a steam engine.
And once a steam engine was damaged, difficult repairs were one thing; even more terrifying was that leaking high-temperature, high-pressure steam could