The countries of Central Europe cannot simply be understood as catching up with Western modernization. Rather, the article shows how technical developments proceeded in the car factories Lohner in Vienna and Austro-Daimler in Wiener Neustadt, and how the light and powerful gasoline engine drove aircraft construction (the Taube by Etrich) and airship construction. Austria was the leader in aircraft construction around 1910. The creative milieu in Vienna is evident from the fact that the headquarters of the Lohnerwerke ...