In April 1815, Mount Tambora in present-day Indonesia erupted in the most powerful volcanic explosion in recorded history. The blast hurled billions of tons of ash, dust, and sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere, creating a global sun-blocking veil. The following year, 1816, became infamously known as the Year Without a Summer.
Severe frost, unseasonal snowstorms, and torrential rain devastated harvests across Europe and North America. The resulting agricultural failure created a severe crisis in livestock feed, causing the price of oats to soar beyond the reach of average citizens. Unable to feed their animals, farmers were forced to slaughter thousands of draft horses or leave them to starve.
This massive loss of horsepower crippled everyday transportation, trade, and logistics across Western Europe. Faced with a continent devoid of reliable transport animals, German inventor Karl Drais sought a mechanical substitute that did not depend on biological fuel. In 1817, Drais debuted his Laufmaschine, or running machine, which later became known as the Draisine or hobby-horse.
Constructed primarily of wood, this two-wheeled contraption allowed a rider to sit straddled over a frame and push off the ground with their feet, steering the front wheel with a wooden handlebar. While it lacked pedals and gears, the Draisine enabled travel at twice the speed of a walking human with far less physical exertion. Drais's emergency response to a volcanic crop failure established the two-wheeled inline geometry that directly paved the way for the modern bicycle decades later.