Who really invented the zeppelin?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 1
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Though the invention of the zeppelin is usually credited to Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, he did not have the original idea. Zeppelin seems to have become interested in constructing a "dirigible balloon" after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, where he witnessed the use of French balloons during the siege of Paris. He had also encountered the military use of such aircraft in 1863 during the American Civil War, in which he participated as a military observer on the side of the Union. He began to seriously pursue his project after his early retirement from the military in 1890 at the age of 52. He based his idea upon the design created by Hungarian inventor David Schwartz. On August 31, 1895, he obtained a patent which already included most of the aforementioned features. One peculiar idea however that never made it into construction was to provide the ability to connect several independent airship elements like train wagons; in fact, the patent title called the design "Lenkbarer Luftfahrzug" (steerable air-cruising train).
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