Coca-Cola Started as Medicine. Here’s How It Took Over the World

In 1886, a wounded Civil War veteran mixed a "nerve tonic" in a brass kettle in Atlanta. It sold for five cents a glass, about nine glasses a day, and its inventor died almost broke. Today, people drink more than two billion servings of Coca-Cola's drinks every day, and the company barely makes the drinks you buy. This is the story you never saw: the free coupon that changed advertising, the $1 bottling deal, the bottle designed from the wrong plant, the formula locked in a vault, the five-cent promise to every soldier in World War II, and the 79 days of New Coke. Subscribe to Toldune for the stories behind the world's biggest empires. 0:00 The drink you never really buy 2:15 A wounded colonel and a mystery tonic 4:22 Asa Candler and the free coupon 5:20 The $1 bottling deal 6:07 The bottle designed from the wrong plant 6:36 The $25 million sale and the vault 7:48 Santa Claus and the secret of Coca-Cola 8:59 A five-cent promise to every soldier 9:35 Fanta and the nickel Coke 10:14 The Pepsi Challenge 10:47 New Coke: 79 days 11:47 Diet Coke, Buffett and Coke Zero 12:19 Coca-Cola in 2026 13:31 Why this story matters 13:59 The ending Some visuals in this video are AI-generated illustrations. #CocaCola #BusinessHistory #Toldune