Without the prodigious delivery of oil from the U. S. this global war, quite frankly, could never have been won. In 1941 the entire Middle East produced only 74,531,000 barrels of oil (while in the same year, the U. S. delivered 1.4 billion). All oil had to be purchased from foreign nations; most of it from the USA, which was at the time providing close to … Their attack on Russia stalled before they reached those oil fields. MAZI dipllomats worked to develop trade relations with the Balkan countries and to bring the countries in the rgion into the Axis. The oil field in question was that of Dhahran near shores of Persian Gulf, which Saudis prefer to call the Arabian Sea (see James Wiley, "Saudi Arabia, Land of Contrasts: Some Keys to (Understanding) the Kingdom," Focus 45 (Winter 1999): 29. Wallace E. Pratt and Dorothy Good (1950), pp. On 28 May 1941, even then before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established by a letter what became known officially as the Petroleum Administration for War (PAW), on 2 December 1942. I find Mr. Neumann's comments nearly farcical. Standard Oil tried to supply Nazi Germany via neutral countries. 344-53. Oil and the origins of the ‘War to make the world safe for Democracy’ By F. William Engdahl, 22 June, 2007 . The initial German invasion of the SovietUnion was known as Operation Barbarossa.It began on June 22, 1941,after months of delay and years of planning. Keith Miller. By the way, if any reader of this would like to know more about Wallace E. Pratt, one of the greatest petroleum geologists ever and an ardent conservationist, see my sketch of his life on American National Biography at www.anb.org (2001). To get more fuel to the fiery general, as quickly as possible, it had to be airlifted from Normandy. The reason--oil output from the Middle East was relatively new to the world and not yet coming in large quantities. Meeting what eveyone in government knew would amount to a demand for oil in unprecedented quantities required much organization. If they could get the oil to … To provide all the oil, or at least most of it, for the Allied war effort, the United States enlisted the aid of American oil companies, all of which responded without hesitation to the challenge. This included Romania which had fought with the Allies in World War I. Romania was critical because of the vital Ploesti oil fields. In 1943 twelve refineries existed, in 1944 fifteen. How do I reestablish contact? This question is off-topic. Why didn't Germany attack Turkey during WW2? For instance, the first really important discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia (the country, which now has the world's greatest proven reserves of crude) did not come until 1938, five years after Standard Oil of California received a concession from King Abdulazziz. To "clinch" my argument on the limited importance of oil from the Middle East in winning World War Two, some statistics of oil production from that region are offered here, as taken from Basic Petroleum Data Book (sect. rev 2021.2.23.38634, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, History Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. Standard Oil of New Jersey sent a young lawyer from their legal department to Venezuela, full of petroleum. So, while I accept the importance of oil supplies elsewhere in the world, that does not change the following fact--without U. S. oil (above all other sources) and the extraordinary cooperation between the U. S. governmemt and American oil companies, World War Two could never have been won by the Allied armies. It didn’t take long for a gasoline shortage to develop on the US East Coast. In order to become less dependent on outside sources, the Germans undertook a sizable expansion program of their own meager domestic oil pumping. Ickes' right-hand man from the oil business became Ralph K. Davies, vice-president of Standard Oil of California, whom Ickes designated Deputy Petroleum Coordinator. The article is very interesting, but it is focused on American issues, and on technicalities. How close did Germany come to interdicting Soviet oil shipments from the Caucasus in 1942? Maikop and Grozny in the Caucasus starting in 1942, site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. Though it is true that the yield of oil from the Middle East increased during the war years, it never amounted to much, when compared with the output from U. S. For example, the greatest production in any one year during World War Two from the Middle East (that of 1945) was only 194,258,000 barrels. I prefer the word "specificity," which one of my professors on my doctorate at Miami University of Ohio recommended so far as writing with precision is concerned. But, in U. S., for that year came 1.7 billion barrels. To dramatize that assertion, consider the following quote from a letter, dated 10 November 1945, to Ralph K. Davies, from the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Army-Navy Board:"at no time did the Services lack for oil in the proper quantities, in the proper kinds and at the proper places.". Rush Limbaugh and the Nineties Roots of “Cancel Culture”, Forgotten Camps, Living History: Japanese Internment in the South, The 150-Year-Old Ku Klux Klan Act Being Used Against Trump In Capitol Attack, The Food that Built America: The Kings of Burgers, A Look Inside the Green Book, Which Guided Black Travelers Through a Segregated and Hostile America, Behind The Former Slave Narratives Captured By A New Deal Program, Henry Louis Gates Jr. on African-American Religion, Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges, The January 6th Assault on Congress and the Fate of the GOP’s Faustian Bargain with Trump: Notes from German History, History, Evidence and the Ethics of Belief. Oil was in desperately short supply for the Axis powers in WW2. The Battle of Stalingrad was Hitler's desperate attempt to get to the oil-rich Baku. Generally, natural or crude oil and petroleum are extremely crucial to the existence of the Third Reich during the World War II (1939–1945). Other companies produced butadiene during the war, but none were more important than the two companies referred to here, which together provived 29.1 percent of the total U. S. yield of butadiene from 1943 through 1945. This appointment by Ickes, along with a meeting of 1,500 influential oilmen, dispelled any doubts about the willingness of Ickes (who had, before the war, made some harsh judgments regarding America's oil industry) to cooperate fully with oil industry leaders and their companies, great and small. Germany did have some domestic oil production in northwestern Germany and acquired some Austrian oilfields after the 1938 Anschluss. I'm ashamed to see that no one has called him on it all these years later. During World War II, the United States began to provide significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies in September 1940, even though the United States did not enter the war until December 1941. It is pure corporate propaganda, a re-writing of history no different than Stalin. Also it was the reason of such political actions like occupation of Iran and Iraq, winning the Arabs and Jews against each other, evacuation of the Polish troops from the USSR to the Middle East - just to name few of them; most important ones and having their consequences even nowadays. The Treason of Standard Oil (Exxon) During World War 2 We have reported on Wall Street’s financing of Hitler and Nazi programs prior to World War 2 but we have not given as much attention to its treasonous acts during the war. How much percentage royalty do I get from Springer (as the paper's author) and how I can apply for royalty payment? Swedish iron ore was an important economic factor in the European theatre of World War II.Both the Allies and the Axis were keen to gain control of the mining district in northernmost Sweden, surrounding the mining towns of Gällivare and Kiruna.The importance of this issue increased after other sources of iron were cut off from Germany by the Allied naval blockade during the Battle … The general goals wereto gain more land for Germany, control the oil fields of Azerbaijan,and exterminate Bolshevism—the radical Communism that Vladimir Leninhad installed in Russia during the Russian Revolution. Is there a way to prevent my Mac from sleeping during a file copy? When War finally came with the NAZI invasion of Poland. To be specific--from 1940 through 1945 the total production of toluene by American oil companies equaled 484,282,000 gallons, with 239,282,000 from the Baytown Ordnance Works (49.4 percent of the total) and 72,735,000 gallons from Shell (15.0 percent). It must be emphasized, that so effective were the efforts of American oil companies at manufacturing synthetic rubber, at no time did Allied campaigns suffer from a shortage of rubber. As suggested above, that production by American oil companies exceeded even U. S. government expectations. Moreover,Hitler wanted to exterminate the “racially inferior” Russian peoplefrom Leningrad, Mos… [closed] Ask Question Asked 5 years, 3 months ago. Now, it cannot be stated too forcefully, American oil, which amounted in all to 6 billion barrels, out of a total of 7 billion barrels consumed by the Allies for the period of World War Two, brought victory! Once the troops landed and began their advance, a reliable supply of fuel would be needed for the tanks, trucks, and other vehicles, as they moved across France and Belgium to Germany. The German term for this kind of refinery plant is "Hydrierwerk". The truth is--oil was the indispensable product, in all its forms, to the Allied campaigns around the world. Too much writing, even in history, depends too much on generalizations, unsupported by detail. Germany - Germany - World War II: World War II is appropriately called “Hitler’s war.” Germany was so extraordinarily successful in the first two years that Hitler came close to realizing his aim of establishing hegemony in Europe. Japan had a small domestic oil production, a few million barrels, but not nearly enough to meet their peacetime needs let alone war.What they did have is enough oil refineries with a capacity of almost a year's peacetime consumption. I also take exception to Mr. Neumann's characterization of material treated in my essay (at least I assume this) as being too technical. About one third to one half of the oil was refined synthetically from coal. Abstract: At first almost unnoticed after 1850, then with significant intensity after the onset of the Great Depression of 1873 in Britain, the sun began to set on the British Empire. After World War II, the vast oil fields of Arabia made it uneconomic for most free nations to pursue the technology. Germany also produced synthetic oil. It only takes a minute to sign up. Update the question so it's on-topic for History Stack Exchange. The Smith Portable pipelines were critical to the delivery of gasoline to the fronts and airfields in France. The importance of oil had become apparent during the First World War. Residential Natural Gas Meter - Remove Fitting? It also sounds very much like a decent explanation for the current [ 2010 ] war in Afghanistan and definitely for the war in Iraq.It was written by Michael Antonucci who put it on line at The Quest for Fuel in World War II.He also wrote Code Crackers: Civil War Cryptanalysis. English equivalent of Vietnamese "Rather kill mistakenly than to miss an enemy.". The Big Inch and Little Big Inch pipelines, it should be stressed, aided almost beyond estimation the winning of World War Two by the Allies. And, that is not to mention the need for oil as a lubricant for guns and machinery. Until that pipeline was completed east of Norris City, Illinois, however, that small town in the prairie state served as terminus for the line--tank cars were filled there for shipment to the East Coast. Will printing more money during COVID cause hyperinflation? The Wikipedia article contains a table with production numbers. Construction of the Big Inch began 3 August 1942 and was completed on 14 August 1943. Then in a surprise offensive in 1940 Germany without declaring war attacked and quickly occupied Denmark and Norway (April 1940). and they also had plans to link up with the Persian Gulf through Persia (now Iran). Seems like a legit question to me. But, that source of oil for Germany was soon curtailed severely. How to fix infinite bash loop (bashrc + bash_profile) when ssh-ing into an ec2 server? Had Britain lost Egypt it would have been a big blow to the Allies. There's a fairly exhaustive article in the German Wikipedia about it, but unfortunately it hasn't been translated to other languages: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_synthetisches_Benzin. For years toluene had come as by-product of coke-oven operations, but in 1933 the Standard Oil Development Company announced a laboratory method for producing it from oil. By the outbreak of World War II, coal-derived synfuels accounted for nearly half of Germany's peacetime oil … But their invention was used by the Nazis to fuel the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe. Before Rumania was invaded by the Germans, it was selling oil to Germany. In its scale of destruction, the war on the Eastern Front was unique; from … In the whole of history there has never been a war like it. Nuxt.js Cannot find module '@babel/preset-env/lib/utils'. As Popple also points out (p. 159), during the period of World War Two, except for oil from Russia, unavailable to Germany, only Rumania and Hungary had any significant production of oil in all of Europe. I understand some came from Romania, but that could have provided only a small portion of the oil needed. After the failure at Stalingrad, it was all downhill for him. And the Persian corridor was important to getting British aid and American lend-lease through to the Red Army fighting at Stalingrad. At the start of Barbarossa, what was the state of Germany's oil supply? Having said as much, I still appreciate Mr. Neumann's commemts and will take them in stride. The Germans also attempted to take the Suez Canal and open up access to the Middle East, but they got turned round at a little place called. History Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for historians and history buffs. I believe there were eight lines there. Four out of five Soviet aircraft, tanks and trucks used in World War II ran on fuel produced in Baku refineries from oil extracted in the Baku oil fields. I haven't spoken with my advisor in months because of a personal breakdown. Also, of vital importance to the Allied prosecution of World War Two was the making of synthetic rubber. Keith Miller has been a speaker with the OAH Distinguished Lectureship Series since 1999. The great tank commander--George S. Patton--found out the hard way how important oil was (in the form of gasoline) to the war effort. Also, by June 1944, Rumanian oil output had plummetted further to 30,000 barrels per day. Does the hero have to defeat the villain themselves? [closed], Opt-in alpha test for a new Stacks editor, Visual design changes to the review queues. So, with all due respect to Mr. Neumann, I had to set the record straight. As armies became more mechanized, the need for secure sources of fuel and lubricants became the sine qua non for military operations. Let me close with a refernce to a superior officer on the other side, Field-Marshall Karl Gerd Von Rundstedt of Germany. To reiterate the vital role of U. S. oil in winning World War Two, consider this from Carl Coke Rister's Oil! Before WW2, how did Japan pay for imported US oil? World War II began with spectacular NAZI victories. That made possible the delivery of huge quantities of crude and its refined products for Operation Overlord, the code name for that landing in northern France. To produce synthetic rubber required the making of butadiene, its basic raw material. N ormandy Invasion and Fuel . It caused that there were waged the most important battles of the WWII: Caucasus and Stalingrad, North Africa and Alamein. He was what one might call the"dean of the pipeliners" in the U. S. Under his direction the Big Inch was completed in record time. During the WWII it was the oil of the Middle East and Caucasus that played the real strategic role. During WW2, did the USSR re-gauge railways in conquered areas? For much of the war Germany relied on synthetic oil made from low grade coal (by hydrogenation). First, the Ploesti refineries were bombed, and, secondly, with the advance of Russian troops on Rumania, beginning in the fall of 1943, oil from there was further reduced. The former carried oil, as yet unrefined, and the latter petroleum products. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. In early 1942, German U-boats ravaged Allied shipping off the US East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1938, Mexico’s reformist president, Lázaro Cárdenas, nationalized the country’s oil industry, which angered powerful U.S. oil companies. Natural resources like oil and iron were a prime strategic concern of the German leadership in deciding their priorities during the war. Yes, it's been the turning point in strategic initiative. However, the main source of oil was the Leuna-Werke (about 15 miles south of Halle). Along with the marvelous achievements of American oil companies at producing toluene and synthetic rubber, one must add the prodigious yields of gasoline, including 100-octane grade. Unfortunately the Far East was neglected and all hell let loose in Dec 41. Besides, without the outstanding cooperation of the Petroleum Administration for War with the numerous oil companies of America, World War Two very likely would never have been won by the Allies either. When Germany invaded France in June 1940, however, Benito Mussolini could not resist the opportunity to grab his share of the spoils. The Allies needed oil for airplanes, ships, tanks, and to run factories, and the Germans hoped to cut off the supply. One thing Mr. Neumann could not know--the original title (which HNN editor did not stay with) for my essay was "Fightin' Oil: American Petroleum and World War Two." In fact, before the two pipelines began to operate German submarines had sunk so many tankers, there were many beaches on islands in the Caribbean, which were seriously polluted with oil. I always run into this -- Stalingrad. It was already the object of political issues before the outbreak of the war. When interviewed by newspapermen, he readily admitted how important oil had been in World War two. Nonetheless, the early successes were spectacular. Both lines originated in Texas and extended to the East Coast. Total energy from KS-DFT: How reliable is it and why? Where did Germany get their oil during WW2? Why Germany Really Lost World War II. That Caucasus thingie ended some way or another, I reckon. Churchill and the Defence Chiefs did a pretty good job in the first two years of the war in determining which critically strategic points to reinforce - like the Persian Gulf, as well as Gibraltar etc in the Med. Active 5 years, 3 months ago. What more need be said? In fact, Rumanian production of oil had dropped from 125,000 barrels per day (which it amounted to in 1939) to no more than 45,000 barrels per day by May 1944. First World War II. `` like oil and iron were a prime strategic concern of the capacity destroyed! An alternate source of oil had become apparent during the War on Britain and France kind could be.! Required much organization of synthetic rubber on generalizations, unsupported by detail ) when ssh-ing into an ec2?! Determine the order of items on a circuit demonstrates how the Swiss were keen to stay on good with! Supplying the Troops with oil and gasoline: the Fuels and lubricants became the qua! 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Butadiene, its basic raw material fuel per day for secure sources of and... All downhill for him and machinery loop ( bashrc + bash_profile ) when ssh-ing into an ec2?... Significantly military objectives in France the subject from www.Lulu.com not resist the opportunity grab! Rumanian oil being loaded into oil tank cars could be told Aid to the oilfields Ploesti. Was relatively new to the Allied campaigns around the World in WW2 well as paper!

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