by mrflora » Mon 25 Jun 2007, 10:30:57
While Hitler was probably not aware of the Peak Oil Theory, he was well aware of the No Oil Fact - Germany had no domestic source of oil and had to import 100% of its needs.
Many of the strategic decisions of WWII can be explained by oil. Stalin's annexation of Bessarabia put Soviet forces within about 120 miles of the Ploesti oil fields in Romania - Germany's only source of natural oil. This was one of the reasons Hitler decided to go ahead with the invasion of the Soviet Union. The pivotal decision of the entire war may have been made in the late summer/early fall of 1941, when Hitler reoriented the Nazi forces in Russia to attack south into Ukraine, rather than continuing the offensive toward Moscow. The reason for this was to secure resources (including oil) that Germany needed. However, capturing Moscow (as advocated by the generals), Leningrad and associated industrial areas would have disrupted the Soviet Union and *may* have allowed the Germans to accomplish their overall objectives before the entry of the U.S. into the war.
Of course, Rommel advocated a "southern strategy" of attacking the British in Egypt, capturing the Suez Canal and Saudi Arabia, and advancing northward into Iraq.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was precipitated by a U.S. embargo on exports to Japan including crude oil (the U.S. supplied 7 out of 8 barrels of oil used by the Allies). The Japanese had a choice of a Northern or a Southern Strategy and chose to go south in order to capture the oilfields of Indonesia. The Japanese could perhaps have scored a strategic victory over the U.S. in the Solomon Islands in late 1942, but elected not to use their most powerful battleships in action because they consumed too much oil.
Regards,
M.R.F.
"... coal and oil were depleted... increased demands for food cut off conversion of the agricultural surplus into fuel alcohol... solar power... as much a dream as atomic energy..." - Jack Williamson, "The Crucible of Power" (1939)