Petroleum, since its first widespread usage in World War I, has expanded its sphere of influence to the every inch of our lives. Furthermore, Petroleum has enjoyed exercising its monopoly on the world domination. Oil, which has maintained its unassailable position since its very existence, contributed to the reappearance of forsaken geographies as areas of importance on the world stage

Every energy source, mineral, and invention needs a market to sustain a value. This search for new markets marked new watersheds in the course of history.

Oil’s history had formed the basis of the conflicts, predicaments, dilemmas that people of the century had confronted throughout their modern history. Because of its prominent status of giving the poor countries a glance of hope for better future and for global powers a new region to seize power; petroleum has been the main focus of the world

Petroleum has played a central role and maintained its strategic significance by keeping economic return. Thus, paving the way for globalizing world cooperative organizations with OPEC being the first one to do so.

Events Leading Up to the First World War

The development of Watt steam engine marked a new beginning in the history of humankind as it greatly contributed to the appearance and the foundation of industrialized communities. It created a new wave of needs and ideas. The human race has come to heavily rely on the concept of energy to run the industrialized societies and maintain their existence. Coal served greatly to this effort. Driving human societies and systems to search for more. Hence, opening new fronts and expeditions into unknown.

Industrialism and over-grown economies gave the European strategists a priceless opportunity to expand their empires and be the new masters of vast underground resources. War in the Europe waged on centuries during the Imperial age. Napoleon pushed Europe into flames, put it into a turmoil. Russian winter, however, gave to this seemingly unstoppable and greedy series of campaigns a halt. As the consequence of bloody Napoleonic wars and the agreements signed in ensue, British seized control of the seas, and, with it, control of the world shipping and the international banking. Empire now held two main pillars to widen her sphere of influence to the every bit of the modern world.

Britain, after securing her own objectives and goals in world dominance, was dragged into a state of economic, social and political decline. British industrial excellence was in terminal decline. Unprecedented and premature rise of German industrial capabilities following this decline formed new fronts for old masters of the seas to confront. British export markets started to gradually fall to newly-emerged continental powers.

Subsequent German search for raw materials to feed empire’s industrial thirst and to keep up with the German economic boom pushed the Kaiser to look for new alternatives out of the continental Europe. German ambitions for colonies over the seas, however, would be of no value. As they were already colonized and were carved up into the British and French empires. Imperial German interests were strictly opposed by the dominating powers of large British and French presence in the colonial world. The existing situation on the ground, served as steps on the road to forming new alliances with former enemies.

In the years following the pre-World War I era, North Atlantic had witnessed a competition which could end up in an shift of power from the English hands to the Germans. Germany, whose industrial and military capabilities worried the British for long, decided to challenge his enemy in the seas. The British Naval dominance, however, was the toughest nut the Imperial German Navy could ever try to crack . New face of the ever-growing industrial and economic power house in Europe would have to take radical and risky decision in order to balance the great inequality that is posed on the seas.

Petroleum, till then had found itself a market in the lighting industry and the invention of combustion engines in 1886 and its broader usage by Benz and the subsequent use in steam boilers and machines paved the way for this energy source to be recognized by the great authorities of the time. But its great potential was yet to be discovered. Imperial army considered a shift of source of energy from the coal to Petroleum. Oddly enough, United Kingdom also had her eyes on this development. To secure its throne in maritime dominance, British High Seas Fleet first had to have significant superiority over her German foes. At that time British HMS’ were dependent on coal. Welsh Coal was the only resource that the Island Nation had at its disposal. Giving a radical decision, Churchill ordered the navy to use oil as their new source of energy. But this decision came with downsides, changing the destiny of isolated island nation forever and at once. Oil can only be exported from the overseas colonies and by covering large distances across and between the continents. Which puts Britain in a position of if being surrounded no help can save from shortages of fuel and enough material to sustain a war. But a decision had to be made and Churchill, a great politician at the house of common, made his decision against all odds. But Churchill, in giving his decision was not a fully-blinded mad man who takes unnecessary risks but a foreseer of the future. Shifting to Petroleum from coal meant that navy can have superiority both in speed and range of operation. Thus, the usage of Petroleum in the military matters began. As F. W. Engdahl puts in: “By the first decade of the 20TH century, securing long-term foreign petroleum security had become an essential factor for British grand strategy and its geopolitics.”

In the proceeding years, following the defeat of France in Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Berlin was in a state of good relationship with its European counterparts. As Russia had disputes over the territories both in East and West Asia, concerning about British over-expansion. Threatening directly heart of the Empire, St.Petersburg , in the Baltic Sea. By putting a common and major enemy conflicting mutual benefits of London and St.Petersburg. Tsar agreed on forming the “Anglo-Russian alliance” which benefited the English the most, securing another big chunk of oil reserve in the Caucasus.

Prior to first World War, world had witnessed a race stretching from Berlin to the Persian Gulf, closely matching up with the aims of the global powers and stemming from the desperate need of raw material and oil reserves. This race first started with the agreement between the Kaiser Wilhelm II and Abdulhamid the Second, the sultan of old, long forgotten and crumbling empire. To get his empire out of its situation of being debt-ridden and secure his position – as the Young Turks movement occurring within the empire was demanding a political transition- Sultan was pleased to enlist Kaiser’s help. Ottoman Empire’s unique geo-political positioning of being in between English colonies and holding geographic points of major importance made it quite valuable for ambitious Germany, stubborn in securing his interests. Building a railway stretching from Berlin to Baghdad via Anatolia and Balkans meant that Ottoman empire could exercise its sovereignty over its subjects with more ease and in times of war this would show a great mobility. Full implementation of Berlin-Baghdad railway would fill the gap between the Reichstag and Oil reserves within Mesopotamia. But this idea was opposed by the polarizing Entente powers. England did not like the idea of having a railway system capable of delivering troops within days and opening a new front right at the oil reserves. It proved itself to be a strategic movement of military importance as it could carry the war deep into enemy colonies where the regional conditions did not favored a British understanding of warfare and logisctics would be no more than a disaster. As it would also put in danger France’s influence on Syria and Russia’s on Balkans. Persian Gulf had decisive strategic significance held by connecting the jewel in the crown, British Raj, and the newly secured oil reserves in Persia. But the Berlin-Baghdad railway held the potential of casting a shadow and having the monopoly of regional trade reoriented to the new German masters. On November of 1899 the concession for the railway streaming from Konya to Baghdad was given and its priority was also assured. But as the common phrase goes:”If you give them an inch and they will take a mile”. Subsurface mineral rights twenty kilometers to either side of the proposed Baghdad railway line along with the ownership of petroleum reserve which might be found were given to Deutsche Bank, Bank founded to secure and to spread influence of the German empire,. Watching these events with deep worry, British could only intervene in political means, by securing exclusive agreements on the soil of Kuwait and Persia, and hope for the best as this new alliance already have scored a major victory.

British intelligence was also active in the Balkans. Stirring up revolts one after another. Striving to divide and pull off the Balkans from Ottoman area of influence by provoking nationalist movements and supplying means to literally setting ablaze the region. In order to entail the Berlin-Baghdad railway line.

Germany sent Limon Von Sanders, member of the German supreme war council, to reorganize Turkish military pulling the sick man more into German hands. Military assistance requested from the German chief of staff indicates the desperate situation empire was in.

The Great War and Aftermath

Clash of power houses in a gigantic and unexpected manner in the first World War gave to Petroleum and its industries a great place in military use. First World War saw a dispute between old-fashioned railway systems running across the Germany and the newly introduced logistical means by using Petroleum as the main source of energy. Some historians even claim that the war was dawn of new era for humanity as the Oil proved its value by offering such an unprecedented mobility to the Allied troops of the Western front. As once Lord George Curzon claimed on the topic, held during the first post-war session of the Inter-Allied Petroleum Conference on 23 November 1918, was no less enthusiastic: “The Allies floated to victory on a wave of oil.”

.Among the warring nations though, America and Russia could afford their need for energy in their military ambitions. Caucasus region supplied great amounts of energy to the Russian imperial army. But the French and Italians though, relied heavily on imports.

The Entente powers had advantage of controlling more than two thirds of the of all the oil industries, which gave them the enough source and material at hand to form and exercise new military strategy and challenge proud German railway systems.

Being isolated in the Europe, Germany before the Triple Entente outmaneuvered his enemies and secured some reserves within the continent.Romania being the biggest oil reserve to feed German ambitions was secured by the Deutsche bank prior to emerge of war and Romania will prove it value as a decisive factor for the Chief of staff of the German army. General Erich Von Ludendorff, great strategist at the battle of Tannenberg, once quoted: “As I now clearly see, If it was not for the oil from Romania, we could not even maintain our existence. Let it alone winning the war.”

Against the general assumption of the world war’s symbolized trench warfare and deadlock continuing for years, mobility and transporting great contingents of troops in and out of the front lines were key in succeeding. That encouraged the allied nations to support new means of transportation; Trucks for supporting repositioning large contingents of troops. Warplanes, for gathering intelligence and reconnaissance. Tanks, to break the deadlock that stuck the armies and slowly melted them. This gave slightly advantage in the course of battlefield, as the French mainland, covered with highways, could support the war effort and gave them chance to concentrate their forces on one point with ease. Old-fashioned German railway systems proved to be inadequate for meeting these means of mobility.

After the German defeat in World War One, leading up to armistice, an agreement which will be narrated as “decider of destiny of the Middle Easterns” was signed. Sykes-Picot agreement was by no means a mutual agreement. It caused a greater friction between Allies which if was not for the Us President Wooddrow Wilson’s intervene could not be signed. Main point of dispute was that present points were putting France, who did not catch up Britain in race for oil, in second position after the Great Britain whose now oil reserves and national security were guaranteed. Ever-growing Oil imperialism, culminating in the First World War, had a great narrative on the Versailles peace table. As it even pushed the English to consider plan red, an invasion intented to be done both through Canadian ground forces and British navy,.

After the end of the great war, the strategists clearly understood that oil would assume a rapidly-growing importance in the economy making it a vital element of industrial societies and imperial economic strength.

The Hochmeister

-QuintumDimension Author-

Selected Bibliography

Yergin, Daniel: The Prize. The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, 2009: Simon & Schuster.

International Encyclopedia of The First World War. Petroleum. Available from: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/petroleum (Accessed 2th April 2019)

F William Engdalh. Oil and the origins of the ‘War to make world safe for Democracy’ [Online] 22 June, 2007. Available from: http://www.oilgeopolitics.net/History/Oil_and_the_Origins_of_World_W/oil_and_the_origins_of_world_w.HTM [Accessed 13th March 2019]

Global Policy Forum, Great Power Conflict Over Iraqi Oil: The World War I Era. [Online] October, 2002. Available from: https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/185-general/40479-great-power-conflict-over-iraqi-oil-the-world-war-i-era.html [Accessed 22th March 2019]