4 ms·

Funny how oil wasn't important not too long ago

• mikeash 10y ago
  Oil was still quite important. One random example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wave For another example, a large part of the motivation behind Japan's attack in December 1941 was the US embargo on oil exports to Japan. (The embargo in turn was motivated by Japan's rampage in China; I don't mean to imply Japan was in any way justified here, just that this was a major reason.) As for why this particular target isn't included, I'd guess that either the lists are incomplete, it was just missed by the planners, or perhaps oil production wasn't considered to be worth targeting because the war would be over so quickly.
  • jevinskie 10y ago
    And many critical parts of the German military ran on synthetic fuel derived from coal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel#History
• dredmorbius 10y ago
  Oil has been an explicit primary strategic concern since the start of the 20th century, if not before. It was a fundamental objective of both world wars, and many other conflicts. It strikes me as quite possible that the relative successes of capitalist and communist blocs had far more to do with resource and oil than ideology. See Daniel Yergin's The Prize, or Robert Newman's "A Brief History of Oil". https://www.worldcat.org/title/prize-the-epic-quest-for-oil-money-and-power/oclc/22381448 https://www.worldcat.org/title/prize-the-epic-quest-for-oil-... https://youtu.be/GIpm_8v80hw https://youtu.be/GIpm_8v80hw