Introduction

The early history of industrial society consisted of a bloody struggle to carve up the world among a handful of European countries: the UK, the Netherlands, France, Portugal, and Spain. In the early sixteenth century, these powers dominated the world thanks to early advances in ships, gunpowder, and mechanized military. At the time of the First World War (1914–1918) they had colonized nearly all of Africa and South America and large parts of Asia. As a consequence, an enormous gap in wealth emerged between rich and poor countries, which still largely exists today.

The struggle for dominance and political influence became intertwined with oil from the First World War onwards. Oil has been, at least for the last 100 years, the greatest prize, and its geopolitical importance as a strategic energy commodity cannot be overstated. Especially the two Gulf Wars have demonstrated that the United States will use any crisis or opportunity to deepen its influence in the Middle East. Dozens of such wars have been fought throughout history over the prospect of accessing or controlling oil supplies, in combination with a strategy of shrewd deals with local elites or the installation of puppet governments by covert means.