Germany's Chase for Oil

“He who owns the oil will own the world, for he will rule the sea by means of the heavy oils, the air by means of the ultra-refined fuels, and the land means of gasoline and the illuminating oils.”
~Henri Berenger 1921


It is said that money makes the world go ‘round. Generally speaking this is true, but since 1908 when a mass of oil was discovered in Persia, now known as Iran, oil has been one of the most controversial and sought-after resources in the world. Although Germany first began to use tanks, planes, and machine guns in World War I, this was extremely tedious war, centering on trench warfare, with a minimal need for oil. Once Germany began World War II, the demand for oil sky-rocketed due to the oil-based machinery used in Germany’s quick and efficient military tactic called Blitzkrieg . The insatiable need for oil rapidly became a much greater obstacle to the success of the Third Reich’s ongoing war campaign, overshadowing Hitler’s initial goal of exterminating the Jews (Anti-Semitism). Within three years of the start of the war, Germany nearly ran out of oil. Because of this unceasing issue, it eventually resulted in Germany’s defeat.

Hitler’s plans to conquer Europe started by going east to Poland and north from there. After two full years of conquering nearly every country in Europe, the supply of oil for Germany was decreasing rapidly. Even though Blitzkrieg (also referred to as “lightening war”) was an incredibly fast and effective tactic, it required massive amounts of oil. In cases such as Germany’s battles against small, weak countries, Blitzkrieg was more efficient because of the shorter time period required to conquer each country. This approach worked perfectly as planned until the Battle of Britain. Since the battles between Germany and each previous country had been kept to a minimal two to three month time frame, the nearly year-long Battle of Britain wiped out most of Germany’s oil supply. Although the continuous use of Blitzkrieg was effective once Germany won the battle, Hitler realized that he needed to find more dependable and abundant sources of oil.

After the Battle of Britain, Hitler’s focus went immediately to conquering Iran, which contained vast, amounts of oil. At the outbreak of World War II, both Great Britain and the Soviet Union laid claim to the Middle East, including the vast stores of Iranian oil. Hitler then created a plan to conquer Iran by successfully executing critical battles in four theaters: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Northern Africa. The first of the four battles began at the Battle of Leningrad on September 8, 1941 . Only a month later, troops were then sent to Moscow, and for three full months Germany fought through bitter winter weather until it became too much for the German soldiers to handle. While Hitler’s troops were rapidly dying off due to starvation and extreme weather, the Soviets became even stronger. On January 7, 1942 Germany surrendered, ending the Leningrad campaign. By the end of these two battles, Germany’s resources were nearly exhausted. By winter of 1942, Germany hoped that they would have a chance to defeat the Soviets at Stalingrad. The Commander of Germany’s sixth army, General Paulus, was ordered by Hitler to establish control over the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. But after nearly four months, the Soviets defeated the Germans.

For over two years, Hitler and the German army attempted to secure oil in the Middle East, losing hundreds of thousands of men in the process. In a war which Germany originally directed their focus to seizing the world, in the end resulted in only trying to obtain the resources in order for them to succeed. Hitler needed to conquer several countries primarily to provide Germany with an ongoing supply of oil, detracting from the initial goal of world domination. Because of the fact Germany's focus after two years became primarily on oil, Hitler's success came to an extreme halt. Because of this continuous fight for oil, the triple defeat over the Germans by the USSR was not only understandable, but readily anticipated. In the end, a great part of the war effort had been dedicated to key battles against the Soviet Union and the search for oil, eventually putting global conquest out of Hitler’s reach.