A Brief Summary of the

First World War for Oil

1914-1918

Iakovos Alhadeff

These 3 pages, excluding the maps, are a brief summary of the First World

War for Oil 1914-1918. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the German

Empire wished to connect itself to the Persian Gulf through the Baghdad

Railway (German Empire- Austro-Hungarian Empire-Ottoman Empire). See

the following two maps.

Map 1

The Middle East in 1914, before WW1

Map 2

The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were the main

German allies in the First World for Oil 1914-1918. Italy, even though she

was a German ally, she decided not to enter the war in 1914, and in 1915

Italy actually entered the war on the side of England, France and Russia,

because she was promised large territorial rewards in case of a German

defeat.

With the Baghdad Railway the Germans would import oil from the Persian

Gulf, and they would export manufactured goods to Turkey, the Middle East

and Asia. The German plans were a threat for the English, who wanted to

control the oil of the Persian Gulf. The German presence in the Persian Gulf

would also threaten the British presence in India, which at the time was

Britain’s most important colony.

The German presence in the Middle East would also be a problem for

Russia, because Russia wanted to control the Caspian Sea and the oil of

Baku. At the following map from Columbia University you can see with

black the most important oil fields, and with red the most important natural

gas fields of the Middle East and the Caspian Sea. Of course not all of them

had been discovered at the beginning of the 20th Century (1900).

Map 3

http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Oil_and_Oil_Facilities_lg.jpg

The Russians also eyed the Ottoman Straits that connected the Black Sea to

the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. If the Russians managed to take

the Straits from the Turks, the Russian navy would have access to the

Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. See following map.

Map 4

France was almost constantly at war with Germany, since there were rich in

coal and iron reserves between the two countries, for example in the regions

of Alsace and Lorraine. Coal was the oil of the 19th Century, and to this

very day many countries cover a very large part of their energy needs with

coal. Iron was also a very important factor of production. See the following

map.

Map 5

With the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, the English, the French and the

Russians helped Greece and Serbia to annex the European territories of the

Ottoman Empire, in order to form a wall between the German Empire and

the Ottoman Empire. Greece, Serbia and Romania formed a wall between

Germany and Turkey, as you can see at the following map.

The Balkans after the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913

Map 6

In 1914, the Austrian Duke Ferdinand was murdered in Sarajevo by the

Serbs. Sarajevo is Bosnia’s capital. At the time Bosnia belonged to the

Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the

other powers rushed to support one of the two sides. That was the start of the

First World War for oil. It is claimed, correctly in my opinion, that the

Second World War was a simple continuation of the First World War, since

the geopolitical landscape was more or less the same with the one of the

First World War for oil.

On the contrary, today’s geopolitical framework is very different than the

one of 1914. Today the Greek-Serbia axis, that was created by the English,

the French and the Russians with the Balkan Wars, it is a problem for the

West, while it can still be very useful for Russia. The EU and the US want to

connect the Caspian Sea oil and natural gas reserves to Italy and Germany,

because Putin gave the Germans and the Italians large stakes in the Russian

natural gas industry. Italy got its stake through the South Stream and the

Blue Stream Pipelines, while Germany got its stake through the North

Stream Pipeline. NATO is to a large extent an energy alliance, and if Italy

and Germany were to align their energy policies with Russia, it would be the

end of NATO, at least as we know it.

Therefore the US and the EU promote the Southern Energy Corridor, which

will bring to Europe natural gas and oil from the Caspian Sea, and Russia

tries to block this energy corridor, because this natural gas and oil would

compete with the Russian natural gas and oil in Europe, and would put

downward pressure on Russian energy prices. Russia is the richest country

in the world in natural gas reserves, and one of the richest in oil reserves.

The Balkans i.e. Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia, Bulgaria, have large Muslim and Slav elements in their

populations. Turkey, a NATO member, can influence the Muslim elements,

and Russia can influence the Slavic and Christian parts of the populations. If

Putin uses the corrupt political systems of Greece, FYROM, Serbia and

Hungary in order to block the Southern Energy corridor, he can block the

Southern Energy Corridor. Under this scenario NATO will have no choice

but to support Turkey and Albania. The two countries will use the Muslim

elements of Greece and FYROM in order to annex some of the territories of

these two countries, creating a corridor which will connect Turkey and

Albania.

Map 7

If on the other hand Greece allows the Southern Energy corridor to pass

through its territory, Russia will have to use the Slavs in Bosnia and

FYROM, in order to cause a war. The war would destabilize the Balkans,

blocking the Southern Energy Corridor, preventing the natural gas of the

Caspian Sea from reaching Italy and Germany. The only other scenario, the

best one actually, is that the US, the EU and Russia will agree on a pipeline

that will carry both Russian and Caspian natural gas.

However it is clear that contrary to the geopolitical framework of WW2,

today’s geopolitical framework is very different from the geopolitical

framework of WW1. The only similarity is that everything seems ready for a

new Sarajevo. But let’s hope that the great powers will work things out.

For more details of today’s energy wars see “USA Russia & China in the

Middle East: Alliances & Conflicts”, at the following address

http://iakovosalhadeff.blogspot.gr/2015/01/usa-russia-china-in-middle-

east.html

See also “Russia vs Turkey: The Geopolitics of the South & the Turk Stream

Pipelines”.

https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/russia-vs-turkey-the-geopolitics-of-

tuth-the-turk-stream-pipelines/

For more details on the First World War for Oil, see “The First World War

for Oil 1914-1918 : Similarities with the Oil Wars of 2014”, at the following

address

http://iakovosalhadeff.blogspot.gr/2014/10/the-first-world-war-for-oil-1914-

1918.html