Oil and Military Effectiveness

This chapter discusses the military value of oil and traces its origins to the historical transformation from coal to oil as the major military fuel during World War I. Oil's superiority over coal was made clear by the conduct of the war, and by its end, all of the major powers understood that oil coercion had emerged as a major international threat. Even countries that lacked oil had no choice but to adopt oil-fueled military technology because coal related transportation was no longer competitive. The chapter then explains how oil deprivation influenced Japan's decision to surrender at the end of World War II in the time and manner that it did. The case illuminates in empirical detail the military devastation inflicted by the Allied blockade, which completely severed Japanese oil access.

6. Synthesis

‘Synthesis’ considers how the shape and scale of chemistry has been transformed since the start of the 20th century. A series of world wars; a shift from coal to oil as the feedstock for the chemical industry; the introduction of physical instrumentation, quantum mechanics, and electronic theories; the organization of academia and industry to create Big Science as opposed to the more individualized research of previous centuries; a shift from European dominance of the subject to the US and then Russia, Japan, and China; and more women joining the profession have all been important. Underlying these changes was the theme of synthesis of natural chemicals and the creation of artificial materials.