Page 86 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

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combustion engine in the late nineteenth century and its into effect, however, due largely to opposition from the
almost universal adoption in the transportation sector United States, and global emissions of greenhouse gases
over the course of the twentieth century created vast new have continued to increase. Oil production and oil-derived
markets for oil. Aided by improvements in refining tech- products, including the products of the petrochemical in-
niques, oil became the fuel of choice for the automobiles, dustry, have also contributed significantly to air, water, and
trucks, ships, and airplanes that revolutionized transpor- soil pollution, both directly and indirectly. Oil-powered
tation and transformed the physical, economic, and technologies have allowed vast increases in mining and
social landscapes of societies all over the world. Oil- logging activities, for example, with major environmen-
powered machinery and petrochemical-based pesticides, tal consequences.
herbicides, and fertilizers also sparked unprecedented in-
creases in agricultural production. In particular, the Oil and Military Power
development in 1909 of a method to synthesize ammo- Oil became essential to military power in the early twen-
nia, first from coal and later from natural gas, allowed tieth century, when the navies of the great powers, led by
massive expansion in the use of inorganic fertilizers Great Britain and the United States, began to switch
resulting in dramatic increases in food production and from coal to oil as fuel. Although the navies of the great
water pollution. By the end of the twentieth century, oil powers played a relatively minor role in World War I, oil
accounted for around forty percent of global energy con- and the internal combustion engine heralded a revolu-
sumption (including over ninety percent of transporta- tion in mobility on the land, the sea, and the air.
tion energy use) and was the most important commodity Oil was crucial to the origins and outcome of World
in international trade both in terms of mass and value. War II. Hitler’s desire to gain control of oil for his heav-
ily mechanized war machine was an important factor
Environmental behind his decision to invade the Soviet Union. Japan
Impact of Oil Use was dependent on the United States for around 80 per-
Drilling for oil, transporting and refining oil, and burn- cent of its oil needs, and the U.S. decision in the summer
ing oil has had a significant impact on the environment. of 1941 to cut off oil exports to Japan presented Japan-
Fossil fuel combustion, of which oil is a major compo- ese leaders with the option of going to war to seize oil
nent, puts far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere supplies in the Netherlands East Indies or bowing to
than the world’s oceans, soils, and biomass can absorb, U.S. pressure. All the main weapons systems of World
and probably has affected the earth’s climate. In Decem- War II were oil-powered—surface warships (including
ber 1997, the developed countries agreed, in the Kyoto aircraft carriers), submarines, airplanes (including long-
Accords on Climate Control, to reduce their emissions of range bombers), tanks, and a large portion of sea and
global warming gases.The Kyoto Accords have not gone land transport. Oil was also used in the manufacture of

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