In the Wall Street Journal article of Monday, August 1, 2011, “Europe’s Big Oil Sees Output Fall”, it’s easy to think of World War II. Oil was the name of the game then, too. Few people realize how important it was in the outcome of the Second World War.
Back during World War II Mussolini was making a push in Cyrenaica toward Egypt. Hitler sent troops under Rommel to support his Italian ally. Rommel could have won the war in North Africa if only Hitler had devoted more resources to it. If he had Rommel could have rolled up the British and sent them packing by the summer of 1942. Then he could have rolled up the rest of the Middle East and deprived Great Britain of oil. Without oil they would have dropped out of the war. Hitler could have won on the Western Front.