Over the last two weeks, I have been reading a book suggested to me by my father which was called the Prize by Daniel Yergin. The Prize is a luring, compelling text on the history of oil, and deserves to be the standard book on oil. Yergin writes this 800-page novel and masterfully explains how a now vital resource, known worldwide from the 1800s came to dominate the global financial system and direct its fate as technology-enabled crude oil to be turned into products and other commercial goods like gasoline.

This all started in 1859 just before the American Civil War, where Colonel Edwin L. Drake successfully drilled the first-ever oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where he drilled using piping to prevent borehole collapse, allowing for the drill to penetrate further and further into the ground. This led lots of people to follow in his tracks creating the first oil stampede. Early on, oil was used for oil lamps which evolved from the candle and quickly popularized. Eventually, the oil or petroleum would have many uses like it does today like gasoline, electricity, and fertilizer/pesticides. One of the big American companies that originated with the discovery of oil was Standard Oil led by John D. Rockefeller and always owned a monopoly on the market. It was dissolved by the Supreme Court in May 1911 and was so large that it broke up into almost all of the oil companies we know today like Mobil, Shell, Exon Mobile, Chevron, and Royal Dutch/Shell. As time went on, more major oil hotspots were found and the market kept going up and down, but one thing stayed the same, there was always a surplus of oil. Still, tensions rose between many countries, leading to the World Wars, and playing a key factor in who won the wars. For example, lots of Americans believed that there were lots of oil in Saudi Arabia now that they discovered oil in Persia (modern-day Iran) and wanted to do all they could to get their hands on that oil. Sure enough, after some waiting, tons of oil was found making Saudi Arabia a high exporter and rich country producing about 16.2 million barrels per day – 18% of the world’s petroleum. Later on in the 1830s, oil played a crucial part in the war and was the main reason that the Allies were able to defeat the Axis. The Axis was in need of oil for its military vessels and fortunately for them, the Soviet Union was able to obtain oil as well as invade other countries and obtain their oil supplies. This was the right-hand for the Soviet Union in the war as it powered all the military vessels, and secured their needs. However, when Italy was starting to invade Cario, Egypt after a series of victories, it started to run short on oil and kept requesting oil from the Soviets which never came. Instead, the Italy Field Marshall, German General Erwin Rommel was put in an ultimatum and forced to commit suicide after his losses against the Allies, losing his streak of victories. Allied and American General Montgomery took advantage of this careful planning out all of his battles striking a major blow to the Axis. General Montgomery was actually the only Allied General to win all of his battles in WW II, as he was cautious and careful, although a bit rude. Due to the fact that the Axis lacked oil supplies, Italy joined the Allies, and not long after the Allies won the war easily while Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the Germans surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,  finally ending the last World War. I would recommend this book to anyone, even adults who are looking to read a luring non-fiction book. This book is really is giving me the understanding, including all the details about how the world’s economic prosperity current depends on to this day and is the way it is because of oil. Thank you for reading my blog.