Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 The Cold War and the international history of the twentieth century
- 2 Ideology and the origins of the Cold War, 1917–1962
- 3 The world economy and the Cold War in the middle of the twentieth century
- 4 The emergence of an American grand strategy, 1945–1952
- 5 The Soviet Union and the world, 1944–1953
- 6 Britain and the Cold War, 1945–1955
- 7 The division of Germany, 1945–1949
- 8 The Marshall Plan and the creation of the West
- 9 The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953
- 10 The Cold War in the Balkans, 1945–1956
- 11 The birth of the People’s Republic of China and the road to the Korean War
- 12 Japan, the United States, and the Cold War, 1945–1960
- 13 The Korean War
- 14 US national security policy from Eisenhower to Kennedy
- 15 Soviet foreign policy, 1953–1962
- 16 East Central Europe, 1953–1956
- 17 The Sino-Soviet alliance and the Cold War in Asia, 1954–1962
- 18 Nuclear weapons and the escalation of the Cold War, 1945–1962
- 19 Culture and the Cold War in Europe
- 20 Cold War mobilization and domestic politics: the United States
- 21 Cold War mobilisation and domestic politics: the Soviet Union
- 22 Decolonization, the global South, and the Cold War, 1919–1962
- 23 Oil, resources, and the Cold War, 1945–1962
- Bibliographical essay
- Index
- References
23 - Oil, resources, and the Cold War, 1945–1962
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- 1 The Cold War and the international history of the twentieth century
- 2 Ideology and the origins of the Cold War, 1917–1962
- 3 The world economy and the Cold War in the middle of the twentieth century
- 4 The emergence of an American grand strategy, 1945–1952
- 5 The Soviet Union and the world, 1944–1953
- 6 Britain and the Cold War, 1945–1955
- 7 The division of Germany, 1945–1949
- 8 The Marshall Plan and the creation of the West
- 9 The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953
- 10 The Cold War in the Balkans, 1945–1956
- 11 The birth of the People’s Republic of China and the road to the Korean War
- 12 Japan, the United States, and the Cold War, 1945–1960
- 13 The Korean War
- 14 US national security policy from Eisenhower to Kennedy
- 15 Soviet foreign policy, 1953–1962
- 16 East Central Europe, 1953–1956
- 17 The Sino-Soviet alliance and the Cold War in Asia, 1954–1962
- 18 Nuclear weapons and the escalation of the Cold War, 1945–1962
- 19 Culture and the Cold War in Europe
- 20 Cold War mobilization and domestic politics: the United States
- 21 Cold War mobilisation and domestic politics: the Soviet Union
- 22 Decolonization, the global South, and the Cold War, 1919–1962
- 23 Oil, resources, and the Cold War, 1945–1962
- Bibliographical essay
- Index
- References
Summary
Control of strategic raw materials played a key role in the origins and outcome of World War II and continued to be a source of power and policy during the Cold War. Modern warfare generated an unprecedented demand for oil and other resources, and modern industrial society consumed massive amounts of energy and raw materials. The United States and the Soviet Union were continent-spanning countries rich in oil and strategic minerals, and their control of these resources helped underpin their power. Both also sought to gain access to resources outside their borders. The United States possessed the military and economic capability to look all over the world, especially to the Third World, for resources for itself and its allies. Lacking comparable power projection and economic capabilities, the Soviet Union was forced to look to its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe to meet its needs.
British, French, and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia possessed tin, rubber, tungsten, and oil, and European colonies in Africa contained several strategic minerals, including copper, cobalt, manganese, chrome, uranium, and industrial diamonds. Raw materials were an important source of dollar income for most European colonial powers, and the profits British oil companies made in the Middle East were essential to Britain’s balance of payments and its ability to continue to maintain military forces in the region. Latin America was also rich in strategic raw materials, including petroleum, copper, manganese, nickel, tin, tungsten, and bauxite. Revolutionary nationalism in the Third World threatened Western access to vital raw materials, disrupted plans to draw on Third World resources to rebuild the economies of Western Europe and Japan, and weakened the overall Western position in the Cold War.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Cold War , pp. 486 - 507Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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