Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Part I Images and interpretations
- Part II England and the Low Countries in pre-industrial times
- Part III Enterprise, finance and politics in the modern world
- 10 The Bank of Rome and commercial credit, 1880–1914
- 11 The scientific brewer: founders and successors during the rise of the modern brewing industry
- 12 Large firms in Belgium, 1892–1974: an analysis of their structure and growth
- 13 ‘No bloody revolutions but for obstinate reactions’? British coalowners in their context, 1919–20
- 14 French oil policy, 1917–30: the interaction between state and private interests
- 15 Reflections on the Dutch economic interests in the East Indies
- Bibliography of Charles Wilson's published works
- Index
14 - French oil policy, 1917–30: the interaction between state and private interests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Part I Images and interpretations
- Part II England and the Low Countries in pre-industrial times
- Part III Enterprise, finance and politics in the modern world
- 10 The Bank of Rome and commercial credit, 1880–1914
- 11 The scientific brewer: founders and successors during the rise of the modern brewing industry
- 12 Large firms in Belgium, 1892–1974: an analysis of their structure and growth
- 13 ‘No bloody revolutions but for obstinate reactions’? British coalowners in their context, 1919–20
- 14 French oil policy, 1917–30: the interaction between state and private interests
- 15 Reflections on the Dutch economic interests in the East Indies
- Bibliography of Charles Wilson's published works
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The role of oil in the contemporary international economy is no less prominent – and perhaps even more decisive – than that formerly played by spices, salt, silk, wool, cotton, fats, coal or minerals. The commercial exploits of Venice and Genoa, the Iberian states and the Dutch, English and French companies round the world manifested many motives of personal enterprise and government opportunism. Changing balances of power, technical innovation and the accelerating pace of communications have affected business methods, and new social attitudes have altered political relations, but the incentive of profit and the responsibilities of governments remain essential aspects of human activity. The interaction of these elements and the increasing exploitation of natural resources present individuals and states with challenging opportunities for self-advancement and national prosperity as well as with difficult problems of reconciling divergent interests. Such issues have also been raised by the emergence of the oil industry in the late nineteenth century, and French experience provides a pertinent example. Diplomacy was no more immune from economic realities than business was exempt from the impact of political activities.
The commercial discovery of oil in 1859 has transformed the modes of transportation and added a new factor to the energy equation. Moreover, as a result of the introduction of mechanized warfare in the First World War, oil acquired strategic implications of no less importance in the sphere of international relations. French business, although possessing a small and technically competent shale oil industry in Alsace, was relatively slow to appreciate the potential of oil, though its industrialists early recognized the importance of the automobile.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Enterprise and HistoryEssays in Honour of Charles Wilson, pp. 237 - 262Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1984