The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

Despite the strength of his military machine, and with a growing supply of synthetic fuels at his disposal, oil was never far from Hitler’s mind. Indeed, that concern had helped shape his basic strategic approach to war, which was based on the blitzkrieg, or “lightning war”—fierce but short battles with concentrated mechanized forces that would lead to decisive victory before petroleum supply problems could develop. Initially, the strategy worked astonishingly well, not only in Poland in 1939, but also in the spring of 1940, as Hitler’s forces overran Norway, the Low Countries, and France with surprising ease. The campaign in the West actually improved Germany’s oil position, for German troops captured oil stocks considerably in excess of the fuel they had expended in the invasions. Even though Hitler’s subsequent attempts to subdue the British Isles through massive aerial bombardment had failed by the fall of 1940, Germany seemed on the verge of dominating Europe. It had also fallen into the habit of thinking that victory was cheap. So when Hitler turned his sights east toward his next objective, he envisioned another easy victory. The target was the Soviet Union.7