This essay examines the 20th century as an age of war and military power, focusing on how British strategy successfully induced the United States to impose an oil embargo on Japan. It analyzes how Japan’s oil-dependent economy was driven to the brink of collapse, revealing the decisive role of energy control in modern warfare.

2016-03-19
The twentieth century was also a century of war.
In other words, it was a century of armies.
There has never been such a thing as a non-coercive military force anywhere in the world.
During the First World War, Japan sided with the victors.
During the Second World War, Britain, which had to bring the United States into the war at any cost and make it fight Nazi Germany, acted precisely according to its strategic design.
In an era when oil had become the primary source of energy, Britain succeeded in having the United States prohibit the export of oil to Japan.
As a result, Japan’s economy, which had been sustained by oil imports from the United States, encountered a crisis that threatened its very collapse.
To be continued.