All in Pre-1973 'shock' history
If World War I was a static war, then World War II was a war of motion. Hitler famously ranted for hours about oil and some say designed his grand strategy around the capture of the Baku oil fields. Other historians see the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as a way to seal off a perimeter for its capture of the resource-rich ‘South Zone’ (China and Southeast Asia), the oil-rich Dutch East Indies most importantly.
OPEC, the club of some of the world’s largest oil exporters, was formed in 1960 by five countries—Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. These countries, despite their many differences, were united on the question of asserting greater control over their countries’ most important resource and preventing further price cuts.
