The world’s economy runs on oil. People steal for it. Nations kill for it. To win a war, the victor must have enough oil to fuel his tanks, ships, and planes. One of the great untold stories of World War II is about the strategic decisions and the combat for the control of enough oil so that the Axis powers could wage an aggressive war. Conversely, the Allied powers were determined to keep oil from the Axis, and Oil & War is the first book to explain this intricate dance of death from the viewpoints of both the Axis and the Allied sides. Hitler began planning his grab for oil-producing lands in the 1930s; he also began building plants capable of producing synthetic fuels. The Japanese had their plans, too. The Americans, English, and Australians had to counterpunch. They very nearly lost the war because they did not move quickly enough. The race was far closer than previously believed. Truth is stranger than fiction. Novels and war games based on the strategies of oil have captured the public’s attention. But here is the real story. Illustrated with 26 maps, graphs, and charts, plus 16 pages of photographs (some of them never before published), this anecdotal narrative shows the important role oil played in World War II and provides a new view of the conflict that controlled the greatest war in history—and a stunning analysis of the importance of oil in terms of world peace for the years to come.