October 19 of 1973 ranks as one of the most momentous economic days in US history. On that day, Arab nations announced their Arab Oil Embargo against the United States. The Arab Oil Embargo included a ban on exports to the US and a ten percent cut in overall production.

There were politics at work here, of course. As we might expect from something in the 1970s, the Cold War was among the root causes. Four days previous, on October 15, the US announced its decision to continue supplying Israel with military equipment for its war against a group of Arab nations led by Egypt and Syria. This was a response to the Soviet Union declaring its support for those Arab nations.

Angered by this, the Arab nations involved retaliated against US help to their opponent in the best way they could: cutting off shipments of the fuel the US economy could not run without. The results in the US were immediate. People had trouble obtaining fuel for their cars, and gas prices soared. This also increased the costs for people to do things like heat their homes and raised the cost to manufacture goods requiring oil. The Arab Oil Embargo was a powerful contributor to the economic stagnation of the US economy in the middle of the 1970s. The embargo came to an end on March 18, 1974.

Lessons of the Arab Oil Embargo

I’d like to avoid the question here of whether the US should have been involved in the military affairs of the Middle East in 1973. Instead, I’d like to raise the obvious question this blog post should bring to mind. In 1973, the US economy clearly was not capable of overcoming the loss of its most critical fuel source. That was forty-six years ago. Would things be any different now?

It’s much more than an academic question. Between the second Iraq War and subsequent occupation of Iraq, the US’s renunciation of its nuclear treaty with Iran, and its provocative travel ban against certain nations, US relations with the Arab/Muslim world are rocky, at best.

The real question is even bigger, however. At some point within the next handful of decades, the nations of Earth must learn to base their fuel needs on something other than oil. Between the consequences of global warming and the simple fact that the amount of oil that exists is finite, running a civilization based primarily on oil must end at some point.

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The fact that the US has done so little to prepare for this change is a great example of failing to learn from history. Perhaps too few people today remember just how important the Arab Oil Embargo was in 1973 and what it was like to lack fuel for everyday needs, but it’s a lesson that we should not forget.

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