In 1939, the young and brilliant lawyer Edgar Faure published a book in the Bibliothèque d’histoire politique, militaire et navale (Library of political, military and naval history) called: « Le pétrole dans la paix et dans la guerre » (“Oil in Peace and War”). Twenty years later, the subtitle of a work called "Oil and War" could sum up, in itself, this congress topic : "How oil won the war and now controls peace". Oil, "the blood of peace and the nerve of war", is ordinarily associated with images of armed confrontations, and is often perceived as one explanatory factor of conflicts. In times of peace, an awareness of oil dependence can even lead to various kinds of foreign intervention. To be sure, we know that motorisation of armed forces has made oil vital in any modern war. It is hardly necessary to remind you of the vital role played by oil during the two World Wars, the abundance of that raw material no doubt being one of the elements accounting for the Allies' final victory. We will simply remind you of the incredible American logistical effort at the time of the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 (operation PLUTO). For countries lacking oil, that lack demanded a tremendous effort to come up with substitute products, as the German chemical industry did with synthetic (« Ersatz ») oil. Certain military offensives are directly connected with access to oil resources (such as the German conquest of Valachia or Transcaucasia during the First World War, or the German thrusts toward Baku and Mesopotamia during the second one). Shortage of oil (lack of resources or because of a rapid shift of the fighting front) slowed Rommel, Patton and Von Rundstedt. The technical decisions were also influenced by the need for using more or less petrol, or developing oil products well suited to the army's needs. The effectiveness of blockades and of oil embargos can be reconsidered in the light of recent research. Looking beyond the context of world wars, in certain hydrocarbon-rich parts of the world the oil companies are said to have intervened, directly or indirectly, for instance during the war between Bolivia and Paraguay, and later at the time of the Biafra of secession. The oil factor was also present during the Cold War, and during wars for independence (in the latter case, were the oil regions "sanctuaries" far from the fighting?). During local conflicts oil has served as a medium of exchange (for weapons), as cement as a bonding agent for alliances and as a means of exerting pressure for "oil despots". In peacetime, the strategic stocks, the question of supply security and the quality of the various fuels are all vital elements in determining the feasibility or the continuation of possible conflict. An understanding of the oil issue also includes direct or indirect control of the production areas that are vital to the major powers (the Middle East above all) as well as the security and control of the most important routes for hydrocarbon exchanges. Thus maritime routes regain their full importance, whether we think of straits, islands, offshore operating areas with sometimes vague borders … The various crises involving Suez, Iran and Iraq, Kuwait, the Paracelse Islands…offer numerous contemporary examples. But oil pipelines can also be the object of conflicting appetites. The United States, having become a net importer, the strongly dependent European Union, China… have come to pay great attention to such questions, which directly influence their future, particularly as concerns an inevitably limited resource. In the final analysis, can a country be a great power without direct or indirect access to vast hydrocarbon resources? Looking beyond historical examples and the required typology, in the final analysis we want to be able to view today's questions in a long-term perspective, even if we have to show that certain ones among yesterday's factors are no longer equally relevant today. Hence the congress is intended to be a multidisciplinary one so as to welcome attendance by historians, geographers, military experts, specialists in international relations, persons responsible for the oil sector (both public authorities and the companies involved…). The history that is brought up will cover the entire period of the 20th century, and also the beginning of the following one. The congress' work will have several focuses, this list being indicative only :
• making war with or without oil : examples since the time of the First World War
• the civilian authorities and the oil issue in France and abroad from the viewpoint of national security: what has been the nature of the public policy since 1914 (notion of oil dependence, appropriate legislation, development of a tanker fleet, relationships with the military authorities…)?
• the General Staff and the technical problems raised by the oil supply issue (depots, reserve stocks, mobilisation of resources, locations of oil installations…)
• oil embargos and their effectiveness (or the absence of an oil embargo as happened in the case of the League of Nations against Italy in 1935, in the case of Ethiopia)
• Atlantic or European cooperation to develop an oil policy in case of international conflict
• etc. A roundtable discussion at the end of the colloquium is planned to emphasise the past and present strategic aspects of oil: from controlled oil for making war to secured access to the resources.

Organization

The colloquium will be held at la Défense, near Paris. The organisers will arrange accommodation and meals on the spot. A limited amount of travel can be provided. Proposals with abstracts (maximum 250 words), up to five key-words, a brief CV (no more than one page) should be sent by 1 September 2009, either in French or in English :

Alain BELTRAN
Directeur de recherche au CNRS
beltran@univ-paris1.fr

The proposals will be selected at the end of September 2009.