Transcripts For CSPAN3 World War I The Origins Of The Fossi

Industrialization in the postbellum u. S. , and the cultural history of Petroleum Use in the 20th century, and what it revealed about American Environmental ethics and precedents. He has examined industrial intensity during the civil war era, as well as the impact of modernism and landuse planning on the modern environmental movement. Professor black received his doctorate in american studies from the university of kansas in 1996. This evening, he will address how world war i informed the 20th centurys use of Energy Sources including petroleum, and the fuels enduring impact on our environment and climate today. Give a warm welcome to professor brian black. [applause] professor black thanks ,everyone. Thanks, everyone. Thank you for being hardcore audience to come out on an evening like this. Thank you, kamil, and everyone for putting together this program. I truly am impressed on a number of levels and i have not been to this facility, so i am impressed at that. I was part of a conference that traveled through the asiago plane. The world war i conference. I have to tell you, the memorial reminds me so much of some of the memorials you see there. It is wonderful that we have that and the museum. In terms of me, i was really pleased when camille contacted me because i had a piece of the New York Times with this page. What we have, i think, is an opportunity tonight. I salute the world war i museum for taking advantage of this to bring some New Historical thinking in as well. I am working with a group of historians who really change some basic ideas about how you tell stories about the past. As you see, this becomes an opportunity to get into more larger issues. I hope in our questions and answers that you feel free to ask me for more specifics about this. There might be people in the audience who know more than i do. I will also be happy to talk about the macro version of what i will be speaking about as well. The other point, because i am going to introduce you to some literature, some ideas, i do include fairly lengthy quotes on here. I will be leaving them up for so that you can have time to read them at the. Thank you for being here. On the morning of july 7, 1919, a 28yearold Lieutenant Colonel in the u. S. Army, dwight d eisenhower, set out on a volunteer crosscountry road trip to evaluate the emerging system of roadways in the u. S. The convoys findings were instrumental in charting the priorities that the u. S. Would follow over the 20th century. In particular, new sources of power provided a logic for expansion and development that was reminiscent of pioneer wagon trains of previous generations. Ike later wrote, the old convoy had started me thinking about two lane roads. This is one of the things i felt deeply about. I made a personal, and absolute decision to see the nation benefit by it. In his ensuing experience of u. S. Military leader president s, i personalized and personified the american drives to drive. Particularly when he oversaw the historic interstate highway act. Today, as we discern the unique, high Energy Existence that defines American Life for the ensuing decades. This event expands in importance. Fossil fuels, by discerning trade emissions from the passport often, events that we already know such as world war i and the convoy that followed emerge with new importance. Transitions can be seen to arrive from a number of different factors including supply and technological innovation. They require cultural acceptance and precipitation as participation to achieve species altering changes to our existence. Informed by our new knowledge about climate change, scientists and historians have begun to call our current geological anthropocenine. When the action of one species, the human, has come to have an impact on the entire earth. Historian efforts to define the era, and even the old convoy standout as a transformational moment in shaping the thomistic economy of the american century. At their foundation, the infrastructural priorities that guided this era in the u. S. And derived from ikes road trip, assumed a limitless supply of crude, and cleared a right of way highEnergy Existence. As a commodity, black gold reached the first decade and a half of the 20th century in a most precarious and awkward situation. After its discovery in pennsylvania in the 1860s, massive discoveries of petroleum suddenly compounded the worlds supply, particularly in the u. S. In texas in 1901. Various innovation left petroleum with only scant utility at times. What factors tipped it from being an increasingly abundant resource to a commodity that spurred a fullblown Energy Transition . Certainly, personal transportation offered a remarkably rich area of potential for global growth. However, the competitive market for powering trucks and cars in the first decade of the 1900s made the internal Combustion Engine powered by gasoline a most unlikely suitor. Particularly due to the complex system of processing and delivery it required. Through the spectrum of compounding uses, the Tipping Point to alter petroleums status can truly be seen to have been the great war. Providing proper context to world war i requires historians to consider the context it that is provided by the resources that is informed by my specialty in environmental history. Of these resources that were transformed by the great war, energy and particularly petroleum, which had exploded onto the global illumination market in the last four decades of the 19th century, present the most revealing narrative. A proper accounting of the wars context must enumerate these applications of flexible fuel petroleum. However, this is just part of the story of the converging Technical Innovation and cultural desire that result in crudes emerging importance. A variety of Global Economic and regional, political and social factors converged on world war i era to catapult the modern valuable commodity of petroleum to new standards of value. Indeed, by the end of the conflict, petroleum had become a commodity of global significance, even essential. Of course, developed nations therefore needed to consider accessibility as a matter of national security. In the form of colonization, or through the activities of governmentsupported transnational corporations, access to crude became both a requirement and a predictor of global power in the first decade of the 20 century. In the origins of the modern world, robert marx joined others in describing the global human of the 1910s and 1920s of going through a great departure. He writes that world war i shook the imperial order to its foundation and had major consequences for the shape of the 20th century world. The combination of rapid industrial and population growth in the 20th century redefined humans relationship to their environment and clearly separated them from the rhythms and constraints of what he called the biological old regime. The old way of doing things. This Energy Transition moves from foundational shifts such as the technology to create synthetic fertilizer, for both agriculture and military use, explosives, and also commercial transportation. In the case of energy use, we see new technologies of the era provide a shrinking of time and space as well as an intensification of human impacts and potentialities. John mcneil writes the Worldwide Energy harvest increased by about five times in the 19th century and 16 times in the 20th. The great war sits at a defining precipice of this shift in our species. From deforestation and mining to the expansion of automobile use and the internal Combustion Engine, we find the world war i era played a formative role indeed as a divider between 19 th and 20th century ways of life. An entirely new scale of energy. As scholars reorient the human story to better reflect these mobile distinctions in the ways people live, world war i also becomes the gateway then to the highEnergy Existence that defines what we now call the anthropocenine. In this geological epoque, mcbeal and others, the human condition becomes one of perpetual service. To earths natural rhythms and balance. At the core of this he writes, an environmental history of the 20th century qualifies as a peculiar century because of the screeching acceleration of so many processes that bring ecological change. We have probably deployed more energy since 1900 then in all of Human History before 1900. You have to sit down to really ponder the significance of it. In addition, mcneil also distinguishes the period of acceleration through the adoption of fossil fuels by a few societies that will begin to industrialize. To develop at an entirely different rate. You see this incredible rise coming after the period, which of course we know and receive it visualized is a different thing. The Energy Transition from the world war i era only succeeded because of the advancement of additional technologies that enhanced the impact of new sources of power. Historian Christopher Jones discusses the multiplying effect of such related, or ancillary technologies as intensification. It took the shift from mineral based sources that governed the 19th century, and broadened its impact. With such new Energy Systems in mind, the summary impact of the great war on Petroleum Usage emerges as many layered and complex, but altogether transformative undoubtedly. The stage for this transition, however, was set prior to the conflict and did not involve a revolution of personal transportation. The imperative of winning world war i had driven the allies to thrust many technologies into the action with scant preparation. At the heart of these technologies was a new prime mover. Ironically, just as the use of electricity expanded to replace petroleum, the 20th century brought a massive spike in oil supplies. East texas started around 1901 was literally at times a market with hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude, and left industries searching for ways to put black gold to use. Reading these trends, innovators including henry ford worked to perfect the internal Combustion Engine, what i will refer to as ice. Such an engine combusted petroleum in a controlled fashion and directed its power to engines that can be used for a variety of purposes. Primary among these of course was the effort to reliably power engines that would move devices that would move us. Combustion was one of the most glaring vagueries of the ice technologies. With frequent unexpected explosions creating fear among many consumers, in addition to implementing and representing a unique infrastructure ranging from filling stations and gas pumps to roads and bridges seemed daunting. In fact, ice was simply one of the many competitors trying to replace humans relied this on reliance on animal ppower which was viewed as incapable of expanding to meet the needs of the modern era. Acrosstheboard, early automobiles were experimenting with a poor ramification for safety and reliability. In fact, electric batteries show the most promise for personal transport during the 1900s, particularly in urban areas in the northeast. Although fords model t made the personal automobile universally available after 1907 at a cost of around 400 per unit. In 1912, he and Thomas Edison released the electric version that ford believed would define American Transportation into the future. However, world war i changed the future of American Transportation. And the convoy plays on small part in that. Far from technical infrastructure such as Battery Charging stations, the world war i battle front began as a scene from the 19th century. Oxen and horse pulled wagons and pigeons carried handwritten messages. To win the war, unproven new technologies were released directly onto the battlefield. By the end of the war, trucks, tanks, and other devices powered by gasoline had supplanted animal power. The flexibility of ice, and specifically of gasoline won the day. It was completely separate uses. Emerging from petroleums initial development in the 1860s, subsequent decades Brought International develop and increased supply. A unique Petroleum Culture then took shape, allowing expanded production and availability are at such a moment part they created by technical and Corporate Innovation and partly by new roles for the nation states and ideas of individual autonomy. It ushered in a revolutionary assortment of new uses for crude. Although the popularity of kerosene had jettisoned petroleums value, illumination appeared a fleeting application of crude. In both the u. S. And great britain, the Energy Transition was openly maneuvered and manipulated by the political and military establishment. As early as 1910, petroleum emerged as a strategic tool for ensuring global power. The first application for petroleum in this regard was ensuring naval supremacy. Politically, the british effort at naval conversion was eventually led by winston churchill. Who began as a member of parliament, and by 1910 had become the president of the board of trade. Although he did not begin on the side of naval expansion, the early 1910s brought churchill a a clear education on the advantage of oil. Refueling at sea, these are the kind of advantages. He later wrote, as a coal ship used up her coal, increasingly large numbers of men had to be taken if necessary from the guns to shovel coal from remote and inconvenient bunkers to bunkers nearer to the furnaces or to the furnaces themselves, thus weakening the fighting efficiency of the ship at perhaps a most critical moment in the battle. The use of oil made it possible in every type of vessel to make more gunpowder and more speed for less. By 1912, the policy had been put into place. As churchill recorded in the Worlds Greatest Navy the supreme ships of the navy on which our life must depend for are fed by oil and could only be fed by oil. The emphasis of churchill and britains military strategists focused on the great benefits to their naval superiority, however their decision also marked a defining moment, a new era in the culture of petroleum by association, committing their fleet to petroleum meant that a consistent and reliable supply of crude had just become one of the most important commodities on earth. Nations security depended on it. Also by association, any nation wishing to compete with britain had to follow suit. By declaring this new energy era, britain forced any competing nations to also consider oil within this new logic. At the highest level, u. S. Leaders debated the implications of converting their military. Particularly their navy to petroleum. Their conversations had begun in the late 1800s, and took on greater urgency as britain emerged in global affairs. The United States had won significant advantage in the naval conversion, of course. In the early 1900s, American Oil Fields produced approximately one third of the worlds oil. Indeed, the u. S. Approached all such Strategic Decisions from the basic realization that it was the only nation in the world that could power its military with petroleum, and largely the supply it with its own reserves. The ultimate autonomy which would then become known as energy independence. Although this was an obvious advantage over other nations, the american situation also required a new type of relationship between business and government. Given such critical importance, Petroleum Supply demanded federal oversight and management. In times of overabundance, this control was often referred to as conservation. In the end, it was churchill who seems to have most clearly formed the necessary new vision of the 20th century. When he proclaimed to the house of commons on june 17, 1914, this afternoon we have two deal not with the policy of building oil driven ships or using oil as an ancillary fuel, look out upon the wide expanse of the oil regions of the world. Two gigantic corporations, one in either hemisphere stands in the new world there is the standard oil. In the old world, the great combination of the shell the royal dutch. For many years it had been the policy of the Foreign Office and the Indian Government to preserve the independent Oil Interests of the persian oil fields. To develop as well as we could, and above all to prevent it being swallowed by others. In the last two or three years the consequence of these new uses, which had been found for this oil, there was a shortage of this article. Which the world has only lately begun to see. That is the reason why prices ofe gone up and not because evilydisposed gentlemen. Its new importance would be pressed on a global stage almost immediately. He forever compromised the Nations Energy autonomy. Britain had neither domestic oil nor existing supplies in its colonies. Bp with its access to oil in the central asia, persia, became the most sensible option to ensure britains energy future. Pipeline construction had left bp in deep debt. To convince parliament to help the company, churchill said, if we cannot get oil, we cannot get corn. We cannot get commodities necessary for the preservation of the economic energies of great britain. Parliament approved his plan to purchase a 51 stake in bp for 2. 2 million pounds. Maintaining and developing oil supplies soon became a critical portion of the British Colonial effort. Global use of petroleum grew by 50 during world war i. Which exacerbated the difficulty of managing the global supply, the catalyst for many of these changes in Petroleum Use<\/a> in the 20th century, and what it revealed about American Environmental<\/a> ethics and precedents. He has examined industrial intensity during the civil war era, as well as the impact of modernism and landuse planning on the modern environmental movement. Professor black received his doctorate in american studies from the university of kansas in 1996. This evening, he will address how world war i informed the 20th centurys use of Energy Sources<\/a> including petroleum, and the fuels enduring impact on our environment and climate today. Give a warm welcome to professor brian black. [applause] professor black thanks ,everyone. Thanks, everyone. Thank you for being hardcore audience to come out on an evening like this. Thank you, kamil, and everyone for putting together this program. I truly am impressed on a number of levels and i have not been to this facility, so i am impressed at that. I was part of a conference that traveled through the asiago plane. The world war i conference. I have to tell you, the memorial reminds me so much of some of the memorials you see there. It is wonderful that we have that and the museum. In terms of me, i was really pleased when camille contacted me because i had a piece of the New York Times<\/a> with this page. What we have, i think, is an opportunity tonight. I salute the world war i museum for taking advantage of this to bring some New Historical<\/a> thinking in as well. I am working with a group of historians who really change some basic ideas about how you tell stories about the past. As you see, this becomes an opportunity to get into more larger issues. I hope in our questions and answers that you feel free to ask me for more specifics about this. There might be people in the audience who know more than i do. I will also be happy to talk about the macro version of what i will be speaking about as well. The other point, because i am going to introduce you to some literature, some ideas, i do include fairly lengthy quotes on here. I will be leaving them up for so that you can have time to read them at the. Thank you for being here. On the morning of july 7, 1919, a 28yearold Lieutenant Colonel<\/a> in the u. S. Army, dwight d eisenhower, set out on a volunteer crosscountry road trip to evaluate the emerging system of roadways in the u. S. The convoys findings were instrumental in charting the priorities that the u. S. Would follow over the 20th century. In particular, new sources of power provided a logic for expansion and development that was reminiscent of pioneer wagon trains of previous generations. Ike later wrote, the old convoy had started me thinking about two lane roads. This is one of the things i felt deeply about. I made a personal, and absolute decision to see the nation benefit by it. In his ensuing experience of u. S. Military leader president s, i personalized and personified the american drives to drive. Particularly when he oversaw the historic interstate highway act. Today, as we discern the unique, high Energy Existence<\/a> that defines American Life<\/a> for the ensuing decades. This event expands in importance. Fossil fuels, by discerning trade emissions from the passport often, events that we already know such as world war i and the convoy that followed emerge with new importance. Transitions can be seen to arrive from a number of different factors including supply and technological innovation. They require cultural acceptance and precipitation as participation to achieve species altering changes to our existence. Informed by our new knowledge about climate change, scientists and historians have begun to call our current geological anthropocenine. When the action of one species, the human, has come to have an impact on the entire earth. Historian efforts to define the era, and even the old convoy standout as a transformational moment in shaping the thomistic economy of the american century. At their foundation, the infrastructural priorities that guided this era in the u. S. And derived from ikes road trip, assumed a limitless supply of crude, and cleared a right of way highEnergy Existence<\/a>. As a commodity, black gold reached the first decade and a half of the 20th century in a most precarious and awkward situation. After its discovery in pennsylvania in the 1860s, massive discoveries of petroleum suddenly compounded the worlds supply, particularly in the u. S. In texas in 1901. Various innovation left petroleum with only scant utility at times. What factors tipped it from being an increasingly abundant resource to a commodity that spurred a fullblown Energy Transition<\/a> . Certainly, personal transportation offered a remarkably rich area of potential for global growth. However, the competitive market for powering trucks and cars in the first decade of the 1900s made the internal Combustion Engine<\/a> powered by gasoline a most unlikely suitor. Particularly due to the complex system of processing and delivery it required. Through the spectrum of compounding uses, the Tipping Point<\/a> to alter petroleums status can truly be seen to have been the great war. Providing proper context to world war i requires historians to consider the context it that is provided by the resources that is informed by my specialty in environmental history. Of these resources that were transformed by the great war, energy and particularly petroleum, which had exploded onto the global illumination market in the last four decades of the 19th century, present the most revealing narrative. A proper accounting of the wars context must enumerate these applications of flexible fuel petroleum. However, this is just part of the story of the converging Technical Innovation<\/a> and cultural desire that result in crudes emerging importance. A variety of Global Economic<\/a> and regional, political and social factors converged on world war i era to catapult the modern valuable commodity of petroleum to new standards of value. Indeed, by the end of the conflict, petroleum had become a commodity of global significance, even essential. Of course, developed nations therefore needed to consider accessibility as a matter of national security. In the form of colonization, or through the activities of governmentsupported transnational corporations, access to crude became both a requirement and a predictor of global power in the first decade of the 20 century. In the origins of the modern world, robert marx joined others in describing the global human of the 1910s and 1920s of going through a great departure. He writes that world war i shook the imperial order to its foundation and had major consequences for the shape of the 20th century world. The combination of rapid industrial and population growth in the 20th century redefined humans relationship to their environment and clearly separated them from the rhythms and constraints of what he called the biological old regime. The old way of doing things. This Energy Transition<\/a> moves from foundational shifts such as the technology to create synthetic fertilizer, for both agriculture and military use, explosives, and also commercial transportation. In the case of energy use, we see new technologies of the era provide a shrinking of time and space as well as an intensification of human impacts and potentialities. John mcneil writes the Worldwide Energy<\/a> harvest increased by about five times in the 19th century and 16 times in the 20th. The great war sits at a defining precipice of this shift in our species. From deforestation and mining to the expansion of automobile use and the internal Combustion Engine<\/a>, we find the world war i era played a formative role indeed as a divider between 19 th and 20th century ways of life. An entirely new scale of energy. As scholars reorient the human story to better reflect these mobile distinctions in the ways people live, world war i also becomes the gateway then to the highEnergy Existence<\/a> that defines what we now call the anthropocenine. In this geological epoque, mcbeal and others, the human condition becomes one of perpetual service. To earths natural rhythms and balance. At the core of this he writes, an environmental history of the 20th century qualifies as a peculiar century because of the screeching acceleration of so many processes that bring ecological change. We have probably deployed more energy since 1900 then in all of Human History<\/a> before 1900. You have to sit down to really ponder the significance of it. In addition, mcneil also distinguishes the period of acceleration through the adoption of fossil fuels by a few societies that will begin to industrialize. To develop at an entirely different rate. You see this incredible rise coming after the period, which of course we know and receive it visualized is a different thing. The Energy Transition<\/a> from the world war i era only succeeded because of the advancement of additional technologies that enhanced the impact of new sources of power. Historian Christopher Jones<\/a> discusses the multiplying effect of such related, or ancillary technologies as intensification. It took the shift from mineral based sources that governed the 19th century, and broadened its impact. With such new Energy Systems<\/a> in mind, the summary impact of the great war on Petroleum Usage<\/a> emerges as many layered and complex, but altogether transformative undoubtedly. The stage for this transition, however, was set prior to the conflict and did not involve a revolution of personal transportation. The imperative of winning world war i had driven the allies to thrust many technologies into the action with scant preparation. At the heart of these technologies was a new prime mover. Ironically, just as the use of electricity expanded to replace petroleum, the 20th century brought a massive spike in oil supplies. East texas started around 1901 was literally at times a market with hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude, and left industries searching for ways to put black gold to use. Reading these trends, innovators including henry ford worked to perfect the internal Combustion Engine<\/a>, what i will refer to as ice. Such an engine combusted petroleum in a controlled fashion and directed its power to engines that can be used for a variety of purposes. Primary among these of course was the effort to reliably power engines that would move devices that would move us. Combustion was one of the most glaring vagueries of the ice technologies. With frequent unexpected explosions creating fear among many consumers, in addition to implementing and representing a unique infrastructure ranging from filling stations and gas pumps to roads and bridges seemed daunting. In fact, ice was simply one of the many competitors trying to replace humans relied this on reliance on animal ppower which was viewed as incapable of expanding to meet the needs of the modern era. Acrosstheboard, early automobiles were experimenting with a poor ramification for safety and reliability. In fact, electric batteries show the most promise for personal transport during the 1900s, particularly in urban areas in the northeast. Although fords model t made the personal automobile universally available after 1907 at a cost of around 400 per unit. In 1912, he and Thomas Edison<\/a> released the electric version that ford believed would define American Transportation<\/a> into the future. However, world war i changed the future of American Transportation<\/a>. And the convoy plays on small part in that. Far from technical infrastructure such as Battery Charging<\/a> stations, the world war i battle front began as a scene from the 19th century. Oxen and horse pulled wagons and pigeons carried handwritten messages. To win the war, unproven new technologies were released directly onto the battlefield. By the end of the war, trucks, tanks, and other devices powered by gasoline had supplanted animal power. The flexibility of ice, and specifically of gasoline won the day. It was completely separate uses. Emerging from petroleums initial development in the 1860s, subsequent decades Brought International<\/a> develop and increased supply. A unique Petroleum Culture<\/a> then took shape, allowing expanded production and availability are at such a moment part they created by technical and Corporate Innovation<\/a> and partly by new roles for the nation states and ideas of individual autonomy. It ushered in a revolutionary assortment of new uses for crude. Although the popularity of kerosene had jettisoned petroleums value, illumination appeared a fleeting application of crude. In both the u. S. And great britain, the Energy Transition<\/a> was openly maneuvered and manipulated by the political and military establishment. As early as 1910, petroleum emerged as a strategic tool for ensuring global power. The first application for petroleum in this regard was ensuring naval supremacy. Politically, the british effort at naval conversion was eventually led by winston churchill. Who began as a member of parliament, and by 1910 had become the president of the board of trade. Although he did not begin on the side of naval expansion, the early 1910s brought churchill a a clear education on the advantage of oil. Refueling at sea, these are the kind of advantages. He later wrote, as a coal ship used up her coal, increasingly large numbers of men had to be taken if necessary from the guns to shovel coal from remote and inconvenient bunkers to bunkers nearer to the furnaces or to the furnaces themselves, thus weakening the fighting efficiency of the ship at perhaps a most critical moment in the battle. The use of oil made it possible in every type of vessel to make more gunpowder and more speed for less. By 1912, the policy had been put into place. As churchill recorded in the Worlds Greatest Navy<\/a> the supreme ships of the navy on which our life must depend for are fed by oil and could only be fed by oil. The emphasis of churchill and britains military strategists focused on the great benefits to their naval superiority, however their decision also marked a defining moment, a new era in the culture of petroleum by association, committing their fleet to petroleum meant that a consistent and reliable supply of crude had just become one of the most important commodities on earth. Nations security depended on it. Also by association, any nation wishing to compete with britain had to follow suit. By declaring this new energy era, britain forced any competing nations to also consider oil within this new logic. At the highest level, u. S. Leaders debated the implications of converting their military. Particularly their navy to petroleum. Their conversations had begun in the late 1800s, and took on greater urgency as britain emerged in global affairs. The United States<\/a> had won significant advantage in the naval conversion, of course. In the early 1900s, American Oil Fields<\/a> produced approximately one third of the worlds oil. Indeed, the u. S. Approached all such Strategic Decisions<\/a> from the basic realization that it was the only nation in the world that could power its military with petroleum, and largely the supply it with its own reserves. The ultimate autonomy which would then become known as energy independence. Although this was an obvious advantage over other nations, the american situation also required a new type of relationship between business and government. Given such critical importance, Petroleum Supply<\/a> demanded federal oversight and management. In times of overabundance, this control was often referred to as conservation. In the end, it was churchill who seems to have most clearly formed the necessary new vision of the 20th century. When he proclaimed to the house of commons on june 17, 1914, this afternoon we have two deal not with the policy of building oil driven ships or using oil as an ancillary fuel, look out upon the wide expanse of the oil regions of the world. Two gigantic corporations, one in either hemisphere stands in the new world there is the standard oil. In the old world, the great combination of the shell the royal dutch. For many years it had been the policy of the Foreign Office<\/a> and the Indian Government<\/a> to preserve the independent Oil Interests<\/a> of the persian oil fields. To develop as well as we could, and above all to prevent it being swallowed by others. In the last two or three years the consequence of these new uses, which had been found for this oil, there was a shortage of this article. Which the world has only lately begun to see. That is the reason why prices ofe gone up and not because evilydisposed gentlemen. Its new importance would be pressed on a global stage almost immediately. He forever compromised the Nations Energy<\/a> autonomy. Britain had neither domestic oil nor existing supplies in its colonies. Bp with its access to oil in the central asia, persia, became the most sensible option to ensure britains energy future. Pipeline construction had left bp in deep debt. To convince parliament to help the company, churchill said, if we cannot get oil, we cannot get corn. We cannot get commodities necessary for the preservation of the economic energies of great britain. Parliament approved his plan to purchase a 51 stake in bp for 2. 2 million pounds. Maintaining and developing oil supplies soon became a critical portion of the British Colonial<\/a> effort. Global use of petroleum grew by 50 during world war i. Which exacerbated the difficulty of managing the global supply, the catalyst for many of these changes in Petroleum Culture<\/a> was confict on a global scale. In determining human transportation future, for example, the british explanation is simple world war one relied on the use of vehicles. And the electric power alternatives that were succeeding in the Consumer Market<\/a> simply could not meet the flexibility required. During world war i the manufacture of automobiles for civilian uses was virtually halted as the industry was mobilized to produce vehicles for the war effort. The role of automobiles for use in the war effort emerged immediately, and a fleet of taxicabs were used to bring troop reinforcements forward during the battle of the marne in 1914. It is estimated that 125,004 model ts were used on the battlefield in world war i. Truck production was doubled, even though the American Auto<\/a> and truck industry was required to make other products as well, such as shells, guns. Increased vehicle needs allowed the industry to increase production during the war. Truck purchases received up to 1200 from the government for the purchase of a vehicle. Which stipulated, petroleum. Icepowered vehicles. U. S. Manufacturers established the standard war truck in 1916, and consequently began exporting vehicles to the front. Kirsch writes, the dramatic role of war trucks in the great war reinforced and accelerated the standardization of the peacetime truck. By 1919, electric trucks accounted for less thatn 1 of the total number of commercial vehicles produced in the United States<\/a>. Down from 11 in 1909. 11 of the fleet in 1909 was electric. Mobility on the u. S. Homefront was influenced in basic ways by the needs of the war. For instance in the u. S. The strain on the railroads fueled the military to emphasize longdistance trucking and to call for the roads that these routes made necessary. In addition, most trucks were manufactured in the midwest. And needed to be brought to the eastern seaboard for shipment. From 1917 to 1918, it is estimated 18,000 internal combustion trucks made this trip. In 1916 the federal road act focused federal funds on roads that would help farmers get their products out of the rural areas with more ease and flexibility. Following the war, explained kirsch, standard practices within the industry included the use of longhaul trucking over railroads, forced the appropriate sphere of the electric truck to grow smaller. Although proponents of electrics pushed for separate spheres of transportation with separate technologies, Business Owners<\/a> could not support hybrid fleets. In making their decision for the internal combustion powered truck, businesses accepted a costbenefit scenario that allowed them to succeed across the board. Even if another technology such as electricpowered made more sense for short hauling. It was these decisions that helped to determine the future pattern in human mobility. During world war i, having a domestic abundance of crude to manage put the United States<\/a> in a powerful position. No matter what regulatory choices it made, it was a war, writes historian daniel jorgen, that was fought between men and machines, and these machines were powered by oil. When the war broke out military strategy was organized around horses. Such primitive modes dominated the fighting in this transitional conflict. Throughout the war the Energy Transition<\/a> took place from horsepower to gas power trucks and tanks. And, of course, ships and airplanes. Innovations put new technologies into immediate action on the horrific battlefield. There was the british that overcame trench warfare by devising a vehicle that was powered by the internal Combustion Engine<\/a>. Once again, churchill was given credit for bringing the project under its codename ank to reality when other british politicians wish to continue with other practices. Its decisive use arrived in august 1917. When a squadron of 500 british tanks broke through the german lines. The British Expeditionary<\/a> force that went to france in 1914 was supported by a fleet of 827 motorcars and 15 motorcycles. Im giving you a lot of numbers here. By wars end, the british Army Included<\/a> 56,000 trucks, 23,000 motor cars, and 24,000 motorcycles. These offered superior flexibility on the battlefield, however their impact on the landbased strategy would not be fully felt due to the continued prevalence of other methods of fighting. In the air and sea, the change was more obvious. In this era of the red baron and others, primitive airplanes often required that the pilot pack his own sidearm and use them for firing at his opponents. More often, the flying devices would be used for delivering explosives. German pilots applied this new strategy to the bombing of england. Over the course of the war, the use of aircraft expanded remarkably. Britain 55,000 planes, italy 20,000. The United States<\/a>, 15,000. Germany 48,000. Disagreement over using petroleum at sea helped to exacerbate existing conflicts leading up to the war. Use of petroleum in the ships led to what jurgen called a stalemate. With only one battle primarily involving, however part of the explanation for this is the great chasm that separated britains petroleum powered shipping fleet from the coal burning one of germany. It made little strategic sense for germany to confront the british navy. Therefore, it used the tactic of submarine warfare. These submarines ran as diesel powered ships, which were capable of briefly diving for attacks while they ran on battery power. When the allies took renewed measures to prosecute the war in 1918, petroleum was a weapon on everyones mind. The interallies Petroleum Conference<\/a> was pooled to control all oil supplies and travel. The u. S. Entry into the war made this organization necessary because it had been supplying such a large portion of the allied efforts thus far. As a supplier of 70 of the worlds oil supply, the u. S. s readiest weapon in the world war i may have been crude. Woodrow wilson appointed the nations first energy czar, whose responsibility was to work in close coordination. This explanation for our massive transition to Petroleum Usage<\/a> could not stop at the battlefield. However, with the wartime infrastructure in place in the u. S. , the armys intrigue was domestic applications. Inspired efforts to find out if Motor Vehicles<\/a> could withstand the trip across the u. S. They also hoped the convoy would function as a demonstration of a new era. More importantly, with proper infrastructure such as roads, could the American Public<\/a> be convinced that the internal Combustion Engine<\/a> reliably could guide our future . Ikes convoy displayed the technology that helped to win the war. And also the importance of roads and bridges, which could only be achieved through the radically new commitment of tax dollars for infrastructure. This intriguing historical event of 1919 suddenly emerges. Celebrated the soldiers in the convoy. Then heard speeches about the need for roads and infrastructure to support the new technology. Scouts on harleydavidsons and indian motorcycles sped a halfhour ahead to inspect road conditions. Slippery sand outside nebraska engulfed 25 trucks from the convoy, and in utah many were stuck in massive sand drifts. Pavement in california allowed the convoy to return to their top speeds, 10 miles per hour. 62 days after leaving washington, the convoy reached San Francisco<\/a> on september 5. Crossed San Francisco<\/a> bay and concluded in lincoln park. Additional activities at events such as concerts and street dancing, while also carefully enumerating specific details of the almost constant mechanical difficulties with their vehicles. The novelty of such travel also compelled amazed participants to record their rates of progress. I took this one from july 9. It is near my home. The quote is, roads very good, made 57 miles in 11 and one third hours. During the expedition eisenhower made unique incites for the need for a network of connected roads and bridges. Eisenhowers report to army leaders focused mostly on mechanical difficulties and the conditions of the patchwork of existing roads, imported a mix of paved and unpaved roads, bridges, and narrow passages. Some bridges were too low for trucks to pass under. Eisenhower pointed out that the roads in the midwest region were impracticable. But the roads in the east were sufficient for truck use. Eisenhower singled out a western section of the lincoln highway, the transcontinental road with routes through utah and nevada, as being so poor it warranted a thorough investigation before government money should be expended. He praised california for having excellent paved roads. He observed that the different grades of road determined much of the convoys of success. Would this have been enough to compel such a massive transition . In fact, ikes education had just begun. It is rare for historians to be able to so clearly trace the development of an idea such as roads and infrastructure. However, ike followed up his time in the convoy being assigned the importance of french roads. During world war ii he studied and experience the revolutionary german roadways. Revolutionary german roadways. Eisenhower wrote, during world war ii, i had seen the superlative system of german autobahn. The national highways crossing the country. Largely by chance, ikes military service had bought him a global expertise on Civil Engineering<\/a> and how it could be used to guide the future of the country. As he emerged as u. S. President , ike created the president s advisory committee. On the national highway system, which resulted in the grand plan. That obligated 50 billion of federal funds to build a vast system of interconnected highways. The Clay Committee<\/a> also warned of the need for largescale evacuation in the cities, in the event of nuclear war. If evacuation was required, the roads could be reversed to make population withdrawal orderly. By the end of the 1950s the ihs was well on its way to the more than 46,000 miles of roads that it encompasses today. The transformation had occurred in just decades. Easily within one mans lifetime. The hidden hand behind the utility of this National Infrastructure<\/a> was independent fuel. The success of ikes vision ended on a reveille. Even thoughtlessly available supply of the petroleum. The convoy presents a prime example that Energy Transition<\/a>s are no simple flip of a new switch, following a discovery or adoption of new sources of power. Competition and influence determined that the ice with power autos of the future but that was just beginning. This Energy Choice<\/a> was reinforced and supported by public will. Political decisions. And laws such as zoning. Americans determined that the 20th century would be powered by fossil fuels such as petroleum. And the marketplace provided them the flexibility to create a landscape of drivethroughs and filling stations. Over the course of Human History<\/a>, each new Energy Source<\/a> marked an innovation in scale and scope. Fossil fuels allowed us to do more work, to accomplish more. Today an Energy Transition<\/a> beckons, and promises not necessarily more power, but a more sustainable, smarter future. This revolution is not just in the sources of power, it is also in how we think about energy. Even prior to july 7, 1919, eisenhower read the patterns and trends and forecasted that the american future would be built around cheap crude. The Oil Discovered<\/a> in texas and elsewhere allowed his generation to dream a future unfettered. Today the pattern feeding our Energy Transition<\/a> are more nuanced, including limited supplies that require political, military, and strategic considerations and clear knowledge that burning fossil fuels gravely impacts earths environment. And it is challenging for such a transition to occur organically, because vested interests work the levers of government to resist a marketdriven transition, such as from ice to electric powered vehicles. One of the lessons of the 1919 convoy is to demonstrate that Energy Transition<\/a>s have occurred in history and that they often were directed by choices that grew organically from accepted knowledge and new technology. The final lesson of ikes road trip is to ask, where is our generations path . How do we find it . How do we ensure it can break through the marketplace and which visionary leader will guide us . Thanks very much. [applause] you are welcome to go to either side of the stage where there is a mic. If you are unable to get there, just raise your hand and i will come to you. Thank you for your talk. While you have posed this question, in your own opinion, is the beginning of these last couple of decades, have you been seeing anything akin to the convoy to spur on this new century . Professor black i feel like i do. Thank you for that question. It gets to the larger macro idea we are investigating here. I make the argument that, especially if we look at the personal transportation marketplace cars that we see a whole different shift after the 1970s. Most energy historians have long criticized our reaction to the crisis of the oil supplies of the 1970s. One of the things we learned is how unpredictably they play out. Sometimes they take a long time. If you begin to allow for that, and not to expect that switch. That quick switch. Then you look at Something Like<\/a> the availability of hybrid and electric vehicles in our society today. That is transformation. Many of us might not drive them right now, but their availability is a watershed change. That is something we can point to, and i think we had a lot of use of regulations and legal possibilities to ensure that even more of the vehicle sector would go in that direction. Certainly that has changed in the last few years, which is another lesson that the political vagaries of Energy Transition<\/a>. We certainly see a shift, beginning in the 1970s, in the availability, the choice that consumers had in terms of the vehicles they drive. Hi. How much was dividing up some of the colonies of the Ottoman Empire<\/a> on the minds of the different powers at the versailles negotiations . Professor black empire on the minds of the very. From my knowledge, that was a very specific part of the strategy. Then the reserves that they knew were there. Very much. That is a good point to bring up. The churchill quote from 1914 about anglopersian, which became bp, apparently at the time they were already established, avedon, wasnt part of that. Professor black that was british a product. It was involved in that regard. That is very much where we see the transition planning out as the politics, as the geopolitics was already beginning to shape the modern world at that point, between the wars. When you talk ikes administration, that was the turning point when personal vehicles overtook trains. So do you see the flip back to Public Transit<\/a> happening in this century . Professor black we do see it more often, where it is possible in urban areas. We have seen transition to light rail and the streetcar design we see in many cities now. That is a throwback technology that works very well, but it is limited in how it can be put to use across the vast stretches of the United States<\/a>. It is not something that can be totally transformational, but it is definitely we see something progressive urban areas looking toward. Brian will be available in our lobby if you think of additional questions. Thank you for joining us here this evening. Another round of applause. [applause] depending on where you are, this is a on the place you can weeks. Our dog for two the majority of the panhandle wouldnt exist if it wasnt for the coming of the railroad. [listening] tling] s the cspan cities tour is on the road, exploring the american stories. This weekend we travel to amarillo, texas. Amarillo is in the center of the texas panhandle, we call ourselves the capital city of the texas panhandle. I think we think originally. With the help of our cable partners, we learn about the history and literary life of the city and the surrounding areas, as we talk with local authors and visit historic sites. The state park today is a lot like this has been for thousands of years. All of a sudden, you come across this huge drop it is the second largest canyon in the United States<\/a> after the grand canyon. She was here between 1912 and 1914 in amarillo teaching the Public School<\/a> system. Then in 19161918 she came back and got a faculty position here. Artists dont write, so we dont know what they thought. Georgia okeefe wrote prolifically. It can teach us so much more about this artist. Struggling with the things you can imagine yourself struggling with, she is so relatable. Not this big, grumpy, antiwar figure. Announcer join us today at 5 30 p. M. On cspan2s book tv, then on sunday at 2 00 p. M. On cspan3s American History<\/a> to be, as the cspan systems t best cities tour takes you to amarillo, texas. This coming week, congress is in recess for president s day, and American History<\/a> tv will be on cspan3 in prime time. We are visiting five washington, d. C. Area museums to interview officials and highlight selected collections exploring the American History<\/a>. Coming up monday through friday at 8 p. M. Eastern here on American History<\/a> tv on cspan3. Next in American History<\/a> tv, university of pennsylvania history professor kathy peiss talks about her book information hunters when librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in world war ii europe. She details how ordinary citizens collected books, newspapers, and documents to aid u. S. Military intelligence. The National Archives<\/a> in washington, d. C. Hosted this event. David during world war ii, getting the correct information was critical to the war effort. While we might imagine spies, sneaking stolen secrets out of occupied countries, much useful information was found in published sources, books, newspapers, and other documents. 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