The Soviet Oil Juggernaut: How It All Began

At the start of the 1960s, the Soviet Union was the world's second largest oil producer - trailing only the United States.
By itself, the Soviet Union nearly matched oil production from the entire Middle East. Many European countries depended on Soviet oil, and the Communist Party used that to their own advantage.
In this video, we will look at the beginnings and rise of the titanic Soviet oil apparatus. From its start with the Russian Empire in the late 1880s to its ascendancy after World War II.
Links:
- The Asianometry Newsletter: asianometry.com
- Patreon: / asianometry
- The Podcast: anchor.fm/asianometry
- Twitter: / asianometry

[@youtubeisproCCP]

I was in Azerbaijan at 1997. What a weird place it was. Oil oozing out of the ground, guys scooping it up and putting it DIRECTLY into their Lada 2 stroke cars. A half collapsing airport, huge holes in the runway, ak47 guards. An old lady with cataracts with a massive trash bag full of money begging. Men in an empty plateau near an old Soviet Chorine factory selling the scraps and piles of salvaged chlorine. electric toy ride on trucks and cars in the squares and parks…

[@ckhalifa_]

Yes Az in the 90s was still in it's very early days of development. The economy of the country has been literally doubling in size every few years. YoY GDP growth has been in double digits for decades now. There's still LOTS to overcome but regionally it is far ahead than any of it's neighbors.

[@elmafias6141]

I need to tell you that there is no Lada 2 stroke cars

[@youtubeisproCCP]

@@elmafias6141 Wtf was it? Closest I seen was a Trabant but they were from Eastern Germany. Maybe they were pouring it directly into the engine. My memory is foggy, it was a long time ago 😂

[@elmafias6141]

@@youtubeisproCCP I mean, 2 Stroke petrol cars still run on refined petrol, so you can’t just put crude oil and run them. If it was 2 stroke diesel engines there may be a possibility to use crude oil, but these engines are only used in industrial applications. All cars from Soviet countries used petrol, not diesel to run. From a Trabant to a Volga. Maybe with a light oil like Azerbaijani oil and a sturdy diesel automotive engine you could somehow run on crude oil. Perhaps they made a homemade distillation of the crude oil that they can extract low quality petrol or diesel. Is not necessary to have a huge refinery to produce petrol, and Ladas were tuned to run on very low quality gas. Another crazy possibility is that they put 2 stroke diesel engines from tractors in the car. Or maybe is just that Ladas work fine with Azerbaijani oil. ¿Who knows? Saludos!

[@haideralyassin1143]

I just came from there 3 months ago from baku . I got stocked. So developed country beautiful .

[@darkless60]

Would love to see Wendover cover the logistics of evacuating Baku to the Volga too

[@0neIntangible]

I, too was wondering about the tie-in showing a Wendover (logo?), as he quipped regarding the relationship to evacuation of Baku's oil assets.

[@jarretta2656]

It’s always funny to me how tightly viewership for channels are related

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@johannesgutsmiedl366]

The entire evacuation of soviet industry to the east is a fascinating topic that really should be covered more by the relevant youtube channels, they managed to pack entire factories and their workers onto trains, transport them over thousands of kilometers and got them back into operation within just a few months... if this hadn't succeeded it's entirely possible that world war 2 would have ended very differently.

[@koliodimitrov]

Just saw someone criticizing, that the videos lack animations and such kind of things. Actually I pretty much like the simplicity how the videos are made. It just ppredisposes you for the essence of the video. Cheap animations don't make the content better. But before all it's amazing how much work and research is behind these essays. I very rarely write any comments, but felt obliged to say that I appreciate how everithing is done. Keep it up withe the good work. Nikola from Sofia BG

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@worldoftancraft]

Болгарцы < 3

[@12vscience]

I would rather have better information than better animation.

[@Jake-zk3eb]

Animations take time and money. I'd rather Asianometry use that time to do more research for more videos instead.

[@protonmaster76]

I almost exclusively listen to this channel, so I'm not too interested in the visuals. Having said that, when I do watch this channel I do enjoy the visual style. Don't change a thing!

[@tygerbyrn]

You’re hitting all cylinders. Keep up the great work. Thank you Asianometry!

[@RyuuOujiXS]

Imagine being too stupid to give a compliment...

[@zengyaochi9181]

you're hitting all cylinders. Keep up the great work. Thank you Asianometry.

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@williamyoung9401]

The Nobel Peace Prize. Bought and paid for by military arms sales to Russia, lol...

[@tdb7992]

Mr. Asianometry, perhaps this might be an interesting subject for you to do a video on: China had a chronic problem with iodine deficiency to the point that 25% of Chinese people had a goitre, and 80% of the population suffering from some form of illness due to deficiency. In the Eighties, Australia sent experts across and lobbied the CCP to add iodine to their salt, thereby saving the lives of millions. This was part of a broader programme by the Australian government to 're-orient' itself towards Asia and engage with China. The same Prime Minister who lead the campaign was also the PM when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened. His name was Bob Hawke (he also held the world record for drinking a yard glass of beer the fastest - 11 seconds I believe) and he granted all Chinese students in Australia citizenship as he believed they would be at risk if they were to return to China, as they knew too much.

[@ffaa9422]

Sounds really interesting

[@janeblogs324]

I'm sure you're wondering, what if we just let them die instead

[@MarcosGarcia-kx4rb]

That's so wierd I thought the Chinese ate a lot of fish even inland from the big amount of rivers. I guess I was wrong.

[@singularityraptor4022]

@@janeblogs324 Their population decline means one child policy would have been scrapped. A China with less population would have been prosperous with more resources for less people and would have industrialised faster than irl China.

[@justinliu7357]

@@janeblogs324

[@salkjshaweoiuenvohvr]

"...[Lenin] asked the members not to make any written record of their discussion of this matter." Narrator: They did.

[@anhedonianepiphany5588]

Such obvious logical implications don’t require elaboration.

[@valopf7866]

Your soviet history videos are some of the most interesting out there!

[@theyruinedyoutubeagain]

As a Romanian, I was completely unaware of that. Thanks for the great videos!

[@markhonea2461]

I have been told twice that my surname is common in Romania. Any truth to that Andrei ?

[@user-si4vy3tx4r]

@@markhonea2461 looks like

[@Bialy_1]

"In 1859, when Edwin Drake and Wiliam Smith took their first steps in the oil industry and made the first drilling in Pennsylvania in the United States, the Łukasiewicz mine in Bóbrka already employed over 100 workers and achieved a turnover of 20,000 Rhenish zlotys a year. In the field of petrochemistry, Łukasiewicz was a respected authority of international fame. Entrepreneurs from Germany, Romania and the United States traveled to his mine, where they learned the secrets of his knowledge. There is a legend related to one of the visits that Americans paid to Łukasiewicz. The Polish inventor showed the Americans all the secrets of his company, the entire process from extraction to distillation. The Americans allegedly wanted to pay him for it at the time, but Łukasiewicz refused. The American who visited Łukasiewicz's enterprise with his associates was supposed to be ... John Rockefeller himself. The American entrepreneur was to call the Pole a "madman" - does he have valuable knowledge and share it for next to nothing? In 1883, a year after the death of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, 51,000 tons of crude oil were produced in the Polish Lands annually. At that time, Poland was the third oil power in the world, after the United States and Russia."

[@markhonea2461]

@@user-si4vy3tx4r that's weird. It looks like this is the only comment you have ever made in your 2 years on you tube. I wonder what your title translates as in English.

[@user-si4vy3tx4r]

@@markhonea2461 it’s not only one dude

[@sahhaf1234]

this channel never fails to be infinitely interesting... this topic is of a kind which other channels will pass without hesitation as "dry" and "uninteresting". But, not Asianometry.

[@nirvana9610]

I didnt expect romania to be this important in WW2, a look into Romania's oil industry would be interesting

[@fabianmok2206]

I just read Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising last night. And here I am being treated by good content again.

[@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330]

Seriously flexing your research again John! This has to be an episode that you must be extremely proud of. From my understanding of history it was always the oil, not Moscow that was the reason for the absurd Barbarossa. It has been a while so I can't cite the historian that is best for that detail. This episode could have been made three times longer, such was the whirlwind. _Furiously Googles Scissors Crisis_

[@Bialy_1]

"flexing your research again"? Where is Witold Zglenicki part in this video? You know, the Polish guy that invented and build first oil platform in the world and he did it in... Baku. And his nickname is Polish Noble as he sponsored a foundation for the development of Polish culture and science. There is also another Polish name Ignacy Łukasiewicz the guy that started the whole modern oil industry but he was from part of Poland occupied by Austro-Hungarian Empire but he was also not the gready part and was sharing his know-how all over the world(Rockefeller most likely got his know-how from him). He build first in the world modern oil rafinery and one of his first oil wells is operational and pumping oil to this day...

[@pdsnpsnldlqnop3330]

@@Bialy_1 There are only a few of us on John's channel. He always delivers brilliant, well researched stuff. Usually about semiconductors. I am always grateful for his work, even though I am not a Patreon person due to heating bills and such like. I do have time for clicking the like button and hopefully a positive comment that is more than just a data point of 'engagement' for the algorithm. Hopefully this prompts insightful comments such as yours! Who knew? I for one will be able to follow your cues and learn a little more, plus, I can now jokingly blame the Poles rather than the Americans for the ravishing the planet has received thanks to global warming!!! I like it how this world is interconnected and how it always has been. I like the unlikely alliances and the improbable happenstances that have made the story that much richer. Human ingenuity and creativity knows no ends. Anyways, I thought John did a fab job considering that 'big oil' is not his area of expertise. I commend him for an original take on contemporary events.

[@worldoftancraft]

You were supposed to be led by contemporary agenda and fairy tales about damned Boljševiks, not by voice of pragmatical reasons

[@paulsolyev3768]

There are some more details of the early period. 1) Pipelines in Russia were not introduced by Nobel brothers. It's Mendeleev's research and calculations, following by his letters to the govenment. First decades of the Nobel brothers leadership in oil production were not genuinely due to the technology improvements, it was only a good amount of money spent on many wild and known oil fields. The way for oil mining and transportation by Nobels was just the same as it was in many decades - hand labour or animal traction, later they introduced carriages amd so on. Nobels didn't encounter transportation problems, it was just a matter of the cost of oil for people and industry - being a wealthy leader like Nobels in such a small business mainly based on primitive technology and few oil fields was quite easy. However, Mendeleev's calculations for profit and economy on the pipeline can be traced as a separate and very detailed chapter in the published full set of his works. He was in close touch with the govenment ministers and I am not sure, but it seems that somehow he had a proposal about taxes for oil extraction. 2) Despite many economical projects in Mendeleev's research, it was his famous quote as a chemist, that every Russian heard at school: "Oil is not a fuel, instead you can burn bank assignations in the stove" (meaning, that it is more logical to burn money, in terms of value). Of course, he was in tough relations with Nobel brothers and both sides had their patrons in the government. No doubt he wouldn't have been awarded the Nobel prize for his research in chemistry 🥲.

[@Bialy_1]

No need to point that the video is lacking information about a very important figure? a Polish geologist and oil industry pionier Witold Zglenicki? ->not only an explorer of rich oil pools in the Caucasus but also a pioneer of oil extracting from the bottom of the sea. He directed the early development of the oil industry of the port of Baku in Russian Azerbaijan. He also sponsored a foundation for the development of Polish culture and science which brought him the reputation as the "Polish Nobel".

[@Bialy_1]

"that every Russian heard at school: "Oil is not a fuel, instead you can burn bank assignations in the stove" (meaning, that it is more logical to burn money, in terms of value)."->Yes, he was no Ignacy Łukasiewicz -> guy that singlehandly invented the modern oil industry ->discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), construction of the world's first modern oil well (1854), 1856 the world's first modern oil refinery...

[@arazatliyev6564]

​@@Bialy_1wow😳😳 Wow wow wow...these are important information...hey men,thank you very much...indeed poland very interesting country...are you polish? Which part of poland? l ❤ poland...

[@ckhalifa_]

As an Azerbaijani from Baku, I want to thank you for this video and spreading awareness of our small but rich with history and culture country 👏

[@edwantem3990]

Lol

[@Pbenter]

Felt like leaving us on a cliffhanger tonight??? Who hurt you? 😢

[@stepbruv8780]

cloth hangers?

[@SK-pm4vq]

Oil prices

[@aakhthuu]

Spoiler alert : it didn't end well for the soviets 🤣

[@worldoftancraft]

@@aakhthuu Dissolution of the USSR is not imaginable without it, being headless since late '50s, with different kinds of scum occupying more and more chairs. You confused stars, reflected in the surface of a pond with sky.

[@n4vyblueyes377]

I love your rundown of these videos. Keep it up!

[@fpgaguy]

Thank you I always enjoy your work, it's both educational and keeps my interests to watch.

[@JesusTouchedMyJunk]

Easily one of the best channels on KZbin. Great work man. I work in the semiconductor industry and I still learn a lot from those videos you do. Stuff like this is really impressive though because shows your breadth. Keep at it

[@sladoid]

Dude you're amazing. I love learning, and you are exactly what I need. I hope you find the success you deserve.

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Thanks for your vids. Very nice and clear explanations of context as well as the facts.

[@yeaggermiester]

@16:11 puh-LATE-able... that one got me good man. I love your vids. I hope you make them for years to come

[@Carstuff111]

I would like to say, this channel is amazing. I look forward to more on this in the future, if possible?

[@Hectico2257]

Damn, these videos are too damn good, congratulations Jon, you just earned yourself another Patron!

[@stanyel6646]

Awesome videos, you have the best content on my feed by far

[@britishmonster8855]

Just discovered your channel and holy crap ive spent the last 2 hours binge watching your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@markhonea2461]

I really find this channel interesting. I have learned SO MUCH ! 👍

[@howardsimpson489]

Once again marvelous Asianometry, you have filled another knowledge gap in a way that was so effective. Cheers from NZ.

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@Jeremy-fl2xt]

I learn so much from this channel. This is such great content!

[@timwildauer5063]

I can’t describe how refreshing it is to watch a video on oil without being preached to about global warming. Literally everyone else just talks about “they’re so evil because [insert your pet peeve here]” but you simply present what happened and let us come up with out own conclusions about what’s good and what’s bad. That presentation style is why I keep coming back here again and again. Keep up the great work!!

[@KingcoleIIV]

All the technology we take for granted was only possible because of the oil industry. Without it we would be living in huts and still having 4/5 of our children dying.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

regarding liftwaffe strategic attacks on oil fields - there were couple of extensive Volga mining campaigns air-dropped mines are a thing, many were non-contact ones and had delay in number of ship to make trawlers pass and kill tankers extensive spotter network was created to track mine drops

[@mcspikesky]

These are great listening and well researched by my eyes!

[@777jones]

You do amazing work. I would never tell somebody that if they didn’t earn it. Your thinking and presentation are top shelf.

[@ethanmckinney203]

John Astell is writing an amazing monograph on Soviet energy during the Great Patriotic War (WWII), including oil. I've been lucky to read a draft and I'm looking forward to see it published.

[@nilanjangupta763]

Thank you for providing the name of this scholar.

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@HistoryMarche]

Fantastic video! Any chance you can add English subtitles?

[@xiaodongwang7753]

Asianometry is doing a great job

[@lashlarue7924]

Great video! Great job! 👏👏👏

[@UkraineJames2000]

Such a high quality channel. Well done. 😁

[@KomradZX1989]

Man, just when I thought you’ve covered it all, you come up with another amazing topic like this!!! Our minds love to learn about all the same kinds of things 🤩🤩🤩 Sometimes it feels like this channel was made just for me 🥰

[@RyuuOujiXS]

Imagine being stupid enough to think 1 person can cover all topics that have ever existed in detail...

[@KomradZX1989]

@@RyuuOujiXS oh right. It takes a lot of help and cooperation to be as good as Asianometry

[@Doomlaser]

I want more! What about the energy crisis on the 1970s and the later downfall of the Soviet Union? What about the post-Soviet Russian industry? Great Video!

[@TrojanHell]

John remaining the powerhouse he is, needing less then 15 seconds to ask people to sub and like and filling the rest of the vid with a hyperdense and illustrated narration of the history of some technological development like always. Keep at it! So much infos, so little bullshit.

[@ronsweeney5898]

I wish I had been exposed to these events when at school in the 1940’s. How narrow our perception was. Thank you.

[@cemacmillan]

Excellent video.

[@crappychannel643]

Amazing videos

[@deadperson7333]

Another very interesting fact is that Stalin himself actually got his start in the Oil Industry. He gave speeches and radicalized people during the height of the tsarist/company-run age of Baku.

[@richardgray2453]

i read about that in the court of the red tsar.

[@hugod2000]

One small point, if Case Blue succeeded the Soviet Black Sea fleet would not have had any ports to operate from.

[@criessmiles3620]

The ashkenazis always destroy their host from within Russia 🇷🇺, Bolshevik Germany 🇩🇪 Now the last host , the USA 🇺🇸 Cheers from west Africa 🦅

[@jeremy28135]

Great video

[@alibizzle2010]

Stalin actually worked in the Baku fields as a young man and a young Putin went to Siberia to work on oil rigs

[@jamesrowlands8971]

When did Putin go to Siberia? What age?

[@WhirledPeas]

😂😂😂😂😄

[@rkan2]

Probably more than half of Muscovites who drive big German cars got their money from working oil rigs or in mining. The rest were born in to money.

[@alexlo7708]

@@jamesrowlands8971 Sakhlalin

[@vulpes7079]

@@alexlo7708 Sakhalin is not an age

[@jonijoestar6871]

For the next topic how about Indonesia State Owned Company economic direction?

[@tylerd3458]

Yes!!! Finally reporting on the energy market. Please please please go deep asianmetry! We need more transparency to the convoluted oil market

[@heraswits575]

The videos about soviet things are uniques. Keep up the good work.

[@abdelra7man87]

I really lik eyour videos and topics. But this one rocks 👏

[@951sht]

Great Video. Also, can you do a video on India's Coal or any resources (mostly in the states of Odisha Chattisgarh n Jharkhand ) ?

[@silluete]

The sinclair logo.... are so cool.

[@gregorysember2164]

Fantastic vid

[@evilgamer11111111111]

Would be very interested to learn more about European and American industrial supervision in early Soviet Industrialisation. I'm certain it would make a great video with a few very interesting characters, politics and scandal. Love you and your work!

[@andersjjensen]

"Everything that can be weaponized will be weaponized" -- Russia.

[@Screaming-Trees]

This is pretty much the doctrine of the United States basically. As per George Kennan's declassified State Department foreign policy strategy documentation (Policy Planning Study 23 written in 1948) - "We have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population....In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us this position of disparity....To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming: and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives....We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratizations. teh day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans the better." I copied the text verbatim. And that's exactly what we've done. If you look at America's track record in the 20th century it is horrific. We killed one third of Korean population because La May was an insane devotee to the Kennan doctrine of containment. But you know what, even George Kennan spoke out against Nato expansion eastward. He came out of retirement even to do it. The irony would be hilarious if the situation wasn't so dire. I should also add that the Russians were devastated on the eastern front. Suffering some 30 million casualties at the hands of the Nazis. The mighty German 4th, 9th, 13th armies weren't defeated by the Allies. They were defeated by the Russians. It was the Russians that won the war basically. By the time the Allies landed at Normandy they were fighting Hitler's youth. Hardly the cream of the Nazi crop. Moreover, if you recall the Battle of the Bocage even these second tier Nazi divisions proved superior tacticians for the allies. And look at how we've treated them for their efforts after the war. Germany was treated better FFS. Your comment is staggeringly ignorant mate. Stupidity supreme. It isn't Russia that has 1000 military bases around the world.

[@philipmolina1114]

@@Screaming-Trees lmaoo losing a lot of men = doing the lion share of the work. Bro the US provided a lot of armor, supplies and food to the Russians that helped them make that comeback and they still almost collapsed if it was not for the winter and hitler shooting himself in the foot.

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

You could say that about any world power.

[@Screaming-Trees]

@@philipmolina1114 Yeah 30 million casualties is "lmaoo" funny mate. The US did not provide a "lot of armour or supplies". That's utter nonsense. What school did you go to? There is a well established and respected consensus among historians about production of war materiel during this period. Avail yourself of these studies. You ever hear of a T34 tank? It was only considered one of the best tanks of the WW2 period. The Soviets weren't the recipients of any kind of aid. They had to do it on their own. And again, every historian agrees that it was the Soviet's ability to produce staggering amounts of war materiel that played a crucial role in their overcoming the Nazis. But if you fast forward to today we have idiots like yourself "lmaoo" at the thought of 30 million dead. If it weren't for the Soviets you'd be speaking deutsch right now. If the Soviets didn't defeat the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 13th armies on the eastern front the allies would have been faced with those armies on the western front. That would have been a completely different prospect. A lot ignorant ingrates like yourself though can't bring yourself to recognize a contribution so massive and so crucial even in spite of all historians agreeing on this.

[@chuc.dxq3809]

@@Screaming-Trees That's what we call "double standard moral" from the West.

[@davidhall4635]

Ho Jon, I seriously love your content and how you present it. With the US Semi Conductor act being passed, what is going to be the effect for china? What will and won't they be able to manufacture, eg cars, cell phones, game consoles ets. Are we going to see china exporting products with out microprocessors that will be installed in the country of sale. I'd love to see your take on what the future holds. Many thanks

[@guerrilla5002]

The quote attributed to Lenin @ 6:10, I've googled the whole thing but couldn't find it anywhere.

[@carkawalakhatulistiwa]

also discuss environmentally friendly habits in Soviet Union

[@westrim]

Yeah, we shouldn't underestimate how much forcibly shipping millions of people hither and yon to barely survivable conditions reduced their carbon footprint.

[@raul0ca]

If the West produces energy it produces pollution. If you buy it from someone else the amount you pollute goes way down. Your WEF buddies stop teasing your at Davos

[@Bialy_1]

@@westrim They got two massive nuclear accidents and if you watch the map where they made nuclear tests you will be surprised how much of its own territory they were ready to polute with this crap...

[@worldoftancraft]

@@Bialy_1 You know why uninhabited islands are uninhabited islands?

[@worldoftancraft]

@@westrim that's actually the favourite solution of Social-Darwinists to reduce «carbon footprint»

[@edward9674]

Thank you!

[@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895]

One of my Ancestors was in Baku in the oil business at that time, when the revolution was spreading there, he got some sort of emergency diplomatic order to leave the country, that was that

[@ziyahasanli4902]

Do you have his name and surname as well as the country that he represented?

[@benmiller200]

You a Perun should team up. Been holding back saying it foe awhile now. But it's so obviously a good collaboration concept. I wonder if it could.

[@GermanMythbuster]

@Asianometry Can you please make a Video about: The Evolution of Drones and Drone Warfare 🙂

[@GeFlixes]

3:40 History doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly moves in circles.

[@gagamba9198]

In the 1930s the great majority of intercity steam locomotives ran on coal, though some began shifting to diesel. This was true for UK, US, Germany, USSR, France, Japan, etc. Intracity trains, especially passenger ones, usually ran on electricity from thermal power plants (often coal-fueled) and hydroelectric, to reduce smoke emission in cities and subways. Conversion to diesel-electric is a post-WWII phenomenon. Though some navies began converting to oil in the early 1900s, the merchant fleet lagged behind. Even Titanic, the world's premier ocean liner, was coal-fired. This was true too for the US; its largest merchant line Sea-Land Service was using coal in the 1970s. One of the earliest fuel-fired merchant ships was a Russian one that sailed the Caspian Sea in the 1880s - oil was more plentiful there than coal. Since the 1960s, heavy fuel oil has been the king of marine fuels. Prior to that it was coal. Oil overtook coal to become the world's largest energy source in 1964. (I think some people make the mistake of thinking because oil today is so prevalent and vital it's been so since the early 1900s. This is not the case.) Re USSR oil production, it was the world's second largest producer in the mid 1930s. The completion of the first five-year plan and the start of the second one saw its domestic need for oil increase greatly. However, the world's number oil exporter during this era was Venezuela and not the #1 producer USA. American demand for oil was so great it was importing oil from Mexico in the '20s and Venezuela in the '30s until costly tariffs were applied. Venezuela used only about 7% of its domestic crude production, its crude was cheap to refine, and the gov't lightly taxed it, which made its oil the amongst the world's cheapest. BTW, of Germany's reserves on the eve of Barbarossa, about 20 million barrels had been captured in the low countries and France. I don't know why you claim Romania being one of Germany's largest suppliers of oil was 'unexpected'. Romania was one of Europe's largest producers and important supplier to France until the pipeline from Iraq to Tripoli, Lebanon was completed. Other European crude suppliers to Germany were Austria, Hungary, and Poland. Pre-War Germany was constrained by its lack of foreign exchange, so it endeavoured to conduct barter trade, such as with Mexico, by exchanging German industrial manufactures for oil. It also introduced a special trade currency called the Aski mark its used to pay for imports and that could only be used to purchase German-made goods by its trade partners. Such trade formed the bulk of Germany's imports and exports as it shifted trade to Central and Eastern Europe in the lead up to the War.

[@jangelbrich7056]

This was a VERY dense video! I would need to look up sources for those many events You sometimes mention only shortly (e.g. Scissors crisis or the oil statistics) ... and it is not at all easy to find these sources; googling for "Russian oil production" will lead you to _modern_ statistics since 1991, not to Tsarist Imperial Russia.

[@vegetassj1629]

Good video

[@Ansset0]

Very informative and interesting content. Chapeau bas 🫡

[@pjacobsen1000]

1:16 The painting at 1:16 that is labeled 'Baku, 1861' looks highly suspicious to me. In the background, two large 1960s-style office towers, one of which has an antenna rising from the roof. Are my eyes cheating me?

[@Bialy_1]

Alexey Bogolyubov (1824-1896) painting. Description "Baku embankment", Date :1861. But you are right that this "large 1960s-style office tower" is not a tower from 1860s, it is a 12th century The Maiden Tower... 🤣 If you know biography of Witold Zglenicki then you can easly find something suspicious about this version of "Baku history"...

[@pjacobsen1000]

@@Bialy_1 Haha, thanks for the overview. That's pretty funny that I made such a mistake.

[@JPJ432]

Loving these Russian history videos, keep them coming!

[@JPJ432]

Another possible cool video would be the Soviet plan to divert some of their Major arctic rivers the Ob and Irtysh to the Aral sea. Would create some crazy economic growth and canals. Even a possible canal from the Aral to the Caspian. Was a big debate in the Mid-80s world wide on the Potential and Consequences of diversion. There is also a potential plan in more modern times for the same thing but from the Far East Lena river to China.

[@Bialy_1]

@@JPJ432 Russian history...🤣 They are so butthurt about Poland that we are the only country that conquered them that they are whitewashing "Russian history" from Polish influence. The guy that build first in the world oil platform did it in Baku and he is called Polish Noble for using his wealth earned in Baku for promotion of science and somehow the single most important name conected to the Baku oil industry is not mentioned in this video... From english wikipedia: "Witold Zglenicki was not only an explorer of rich oil pools in the Caucasus but also a pioneer of oil extracting from the bottom of the sea. He directed the early development of the oil industry of the port of Baku in Russian Azerbaijan."

[@isse6790]

Azerbaijan != Russia The USSR != Russia

[@2hotflavored666]

@@Bialy_1 Oh good god a Polish tribal ultranationalist spouting Polished(ha) history full of Polish propaganda that didn't actually happen. Please go back to your echo chamber.

[@wtfbros5110]

@@Bialy_1 pot calling the kettle black

[@12vscience]

Good points.

[@giakon1]

during the video there are two interesting photos, russian tanks circa mid thirties and german tanks late thirties. the former are offensive and the latter defensive. and why? the length of the cannon.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

romashkino field is over 4000 sq/km? wow thats a lot of oil there.

[@sisyphusvasilias3943]

Really hope there is a follow on video which extrapolates this conclusion section and looks at the late Soviet and Post Soviet Russian Federation Oil AND Gas Industry.... especially the role drop in oil prices played in the fall of the USSR

[@isse6790]

He already has a video on the economy of the USSR which talks about that.

Very interesting

[@briane__]

Thank you

[@chris_yang]

Imagine sending your brother to buy some wood and instead he buys an oil refinery....

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

If they did a TV show set in 1880s Baku and called it The Wild East, I for one would watch it.

[@Fryepod3628]

Excellent.

[@tomservo56954]

Ivan Gubkin looks like Burt Lancaster in COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA.

[@Kenneth_James]

They couldn't make the good stuff. That high octane aviation fuel. US Lend-Lease sent aviation fuel equivalent to 57 percent of what the Soviet Union itself produced. Much of the American fuel was added to lower-grade Soviet fuel to produce the high-octane fuel needed by military aircraft.

[@wolfgangrenner4152]

Interesting video ! Especially worthfull to understand some historical backgrounds in regard to current Ukraine war, which is continuation of the competition on ownership of south east Europe and west Asia. And Oil and Gas is essential in political relations to caucasus, central asia and Iran up today.

[@awesomedn]

Both “ch” in Chechnya pronounced the same, as in “chair”

[@FinanciallyFIREd]

Thanks for great video from Baku ❤

[@ahtheh]

This video was a step up in terms of humour

[@davidwilkie9551]

The old guns and oil ties. Vital Education in the deliberately denied history of Pirate Empires. Excellent Teaching.

[@smorcrux426]

Didn't the Rothchilds have a large stake in the Caucasus oil fields? I have no source for that, I just vaguely remember it, but if I'm actually correct I'm surprised you didn't mention it

[@jtgd]

Would it even be relevant?

[@smorcrux426]

@@jtgd I know they had a big relationship with shell and had a majority stake in it so probably yeha

[@cyrilio]

Wow. Had no idea Nobel was active in oil industry. Always thought it was just explosives.

[@seanwieland9763]

3:05 “a division between the owners and the bureaucrats managing the company” - could you expand on that? The Managerial Revolution as a form of “seizing the means of production” in capitalist economies is very significant and overlooked.

[@nihadasadli2642]

As a Bakuvian myself, I appreciate this video.

[@SirChickon]

Now i know who these people are who google "i accidentally built a shelf". Nobels Brother: "i accidentally built an oil empire"

[@FlintIronstag23]

One small correction: The Germans didn't need Soviet oil to power their trains. They used coal-fired steam locomotives.

[@Bialy_1]

Yes and no... "In Germany, apart from a Prussian G 8.1 converted to additional oil firing in 1920 , development only began after the Second World War."->"The G 8.1 was the most frequently built state railway locomotive and, after the DR class 52 built 20 years later, the second most frequently built locomotive type in Germany. 4,958 units alone were made for the Prussian State Railways and (...) for the Deutsche Reichsbahn ."

[@FlintIronstag23]

@@Bialy_1 Read your quote carefully. "Apart from a (MEANING ONE) Prussian G 8.1 converted to additional oil firing in 1920, development only began after the Second World War." They built an experimental oil fueled G 8.1 in 1920. The other 4,900+ were coal fueled. Germany had very limited domestic oil sources, but abundant coal. There would be no logical reason for them to convert 4,900 locomotives to oil.

Chinese Opening and Reform is an extended version of New Economic Policy. Deng Xiaoping specifically referred to NEP.

[@valentinstoyanov304]

Daniel Yergin, "The Prize"...

[@moeuramo]

Great video 🎉

[@CyberWolf755]

16:52 Wasn't Yugoslavia neutral? They traded with both sides, but kept themselves independent.

[@emmettturner9452]

16:11 “Puh-late-able?” Isn’t is “palatable” in the sense that “I can tolerate eating that even with my delicate palate?”

[@ziyahasanli4902]

The first Oil well in Baku(which was also the first of its kind in the world) was drilled in 1848 by Major Alekseev, whereas the first kerosene plant was built by Djavad Melikov in 1863 however the real boom was kickstarted after the 1870s when foreign and local capital started to flow into the city en masse by turning it into the rapidly industrialized area that attracted qualified engineers and capitalists across the world(Royal Dutch Shell, Rothschilds, Nobel brothers, Taghiyev, Mantashev and etc). For instance, Dmitry Mendeleev was one of the active proponents of linking Baku's oil production facilities to the global market through the pipeline that would connect it to the Batumi port on the Black Sea Shore(eventually it was built around the 1880s)

[@pyro226]

I think it's the narration (not that it's bad, just not as animated as other channels) or my lack of interest in the topics of the videos, but I often find myself skipping videos from this channel. On the flip-side, the videos come off as well-researched. Good luck growing your channel.

[@BountyFlamor]

No mention of the oil industry in Siberia?