DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Key words:

Carbón, petróleo sintético, energía nuclear, Alemania nazi, IGM, IIGM, coal, synthetic oil, nuclear energy, nazi Germany, WWI, WWII.

Article type:

COLABORACIÓN / COLLABORATION

Section:

COLLABORATIONS

The end of WWI ushered in a new era in which oil become the most important energy source in the World.
Germany didn´t have significant oil reserves, but the technological and scientific advances of its chemical industry during the first two decades of the XX century paved the way for the development of a powerful synthetic oil industry based on the most important and plentiful mineral resource in the country: coal.
During the decade of the 1930’s, boosted by the public investment program carried out by the new nazi regime, the chemical and coal corporations, merged into big industrial conglomerates, built new synthetic oil plants that reached a total production of 4.500.000 barrels per day.
WWII started in 1939 and lasted almost six years. In spite of the efforts made by its national industry and despite controlling the Rumanian oil reserves, Germany was not ready for such a long conflict, which by 1945 has almost depleted its oil resources. On the other hand, the US - that entered the War in 1941 as an ally of France, the UK and the Soviet Union – had large oil reserves which allowed them to develop a big, mechanized and modern army. Its tanks, trunks (that were able to move troops and war material to the front faster than the Germans) were crucial in the European battlefields after the Normandy landings (June 1944), and its new bombers become the cornerstone of the strategic bombing campaign that sunk the synthetic oil production in Germany.

Key Words: coal, synthetic oil, nuclear energy, nazi Germany, WWI, WWII.