[October 17, 2017] If leaders are to make a strategy effective, it must have a realistic end-state, alignment of resources, and clarity of objectives and message. For those of us who lived through the 1973 Oil Embargo, it was a time that we all got the message.
The embargo by Arab members of OPEC stopped the flow of oil to the United States and several other Western nations for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War (October 6-25, 1973).1
The message from participating Arab oil-producing states (eventually joined by others such as Venezuela) was clear … you are being punished for your country’s foreign policy of supplying crucial military aid to Israel in the war.
On this date October 17, 1973, the price of oil increased, production was cut, and the embargo began. Gas shortages were almost immediate given the U.S. dependency on foreign oil imports.
The strategy was designed to achieve both political and economic objectives. What many do not know is that it was part of a grand strategy of the Arab coalition designed to crush the Zionist state of Israel. Bringing war to Israel was phase I and the embargo phase II. Yet, the test for any strategy is whether it works.
In this case the grand strategy of destroying Israel did not work. However, the oil embargo only in part achieved its objectives. It did punish the West and disrupt their economies but did not stop their support. However, the economic objective of increasing the power Arab countries was achieved.
The oil embargo also had unintended effects; something no one could have foreseen. Western Europe began switching from a pro-Israel to more pro-Arab policies; straining the Western Alliance. Riffs within NATO also occurred. Many of these changes at the time have continued to today. For example, much of Europe has a strong anti-Semite movement.
The grand strategy of destroying Israel not only failed but, in the longer term, actually hurt the cause of the Arab states. What it did do however was change the way oil was produced and oil technology developed in Western nations, especially the U.S. Today, the U.S. is foreign-oil independent and is actually an exporter. Israel is much stronger as a nation.
The success of the oil embargo, it being a part of a grand strategy failure, and the international politics of the time are a worthwhile study.
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- In the Yom Kippur War, the Arab states attacking Israel were humiliated in their defeat; something they never forgot.