vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
History of United States–Middle East economic relations
The history of American economic interests in the Middle East can not be examined without understanding the involvement of several Western powers in the region . The availability of oil in the Middle East was always known , however , it did not influence politics or economics until Winston Churchill , prime minister of the United Kingdom , decided to create a new generation of battleships fueled by oil instead of coal in 1908 . This decision had a massive impact on geopolitical and economic concerns . With this decision , the success and importance of the newly formed Anglo - Persian Oil Company was guaranteed and the world 's dependence on oil was initiated . Due to relative power considerations , all other battleships were rendered obsolete and so with one swift move , oil became a crucial , yet external resource . The United States later described oil as `` a stupendous source of strategic power , and one of the greatest material prizes in world history , '' reflecting its huge importance .
Gilded Age
Petroleum launched a new industry beginning with the Pennsylvania oil fields in the 1860s . The United States dominated the global industry into the 1950s . Kerosene replaced whale oil and candles for lighting homes . John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil Company and monopolized the oil industry , which mostly produced kerosene before the automobile created a demand for gasoline in the 20th century .
Economic history of World War I
Energy was a critical factor for the British war effort . Most of the energy supplies came from coal mines in Britain , where the issue was labour supply . Critical however was the flow of oil for ships , lorries and industrial use . There were no oil wells in Britain so everything was imported . The U.S. pumped two - thirds of the world 's oil . In 1917 , total British consumption was 827 million barrels , of which 85 percent was supplied by the United States , and 6 percent by Mexico . The great issue in 1917 was how many tankers would survive the German u-boats . Convoys and the construction of new tankers solved the German threat , while tight government controls guaranteed that all essential needs were covered . An Inter-Allied Petroleum Conference allocated American supplies to Britain , France and Italy .
British Empire in World War II
In December 1941 , Japan launched , in quick succession , attacks on British Malaya , the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor , and Hong Kong .
Economic history of World War I
An oil crisis occurred in Britain due to the 1917 German submarine campaign . Standard Oil of NJ , for example , lost 6 tankers ( including the brand new John D. Archbold ) between May and September . The only solution to the crisis lay with increased oil shipment from America . The Allies formed the Inter-Allied Petroleum Conference with USA , Britain , France , and Italy as the members . Standard and Royal Dutch / Shell ran it and made it work . The introduction of convoys as an antidote to the German U-boats and the joint management system by Standard Oil and Royal Dutch / Shell helped to solve the Allies ' supply problems . The close working relationship that evolved was in marked contrast to the feud between the government and Standard Oil years earlier . In 1917 and 1918 , there was increased domestic demand for oil partly due to the cold winter that created a shortage of coal . Inventories and imported oil from Mexico were used to close the gap . In January 1918 , the U.S. Fuel Administrator ordered industrial plants east of Mississippi to close for a week to free up oil for Europe .
Events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Expecting war , and seeing an opportunity in the forward basing of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii , the Japanese began planning in early 1941 for an attack on Pearl Harbor . For the next several months , planning and organizing a simultaneous attack on Pearl Harbor and invasion of British and Dutch colonies to the south occupied much of the Japanese Navy 's time and attention . The plans for the Pearl Harbor attack arose out of the Japanese expectation the U.S. would be inevitably drawn into war after a Japanese attack against Malaya and Singapore .
Korea under Japanese rule
From the late 1920s and into the 1930s , particularly during the tenure of Japanese Governor - General Kazushige Ugaki , concentrated efforts were made to build up the industrial base in Korea . This was especially true in the areas of heavy industry , such as chemical plants and steel mills , and munitions production . The Japanese military felt it would be beneficial to have production closer to the source of raw materials and closer to potential front lines for a future war with China .
Foreign policy of the United States
As of 2014 , the U.S. currently produces about 66 % of the oil that it consumes . While its imports have exceeded domestic production since the early 1990s , new hydraulic fracturing techniques and discovery of shale oil deposits in Canada and the American Dakotas offer the potential for increased energy independence from oil exporting countries such as OPEC . Former U.S. President George W. Bush identified dependence on imported oil as an urgent `` national security concern '' .
History of the United States Merchant Marine
In 1852 , the lighthouse board established and published first Light List and Notice to Mariners . In 1854 , Andrew Furuseth was born in Norway , and Western river engineers form a `` fraternal organization '' that is a precursor to the Marine Engineers ' Beneficial Association . Also , Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry established trade relations with Japan with the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa . In 1857 , New Bedford had 329 registered whaling ships . The discovery of petroleum in Titusville , Pennsylvania , on August 27 , 1859 , by Edwin L. Drake was the beginning of the end of commercial whaling in the United States as kerosene , distilled from crude oil , replaced whale oil in lamps . Later , electricity gradually replaced oil lamps , and by the 1920s , the demand for whale oil had disappeared entirely . Clipper
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company and Socony - Vacuum Oil Company became partners in providing markets for the oil reserves in the Middle East . In 1906 , SOCONY ( later Mobil ) opened its first fuel terminals in Alexandria . It explored in Palestine before the World War broke out , but ran into conflict with the British government .
Events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan has decided to open hostilities against the United States , United Kingdom , and the Netherlands early in December ... Should it appear certain that Japanese - American negotiations will reach an amicable settlement prior to the commencement of hostilities , it is understood that all elements of the Combined Fleet are to be assembled and returned to their bases in accordance with separate orders . ( The Kido Butai will ) proceed to the Hawaiian Area with utmost secrecy and , at the outbreak of the war , will launch a resolute surprise attack on and deal a fatal blow to the enemy fleet in the Hawaiian Area . The initial air attack is scheduled at 0330 hours , X Day .
History of Texas
Nowhere were the wartime effects greater than in Houston , which in 1940 was a city of 400,000 population dependent on shipping and oil . The war dramatically expanded the city 's economic base , thanks to massive federal spending . Energetic entrepreneurs , most notably George Brown , James Elkins and James Abercrombie , landed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal wartime investment in technologically complex facilities . Houston oil companies moved from being refiners and became sophisticated producers of petrochemicals . Especially important were synthetic rubber and high octane fuel , which retained their importance after the war . The war moved the natural gas industry from a minor factor to a major energy source ; Houston became a major hub when a local firm purchased the federally - financed Inch pipelines . Other major growth industries included steel , munitions , and shipbuilding .
Events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor
At least as early as October 8 , 1940 , ... affairs had reached such a state that the United States would become involved in a war with Japan ... ' that if the Japanese attacked Thailand , or the Kra Peninsula , or the Dutch East Indies we would not enter the war , that if they even attacked the Philippines he doubted whether we would enter the war , but that they ( the Japanese ) could not always avoid making mistakes and that as the war continued and that area of operations expanded sooner or later they would make a mistake and we would enter the war . ' ...
Axis powers
Taiwan , then known as Formosa , was a Japanese dependency established in 1895 .
Standard Oil
In the Asia - Pacific region , Jersey Standard had oil production and refineries in Indonesia but no marketing network . Socony - Vacuum had Asian marketing outlets supplied remotely from California . In 1933 , Jersey Standard and Socony - Vacuum merged their interests in the region into a 50 -- 50 joint venture . Standard - Vacuum Oil Co. , or `` Stanvac '' , operated in 50 countries , from East Africa to New Zealand , before it was dissolved in 1962 .
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The loss of 30 % of the country 's generating capacity led to much greater reliance on liquified natural gas and coal . Unusual conservation measures were undertaken . In the immediate aftermath , nine prefectures served by TEPCO experienced power rationing . The government asked major companies to reduce power consumption by 15 % , and some shifted their weekends to weekdays to smooth power demand . Converting to a nuclear - free gas and oil energy economy would cost tens of billions of dollars in annual fees . One estimate is that even including the disaster , more lives would have been lost if Japan had used coal or gas plants instead of nuclear .
Surrender of Japan
Faced with the prospect of an invasion of the Home Islands , starting with Kyūshū , and the prospect of a Soviet invasion of Manchuria -- Japan 's last source of natural resources -- the War Journal of the Imperial Headquarters concluded :
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Preliminary planning for an attack on Pearl Harbor to protect the move into the `` Southern Resource Area '' ( the Japanese term for the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia generally ) had begun very early in 1941 under the auspices of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto , then commanding Japan 's Combined Fleet . He won assent to formal planning and training for an attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff only after much contention with Naval Headquarters , including a threat to resign his command . Full - scale planning was underway by early spring 1941 , primarily by Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka , with assistance from Captain Minoru Genda and Yamamoto 's Deputy Chief of Staff , Captain Kameto Kuroshima . The planners studied the 1940 British air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto intensively .
Soviet Union in World War II
At the same time , Hitler was worried about American popular support after the U.S. entry into the war following the Attack on Pearl Harbor , and a potential Anglo - American invasion on the Western Front in 1942 ( which did not occur until the summer of 1944 ) . He changed his primary goal from an immediate victory in the East , to the more long - term goal of securing the southern Soviet Union to protect oil fields vital to the long - term German war effort . While Red Army generals correctly judged the evidence that Hitler would shift his efforts south , Stalin thought it a flanking move in the German attempt to take Moscow .
World War II
The Soviet Union , despite enormous human and material losses , also experienced rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era . Japan experienced incredibly rapid economic growth , becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s . China returned to its pre-war industrial production by 1952 .
Czechoslovakia
After World War II , the country was short of energy , relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from Soviet Union , domestic brown coal , and nuclear and hydroelectric energy . Energy constraints were a major factor in the 1980s .
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii Territory , on the morning of December 7 , 1941 . The attack , also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor , led to the United States ' entry into World War II . The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI , and as Operation Z during its planning .
World War II
In the Pacific , US forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter . In mid-June 1944 , they began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands , and decisively defeated Japanese forces in the Battle of the Philippine Sea . These defeats led to the resignation of the Japanese Prime Minister , Hideki Tojo , and provided the United States with air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese home islands . In late October , American forces invaded the Filipino island of Leyte ; soon after , Allied naval forces scored another large victory in the Battle of Leyte Gulf , one of the largest naval battles in history .
Allies of World War II
The United States had indirectly supported Britain 's war effort against Germany up to 1941 and declared its opposition to territorial aggrandizement . Materiel support to Britain was provided while the U.S. was officially neutral via the Lend Lease Act starting in 1941 .
Allies of World War II
The United States held multiple dependencies in the Americas , such as Alaska , the Panama Canal Zone , Puerto Rico , and the U.S. Virgin Islands .
German declaration of war against the United States
The course of relations between Germany and the United States had deteriorated since the beginning of World War II , inevitably so given the increasing cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom . The Destroyers for Bases Agreement , Lend - Lease , the Atlantic Charter , the hand - over of military control of Iceland from the United Kingdom to the United States , the extension of the Pan-American Security Zone , and many other results of the special relationship which had developed between the two countries had put a strain on relations between the US , still technically a neutral country , and Nazi Germany . US destroyers escorting American supply vessels bound for the UK were already engaged in a de facto war with German U-Boats . Roosevelt 's desire to help the UK , despite the objections of the influential US isolationist lobby , and legal impediments imposed by Congress which prevented direct involvement in the war , brought the US to push hard against the traditional boundaries of neutrality .
Military history of the United States during World War II
Admiral King put Admiral Chester W. Nimitz , based in Hawaii , in charge of the Pacific War against Japan . The result was a series of some of the most famous naval battles in history . The Imperial Japanese Navy had the advantage , taking the Philippines as well as British and Dutch possessions , and threatening Australia but in June 1942 , its main carriers were sunk during the Battle of Midway , and the Americans seized the initiative . The Pacific War became one of island hopping , so as to move air bases closer and closer to Japan . The Army , based in Australia under General Douglas MacArthur , steadily advanced across New Guinea to the Philippines , with plans to invade the Japanese home islands in late 1945 . With its merchant fleet sunk by American submarines , Japan ran short of aviation gasoline and fuel oil , as the U.S. Navy in June 1944 captured islands within bombing range of the Japanese home islands . Strategic bombing directed by General Curtis Lemay destroyed all the major Japanese cities , as the U.S. captured Okinawa after heavy losses in spring 1945 . With the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and an invasion and Soviet intervention imminent , Japan surrendered .
Axis powers
Japanese forces invaded Thailand 's territory an hour and a half before the attack on Pearl Harbor , ( because of the International Dateline , the local time was on the morning of 8 December 1941 ) . Only hours after the invasion , Prime Minister Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram ordered the cessation of resistance against the Japanese . On 21 December 1941 , a military alliance with Japan was signed and on 25 January 1942 , Sang Phathanothai read over the radio Thailand 's formal declaration of war on the United Kingdom and the United States . The Thai ambassador to the United States , Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj , did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war . Therefore , although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and considered it a hostile country , the United States did not .
German declaration of war against the United States
Hitler 's lack of knowledge about the US and its industrial and demographic capacity for mounting a war on two fronts also entered into his decision . As early as mid-March 1941 -- nine months before the Japanese attack -- President Roosevelt was acutely aware of Hitler 's hostility towards the United States , and the destructive potential it presented . Due to this attitude within the White House , and the rapidly progressing efforts of the Americans ' industrial capacity before and through 1941 to start providing its armed forces with the ordnance , combat aircraft and ships that would be required to defeat the Axis as a whole , the US was already well on its way towards the full - scale wartime economy which would make it the `` arsenal of democracy '' for itself and its allies .
United States non-interventionism
After the attack on Pearl Harbor caused America to enter the war in December 1941 , isolationists such as Charles Lindbergh 's America First Committee and Herbert Hoover announced their support of the war effort . Isolationist families ' sons fought in the war as much as others .
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Japanese military was unable to stop the Allied attacks and the country 's civil defense preparations proved inadequate . Japanese fighters and antiaircraft guns had difficulty engaging bombers flying at high altitude . From April 1945 , the Japanese interceptors also had to face American fighter escorts based on Iwo Jima and Okinawa . That month , the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service stopped attempting to intercept the air raids in order to preserve fighter aircraft to counter the expected invasion . By mid-1945 the Japanese only occasionally scrambled aircraft to intercept individual B - 29s conducting reconnaissance sorties over the country , in order to conserve supplies of fuel . By July 1945 , the Japanese had stockpiled 1,156,000 US barrels ( 137,800,000 l ; 36,400,000 US gal ; 30,300,000 imp gal ) of avgas for the invasion of Japan . While the Japanese military decided to resume attacks on Allied bombers from late June , by this time there were too few operational fighters available for this change of tactics to hinder the Allied air raids .
Korean War
At the Tehran Conference in November 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945 , the Soviet Union promised to join its allies in the Pacific War within three months of the victory in Europe . Accordingly , it declared war on Japan on 9 August 1945 , three days after the USA dropped the bomb on Hiroshima . By 10 August , the Red Army had begun to occupy the northern part of the Korean peninsula .
Korea under Japanese rule
The industrialization of the Korean Peninsula began with the Joseon dynasty ( in particular with King , and later Emperor , Gojong ) while Korea was still independent but accelerated under Japanese occupation. The manner of the acceleration of industrialization under Japanese occupation , especially the use of industrialization solely for the purposes of benefiting Japan , the exploitation of the Korean people in their own country , the marginalization of Korean history and culture , the environmental exploitation of the Korean Peninsula , and its long - term negative repercussions for modern - day North and South Korea are among the most provocative aspects of the controversy .
Allies of World War II
Mexico declared war on Germany in 1942 after German submarines attacked the Mexican oil tankers Potrero del Llano and Faja de Oro that were transporting crude oil to the United States . These attacks prompted President Manuel Ávila Camacho to declare war on the Axis powers .
Military history of the United States during World War II
Having learned important lessons at Coral Sea , the United States Navy was prepared when the Japanese navy under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched an offensive aimed at destroying the American Pacific Fleet at Midway Island . The Japanese hoped to embarrass the Americans after the humiliation of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo . Midway was a strategic island that both sides wished to use as an air base . Yamamoto hoped to achieve complete surprise and a quick capture of the island , followed by a decisive carrier battle with which he could completely destroy the American carrier fleet . Before the battle began , however , American intelligence intercepted his plan , allowing Admiral Chester Nimitz to formulate an effective defensive ambush of the Japanese fleet . The battle began on 4 June 1942 . By the time it was over , the Japanese had lost four carriers , as opposed to one American carrier lost . The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific because the United States had seized the initiative and was on the offensive for the remaining duration of the war .
World War II
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world . The United Nations ( UN ) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts . The victorious great powers -- China , France , the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom , and the United States -- became the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War , which lasted for the next 46 years . Meanwhile , the influence of European great powers waned , while the decolonisation of Africa and Asia began . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery . Political integration , especially in Europe , emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and to create a common identity .
United States declaration of war on Japan
Roosevelt signed the declaration at 4 : 10 p.m the same day . The power to declare war is assigned exclusively to Congress in the United States Constitution , making it an open question whether his signature was technically necessary . However , his signature was symbolically powerful and resolved any doubts .