For a "History of Oil", he starts pretty late. So the German gets off the Berlin-Baghad Railway with his chequebook. So what? He's right about Peak Oil and the Petro Dollar, but the British occupation of Iraq causing WWI? Uh-uh. Germany bought most of her oil from Rumania. When there were discussions in WWI about trading strategic materials at the Swiss frontier the Germans offered optical equipment for nickel and rubber, not oil.