9International Business and the Cold War
The Case of the Trans-European Pipeline, 1956–1960
Introduction
The Cold War was a total war by intention rather than in practice.1 Nonetheless, the bipolar world that emerged from World War II changed international business and international relations fundamentally. Western Europe, squeezed between two nuclear superpowers, lost their empires and depended for its military and energy security on American steward-ship. Relying on abundant domestic reserves of coal before the war, West European countries became increasingly dependent on imported oil after the war.2 Most of the oil came from the Middle East. Previously under French and British mandate, the region became a hotbed of Cold ...
