Did you know that during the oil crisis of 1973 and 1974, there was no actual oil shortage?

In 1973, the Netherlands, along with countries like the United States, was an ally of Israel during the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab countries. As a sanction for this alliance, the Arab countries stopped supplying oil to the Netherlands. The Dutch government implemented several measures to minimize the impact of the oil crisis. For example, gasoline was rationed, and car-free Sundays were introduced. Even today, we occasionally see television footage of children roller-skating on completely deserted highways.

However, the oil companies were well-prepared and had built up large reserves of oil before the crisis truly broke out, which meant there was no shortage of oil. Consequently, the rationing system and the car-free Sundays were abolished after just a month. It also turned out that the principles of the oil-exporting countries were less important than money, as oil deliveries to the Netherlands resumed after just six months.

The photo accompanying this article is from commons.wikimedia.org