Blood and Oil

Editor's Take

Western ambition in the Middle East during the First World War is the starting point for this account of the deals, betrayals, and borders drawn by outside powers hungry for oil and influence. It traces a line from those early decisions to a century of wars, coups, and dictatorships. The film advances a clear thesis about cause and consequence, connecting distant choices to present conflict. Viewers should take its argument as an interpretation of a complex history rather than the final word.

Blood and Oil examines how Western ambition and political intrigue in the Middle East during the First World War laid the groundwork for a century of conflict. The film traces the deals, betrayals, and borders drawn by outside powers hungry for oil and influence. It connects those early decisions to the wars, coups, and dictatorships that followed across the region. It is a wide-ranging history of how the modern Middle East was shaped from outside. Free to watch in HD on Dr Documentary.

Courtesy of Documentary on YouTube. Watch on YouTube ↗

More War Documentaries

United States of Secrets2021•1h 53m•HD•★8.820 Days in Mariupol2023•1h 34m•HD•★8.8Hitler's Reich: Diaries of Nazis and Victims2025•52m•HD•★8.6WWII in Colour: Overlord – D-Day2025•51m•HD•★8.6WW2 Stories From an RAF Ace2018•50m•HD•★8.0How the American Public Heard WWII Ended2022•54m•HD•★8.04 Hours of the Greatest Tank Battles2025•4h 47m•HD•★8.0Hitler, 1940-1945: The Fall of the Führer2024•3h 18m•HD•★8.0Stalingrad: The Deadliest Battle In History2026•49m•HD•★7.8Pyrrhus and Pyrrhic War - Kings and Generals DOCUMENTARY2019•52m•HD•★7.7Bundeswehr's Essential Helicopters: A Crucial Force for Land, Sea & Air Missions | WELT Documentary2023•1h 1m•HD•★7.7Turning 20: Iraq Post-2003 | VICE Special Report2023•44m•HD•★7.7