Fifty years ago, the biggest oil producers in the Middle East asserted their power with a momentous embargo. The ensuing oil crisis had many consequences, one of which was ultimately to displace tens of millions of people in the region, changing geopolitics up to this day.
In October 1973, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, announced an embargo on oil sales to America, Britain, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands in retaliation for their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur war that was briefly fought that month.
