A 1 Horse-power vehicle

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper published this photograph from 1973, which shows the effect of the Oil Embargo on German citizens. The Embargo, initiated by the OPEC nations against Europe and America for their continued support of Israel, crippled western economies for several years afterward.

In the curious photo below, a woman has hitched her Volkswagen to a horse, since she cannot find gasoline for it. The horse wears a BRD license plate, for "Bundesrepublik Deutschland," the German name for the Federal Republic of Germany. "P.S. 1" refers to the fact that the horse is a single horse-power vehicle.

 

I was attending Furman University during that time. Perhaps ten percent of the students had to leave because the Embargo had impacted or even bankrupted their parents. It was the first instance in my lifetime that a cartel of nations had used an embargo in a geo-political setting. This image will probably make historians revisit the issues of the Oil Embargo, since the West is again facing de-facto embargoes--Russia against the Western supporters of Ukraine; and the U.S. against Mainland China's intentions toward Taiwan.

American historians will probably also remember the cursed "Ograbme" ("Embargo" spelled backward) from the era of hostile relations during the Napoleonic era between England, France, and the U.S..
(Thanks to marcliebman.com for its high-resolution "Ograbme" image.)

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