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The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (known as OAPEC) announced, as a result of the Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt. Amongst the nations that had supported Israel in the conflict with Syria and Egypt were the United States, their allies in Western Europe, and Japan. One of the many results of the embargo was higher oil prices all throughout the western world, particularly in America. In order to understand the main cause of the oil crisis one must first know the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Arabs refused to accept Israel as an independent state, so they began to launch efforts to recapture the land they felt was technically theirs to start with. In 1973 Arab forces got even by attacking on the holiest Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur. Saudi Arabia's King persuaded other oil supporting countries into placing an embargo on crude oil to western nations. This was to punish the western states that supplied weapons and aid to Israel, in this way the embargo served as a political tactic. Once they had placed the embargo on the west, the Arabs realized the power they had through oil supply. When shipments of oil had resumed, they were able to keep the prices high and make a larger profit. These causes forced America, where everything revolved around cars, into insecurity. Before the embargo, American cars were big and powerful. The immediate results of the Oil Crisis were dramatic: Prices of gasoline quadrupled and there was no fuel at gas stations. Hence, the big cars that were being sold are now sitting on the dealers' lots without being looked at; this lead to a greater demand of subcompacts. As a result, Japanese and European automakers began to export more compact cars into the US. Toyota became a top seller instantly due to the quality of their models. By 1979, virtually all the big "full size"...