In the 1910s, when Europe went through the Great War, it also witnessed the peak of the “Short Coal Age”, a peculiar period characterized by both abundant and scarce energy. This paper introduces this new concept that I developed with Per Högselius for the special issue of the Journal of Energy History (14/2025, forthcoming). The special issue offers a variety of case studies on coal shortages in Europe, which we claim were a structural part of the Short Coal Age. Three features of the Short Coal Age stand out. First, coal dominated Europe's energy balance from 1860 to 1960 (fig 1). Locally mined coal enabled Europe to develop modern industry, transport and urban infrastructure, while also ensuring its energy self-sufficiency. Second, coal was the largest item in international trade. It fostered intense cooperation between coal exporters in the UK, the Ruhr, Silesia and Donbass, and coal consumers in other regions. However, it also increased the likelihood of violence, enabling coal-rich regions to engage in colonial and military expansion or prompting other regions to invade and occupy coal-rich areas. Third and most important, the Short Coal Age was a period of repeated coal shortages that devastated the continent from the 1870s onwards. A multitude of actors sought to create these shortages. Organised miners and coal workers, business cartels and governments, all occasionally sought to disrupt the coal supply for political and economic benefits at home or abroad. But coal shortages were difficult to manage once they began. The two most devastating coal shortages occurred amidst the two world wars, and they lasted longer than the wars themselves. To overcome these shortages, governments increased control over coal supply and demand, encouraged alternative energies (oil, but also electrification through hydro and nuclear) and fostered foreign energy cooperation. One such international initiative was the European Coal and Steel Community, which left a particularly strong legacy. Overall, the concept of the Short Coal Age allows us to reconsider modern history in light of the fundamental tensions between energy abundance and scarcity during the coal domination.
Dr Aliaksandr Piahanau is a researcher in energy history at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Aliaksandr holds a PhD in modern history from Toulouse University (2018), and a MA in history from the Belarusian State University in Minsk (2010). His main areas of interests are diplomacy, violence and energy. His geographical focus is on Europe, especially its central region, from 1850 to 1950. Since 2023, Aliaksandr is investigating international coal supply in Europe as a part of the VR project “Carbon Transnationalism: Conflict & Cooperation Around Coal in Interwar Europe” (2023-25; PI Per Högselius). piahanau@kth.se