The City on Stilts: Neft Daşları and the Birth of Offshore Oil

The City on Stilts: Neft Daşları and the Birth of Offshore Oil

After World War II, the Soviet Union faced an oil crisis. Land reserves in Baku were drying up. So Stalin ordered engineers to do what had never been attempted: build an oil platform in the middle of the Caspian Sea. The result was Neft Daşları — a strange, sprawling city on stilts, with bridges, schools, and a park, all perched above the waves. This episode tells the story of how Azerbaijan pioneered offshore drilling, from the first salvaged ships used as foundations to the peak of production in the 1970s. We explore the human side: workers who lived for months on the platform, the dangers of storms and fires, and the legacy of a project that turned a shallow reef into an industrial marvel. A tale of Soviet ambition, engineering audacity, and the relentless thirst for oil that still shapes the Caspian today. #NeftDaşları #OilRocks #Baku #CaspianSea #OffshoreOil #SovietHistory #Azerbaijan #History #FexingoHistory #Caucasus #OilIndustry #Stalin #EngineeringMarvel #SovietAchievements #EnergyHistory #WWII #PostWarRecovery #AzerbaijaniOil Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Rothschild Pipeline: How Baku Oil Reached the West

In this episode of The Story of Azerbaijan, we explore how the Rothschild family—already famous for banking—became titans of the Baku oil industry and built one of the world's first long-distance pipelines. Completed in 1906, the Baku-Batumi pipeline stretched over 1,000 kilometers from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, slashing transport costs and flooding European markets with Azerbaijani crude. We trace the rise of the Caspian and Black Sea Oil Company (Bnito) from its founding in 1883, the fierce rivalry with the Nobel brothers, and the brutal labor conditions faced by the workers who dug the pipeline. The episode also covers Rothschild's strategic shift during World War I, when they supplied fuel to the Allies, and their eventual sale to Royal Dutch Shell in 1912, marking the end of an era. Along the way, we touch on the broader implications for Baku's urban development, the fate of the pipeline after the Russian Revolution, and how this infrastructure shaped Azerbaijan's place in global energy politics. A focused look at the forces that moved oil—and empires—across the Caucasus. #Azerbaijan #Baku #OilHistory #Rothschild #BakuBatumiPipeline #CaspianSea #BlackSea #RussianEmpire #OilIndustry #Transportation #HistoryOfOil #Caucasus #Bnito #Nobel #StandardOil #Shell #WorldWarI #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Battle of Baku 1918: Oil, Empire, and the Fight for the Caucasus

In September 1918, the fate of Baku's oil fields hung in the balance as Ottoman forces under Nuri Pasha clashed with a motley coalition of Bolsheviks, Armenian Dashnaks, and a small British contingent known as Dunsterforce. This episode recounts the pivotal Battle of Baku, a desperate struggle that determined control of the world's richest oil reserves during World War I. We trace the Ottoman advance from Ganja, the fierce engagement at Goychay, the collapse of the Baku Commune, and the city's brief reoccupation by the Ottoman army. Hear about General Dunsterville's fateful decision to evacuate, the betrayal and heroism that marked the fighting, and how this battle set the stage for the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's fragile independence. A story of clashing empires, high stakes, and the birth pangs of a nation. #BattleofBaku #1918 #WorldWarI #Azerbaijan #Caucasus #Oil #OttomanEmpire #NuriPasha #Dunsterforce #Baku #Musavat #ADR #Goychay #Shaumyan #BritishEmpire #History #FexingoHistory #20thCentury Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The First Muslim Democracy: Azerbaijan's Brief Republic, 1918-1920

In the chaos of 1918, as empires collapsed and revolution swept the Caucasus, something extraordinary happened: the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was born — the first secular democratic republic in the Muslim world. This episode focuses on its founding in Ganja, its visionary first prime minister Fatali Khan Khoyski, and the whirlwind two years that followed. We cover the declaration of independence of May 28, 1918, the drafting of a constitution, the adoption of the tricolor flag, and the historic 1919 law granting women the right to vote — a full decade before many European nations. But the republic faced impossible odds: the Ottoman advance, British occupation, and finally the Bolshevik invasion in April 1920. We discuss Khoyski's efforts to build a modern state, the role of Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh and the Musavat party, and the tragic end when the Red Army crushed the republic. This is a story of hope, statecraft, and resilience that still echoes in modern Azerbaijan's identity. #AzerbaijanDemocraticRepublic #FataliKhanKhoyski #CaucasusHistory #1918Independence #Musavat #FirstMuslimDemocracy #BakuOil #Ganja #WomensSuffrage #History #FexingoHistory #Azerbaijan #Caucasus #WorldWarI #BolshevikInvasion #Parliament #Flag #Anthem Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Baku Oil Barons and the Young Turk Connection

In this episode, we explore a forgotten chapter of Baku's oil boom: the surprising links between the city's oil magnates and the Young Turk movement in the Ottoman Empire. How did Baku's petroleum wealth fund the 1908 Young Turk Revolution? We follow the story of Mehmed Emin Resulzade, the Azerbaijani journalist and future leader of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, who operated in Baku's oil-funded underground press. We also uncover the role of Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, the self-made oil millionaire who secretly bankrolled opposition newspapers and Turkish-language publications. Through the networks of the Baku Turcology Congress and the clandestine Committee of Union and Progress, Baku's black gold helped fuel not just the Russian Empire's industry, but a wave of nationalist sentiment from the Caucasus to the Bosporus. This episode sheds light on how oil, exile, and intellectual ferment in Baku shaped the political landscape of the early 20th century. #BakuOil #YoungTurks #CommitteeOfUnionAndProgress #MehmedEminResulzade #ZeynalabdinTaghiyev #BakuTurcologyCongress #1908Revolution #OttomanEmpire #AzerbaijanHistory #Caucasus #OilHistory #RussianEmpire #Nationalism #ExileNetworks #UndergroundPress #Podcast #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]