Heartland theory

The Heartland Theory is a geopolitical and strategic theory by the British geographer Halford Mackinder . In his essay "The geographical pivot of history" (1904), first submitted to the Royal Geographical Society , later published as part of his work "Democratic Ideals and Reality", he formulated this theory as a warning to his compatriots. He dealt with the importance of geography, technology, economy, industry as well as raw material and population resources for a comparative assessment of land power and sea power . After the First World War , he updated his theory under the impact of the war. His Heartland concept is considered by some to be "the most significant idea in the history of geopolitics."

Theory

The world island and the "heartland"

According to Mackinder, the world surface can be divided into the following areas:

The world island , which consists of the contiguous continents of Europe , Asia and Africa . This is the largest, most populous and richest of all possible connections of countries.
The crescent-shaped islands near the coast ( inner or marginal crescent ).
The crescent-shaped islands off the coast ( Lands of outer or insular crescent ), to which the American double continent and Australia belong.

The Heartland ( Pivot Area ) is located in the center of the world island and stretches from the Volga to the Yangtze and from the Himalayas to the Arctic . Mackinder's Heartland was the area that was ruled by the Russian Empire, then the Soviet Union, minus the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The division of the "world island" in Mackinder's Heartland theory

Basics of the theory

As in other orthodox geopolitical theories, Mackinder based his theory on a materialist image of man in which people compete with one another for territory and resources within their needs for security and prosperity. In this context, he saw himself and the British Empire at the end of a Colombian era (Columbian era) , that of the rediscovery of the Americas to Europe by Christopher Columbus on the relative dominance of sea power over the land force was coined.

In contrast to Alfred Thayer Mahan's theory of the sole historical dominance of sea power , Mackinder emphasizes that both land and sea power have acted as decisive factors in the course of history. An expanding land power often succeeded in defeating a sea power by conquering its bases from the land side. Britain's effective control of the world's oceans gave it universal hegemony well into the 20th century . After that, according to Mackinder, it lost its world trade dominance due to the steam engine and motor and the road and rail network that followed. Great Britain's power was diminished in relation to the continental states.

If the “heartland” of the continent - Western Siberia and European Russia - develops appropriate traffic routes and, in their wake, a high degree of industrial and economic penetration, it will be able to exercise a correspondingly greater power. A powerful continental state, which would have all the achievements of modern technology at its disposal, could gain control of the entire "world island" by ruling this "heartland". Mackinder formulated this as a motto often quoted in the literature:

" Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland
Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island
Who rules the World Island commands the World
German: Who rules
over Eastern Europe, rules the Heartland.
Whoever rules the heartland rules the world island.
Who rules the world island, rules the world. "

- Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality , p. 106

By the “world island”, Mackinder understood Eurasia with the addition of the African continent . The raw material and population resources of this entire area would enable the control of the continental “peripheral countries” and gradually also the American and Australian continents as well as Japan.

With regard to the current development of world politics in his time, Mackinder believed that if Germany had concentrated all of its strength on the control of the East, the "heartland", it would have brought the "world island" under its control from there and the sea powers from the On the land side can rob their bases. He believed that the First World War barely escaped this threat to the Atlantic powers. Mackinder uttered the prophecy that this threat would not be over forever.

Reception and further developments

Mackinder's Heartland Theory is the subject of controversial discussion both inside and outside of geopolitical research. Proponents of geopolitics with an orthodox orientation are sympathetic to the theory, but attest Mackinder a gross simplification of historical developments. The American political scientist C. Dale Walton notes that Mackinder could have foreseen the increase in power of the United States and its guarantee of European security, even if land powers were particularly close to controlling the heartland in the 20th century. Likewise, it could well have been within Mackinder's imagination that the sea powers would react to the technical dynamics of the land powers with their own innovation push, as occurred in the middle of the 20th century with the help of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, long-range bombers and land- and sea-based long - range missiles be.

The theses of the US geographer Nicholas J. Spykmans , which he formulated shortly before the United States entered World War II , were based on Mackinder's paradigm of the world island. Spykman came to the conclusion that the US would have to prevent continued control of the world island from the North Asian heartland if it wanted to guarantee its safety and independence as a sea power. These theses formed the cornerstone for Dean Acheson's geographical formulation of the containment doctrine and also influenced Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzeziński .

literature

Mackinder, Halford: Britain and the British Seas . D. Appleton & Company, New York 1902.
Mackinder, Halford: The geographical pivot of history . The Geographical Journal, vol. 23, no. 4, 1904, pp. 421–437 - German translation: The geographical pivot point of history. In: Lettre International , Edition 120, 2018, pp. 124–129.
Mackinder, Halford: Democratic ideals and reality , Holt, New York 1919.
Mahan, Alfred Thayer: The Influence of Sea Power on History , Koehler, Herford 1967.

swell

^ The Geographical Pivot of History in The Geographical Journal , April 1904.
^ Democratic Ideals and Reality ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1996, pp. 175-194
^ Nils Hoffmann: Renaissance of Geopolitics? German security policy after the Cold War , Wiesbaden 2012, p. 35.
↑ cf. Walton, C. Dale: Geopolitics and the Powers of the Twenty-First Century: Multipolarity and the revolution in strategic perspective , Routledge: Abingdon 2008, p. 27.
^ Mackinder, Halford J .: Democratic Ideals and Reality , Washington, DC: National Defense University Press 1962, reprinted 1996, with an introduction by Stephen V. Mladineo, p. 106.
↑ cf. Walton, C. Dale: Geopolitics and the Powers of the Twenty-First Century: Multipolarity and the revolution in strategic perspective , Routledge: Abingdon 2008, pp. 1f.

[1] The Geographical Pivot of History in The Geographical Journal , April 1904.

[2] Democratic Ideals and Reality ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1996, pp. 175-194

[3] Nils Hoffmann: Renaissance of Geopolitics? German security policy after the Cold War , Wiesbaden 2012, p. 35.

[4] . Walton, C. Dale: Geopolitics and the Powers of the Twenty-First Century: Multipolarity and the revolution in strategic perspective , Routledge: Abingdon 2008, p. 27.

[5] Mackinder, Halford J .: Democratic Ideals and Reality , Washington, DC: National Defense University Press 1962, reprinted 1996, with an introduction by Stephen V. Mladineo, p. 106.

[6] . Walton, C. Dale: Geopolitics and the Powers of the Twenty-First Century: Multipolarity and the revolution in strategic perspective , Routledge: Abingdon 2008, pp. 1f.