CODIGO PE/GP - 12

MACKINDER'S WORLD

BY FRANCIS P. SEMPA

“No mere scraps of paper, even though they be the written =onstitution of a League
of Nations, are, under the conditions of today, a sufficient =uarantee that the
Heartland will not again become the centre of a world =ar.”

Mackinder’s proposed solution to the problem of Eastern Europe, =hich he derived

from “a consideration of the realities presented by the =eography of our globe,” was
the formation of a “tier of independent states between =ermany and Russia,” which
would form “a broad wedge of independence, extending =rom the Adriatic and Black
Seas to the Baltic.” This territorial buffer =etween Germany and Russia,” wrote
Mackinder, must have access to the ocean, and must =e supported by the “outer
nations” (i.e., Britain and the United =tates).11 Otherwise, the East European power
vacuum would again serve as the spark =o ignite yet another struggle for Eurasian
hegemony.

During the 1920s and 1930s, unfortunately, Mackinder’s ideas had =ittle influence in
Britain or the United States. That was not the case, =owever, in Germany where
Mackinder’s global view attracted the attention and =raise of Karl Haushofer and his
associates at Munich’s Institute of Geopolitics. The =erman geopoliticians, influenced
by the writings of Oswald Spengler, Friedrich =atzel and Rudolf Kjellen, adapted
Mackinder’s theories and concepts to =romote German expansion. Haushofer in the
1920s and 1930s was close to Rudolf Hess, a =lose adviser to Hitler. But it is unclear
to what extent the German =eopoliticians influenced the Führer’s global strategy.
Haushofer considered =ackinder the author of “the greatest of all geographical world
views.” =93Never,” exclaimed Haushofer referring to “The Geographical Pivot of
History,” “have = seen anything greater than these few pages of a geopolitical
masterwork.” =he German geopoliticians divided the world into “Pan Regions” each
of which =as dominated by a great power. Haushofer advocated the formation of a
“Eurasiatic =reat continental bloc”; in essence, an alliance between Germany, Japan
and =ussia that would eventually overwhelm the British Empire.12

During the inter-war period, Mackinder was knighted (1920), lost his =eat in
Parliament (1922), chaired the Imperial Shipping Committee (1920-1939), =at on the
Imperial Economic Committee (1925-1931), was made a Privy Councilor =1926), and
continued to write and lecture on geography and related topics. His inter-war writings
included: “Geography as a Pivotal Subject in =ducation” (1921); “The Sub-Continent
of India”(1922); The Nations of the =odern World: An Elementary Study in Geography
and History After 1914 (1924); and “The =uman Habitat”(1931).13

The Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939, the beginning of the Second =orld War and
Germany’s subsequent invasion of the Soviet Union drew attention =n the United
States to Mackinder’s works. In 1941 and 1942, Newsweek, =eader’s Digest and Life
published articles which prominently mentioned Mackinder and =is writings.
Democratic Ideals and Reality was reprinted in 1942. That same =ear, Hamilton Fish
Armstrong, the editor of Foreign Affairs, asked Mackinder =o write an article to

1
 CODIGO PE/GP - 12

update his Heartland theory. That article, entitled “The =ound World and the Winning
of the Peace,” appeared in July 1943, and was =ackinder’s last significant statement
of his global views.

"[M]y concept of the Heartland,” wrote Mackinder, “is more valid =nd useful today
than it was either twenty or forty years ago.”14 He described =he Heartland in
geographical terms as “the northern part and the interior =f Euro-Asia,” extending
“from the Arctic coast down to the central =eserts,” flowing westward to “the broad
isthmus between the Baltic and Black =eas.” The Heartland concept, he explained, is
based on “three separate aspects =f physical geography.”

First, “the widest lowland plain on the face of the globe.” Second, “great navigable
rivers [that] flow across that plain [but have] no access to the ocean.” And third, “a
grassland zone which . . . presented ideal =onditions for the development of high
mobility” by land transportation.

The Heartland, in essence, wrote Mackinder, was equivalent to the =erritory of the
Soviet Union, minus the land east of the Yenisei River.

If the Soviet Union defeated Germany in the war, opined Mackinder, =93she must
rank as the greatest land Power on the globe.” “The Heartland is the "reatest natural
fortress on earth,” he explained, and “[f]or the first time =n history it is manned by a
garrison sufficient both in number and quality.”

A second geographical feature which Mackinder estimated to be “of lmost equal

significance” to the Heartland was the "Midland Ocean,” =onsisting of the eastern half
of Canada and the United States, the North Atlantic basin =nd its “four subsidiaries
(Mediterranean, Baltic, Arctic and Caribbean =eas),” Britain and France (a
remarkable description of the NATO alliance that was =ormed six years after
Mackinder wrote his article).

Completing his updated global sketch, Mackinder identified three =dditional

geographic features. The first was “a girdle of deserts and =ildernesses” extending
from the Sahara Desert eastward to Arabia, Tibet, and Mongolia =o eastern Siberia,
Alaska, part of Canada, and the western United States. =he second consisted of
South America, the South Atlantic Ocean, and Africa. =nd the third encompassed the
“Monsoon lands” of China and India. He =xpressed the hope that those lands would
prosper and, thereby, balance the other regions =f the globe. “A balanced globe of
human beings,” he wrote, “[a]nd happy, =ecause balanced and thus free.”15

Mackinder expressed the hope that Heartland Russia would cooperate =ith the
Midland Ocean powers in the postwar world and, thereby, prevent future =erman
aggression. But his theories and concepts proved readily adaptable to =he emerging
Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet =nion. American
strategists during and after the Second World War borrowed =spects of Mackinder’s
world view in formulating and implementing the policy of “containment” of Soviet
Russia.16 Anthony J. Pierce, in his =ntroduction to the 1962 edition of Democratic
Ideals and Reality, could confidently assert =hat “[i]n America and in England, since
1942, most studies of global =trategy or political geography have been based, in
whole or in part, upon =Mackinder’s] theories.17 “Mackinder, of course, had his share
of critics,18 but as =olin Gray has pointed out, “Mackinder’s interpretations of

2
 CODIGO PE/GP - 12

historically =hifting power relationships in their geographical setting have stood the
test of time =uch better than have the slings and arrows of his legion of critics.”19

More recent and current political observers and strategists attest to =he continuing
influence of Mackinder’s ideas. In 1974, R.E. Walters wrote =hat “the Heartland
theory stands as the first premise in Western military =hought.”20 In 1975, Saul B.
Cohen noted that “most Western strategists continue to =iew the world as initially
described by Mackinder.”21 Zbigniew Brzezinski’s =ame Plan (1986) and The Grand
Chessboard (1997) present global views almost =holly based on Mackinder’s
concepts. In 1980, Robert Nisbet claimed that "[e]very geopolitical apprehension that
Sir Halford Mackinder expressed some six =ecades ago in his Democratic Ideals and
Reality has been fulfilled.”22 The =nfluential journals, Strategic Review and The
National Interest, published several =rticles in the 1980s and 1990s wherein the
authors applied Mackinder’s =heories and concepts to contemporary global issues.23
In 1988, the respected =trategist Colin Gray asserted that “[t]he geopolitical ideas of
the British =eographer Sir Halford Mackinder … provide an intellectual architecture,
far superior =o rival conceptions, for understanding the principal international security
=ssues.”24 In 1992, Eugene Rostow remarked that “Mackinder’s map remains an
indispensable tool of analysis” of global politics.25 In 1994, the former State
Department Geographer, George J. Demko, wrote that “the geographic ideas of …
Mackinder, still provide important insights into international political =rocesses.”26
Henry Kissinger in his book, Diplomacy (1994), concludes with a warning =hat
“Russia, regardless of who governs it, sits astride territory Halford Mackinder called
the geopolitical heartland….”27 Paul Kennedy, Robert Chase, =nd Emily Hill invoked
Mackinder’s theories in a 1996 Foreign Affairs article on =ost-Cold War “pivot
states.”28 Finally, in 1996 the National Defense University issued a reprint of
Democratic Ideals and Reality.

Twentieth century global politics were shaped, in part, by tackinder’s geopolitical

vision. Following his concepts, the continuing struggle for =Eurasian mastery was the
geopolitical essence of the First World War, =he Second World War, and the Cold
War. First Great Britain, then the United =tates, organized great coalitions to oppose
successive bids for Eurasian =egemony launched by Wilhelmine Germany, Nazi
Germany and the Soviet Union. The =reat Power struggles of the twenty-first century
will likely repeat this =attern.

The People’s Republic of China, situated at the gates of =ackinder’s “pivot region” or
Heartland, and with access to the sea, possesses sufficient =uman and natural
resources to make a bid for Eurasian mastery sometime in this =ew century. Russia,
though currently undergoing a new time of troubles, =till occupies the Heartland and
possesses vast human and natural resources, =s well as thousands of nuclear
weapons. The nations of Western, Central and =astern Europe are moving toward
economic unity and, perhaps, political unity, =ith Germany playing a leading role.
Whatever specific power constellation =merges, however, U.S. foreign policy will
continue to be shaped by Mackinder’s =geopolitical vision of a Eurasian-based world
hegemony.

In 1944, the American Geographical Society awarded Mackinder the =harles P.

Daley Medal, which was presented to him at the American Embassy in =ondon on
March 31, 1944. Ambassador John Winant remarked that Mackinder was the =irst
scholar who fully enlisted geography as an aid to statecraft and =trategy. A year later,

3
 CODIGO PE/GP - 12

the Royal Geographical Society awarded Mackinder the =atron’s Medal, and its
president noted that ”[a]s a political geographer his =eputation is . . . world wide.”29
Mackinder died on March 6, 1947, at the age of =ighty-six. More than fifty years later,
as we enter a new century, statesmen and =trategists still operate in Mackinder’s
world.