Heartland Theory

---

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History

According to Mackinder, the Earth's land surface was divisible into: 

• The World-Island, comprising the interlinked continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This was the largest, most populous, and richest of all possible land combinations.
• The offshore islands, including the British Isles and the islands of Japan.
• The outlying islands, including the continents of North America, South America, and Australia.

The Heartland lay at the center of the world island, stretching from the Volga to the Yangtze and from the Himalayas to the Arctic. Mackinder's Heartland was the area then ruled by the Russian Empire and after that by the Soviet Union, minus the Kamchatka Peninsula region, which is located in the easternmost part of Russia, near the Aleutian Islands and Kurile islands. 

Later, in 1919, Mackinder summarized his theory as: 

"Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world." (Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality, p. 150) 

Any power which controlled the World-Island would control well over  50% of the world's resources. The Heartland's size and central position  made it the key to controlling the World-Island. 

The vital question was how to secure control for the Heartland. This question may seem pointless, since in 1904 the Russian Empire had ruled most of the area from the Volga to Eastern Siberia for centuries. But throughout the nineteenth century: 

• The West European powers had combined, usually successfully, in the Great Game to prevent Russian expansion.
• The Russian Empire was huge but socially, politically and  technologically backward—i.e., inferior in "virility, equipment and  organization".

Mackinder held that effective political domination of the Heartland by a single power had been unattainable in the past because: 

• The Heartland was protected from sea power by ice to the north and mountains and deserts to the south.
• Previous land invasions from east to west and vice versa were  unsuccessful because lack of efficient transportation made it impossible  to assure a continual stream of men and supplies.

He outlined the following ways in which the Heartland might become a  springboard for global domination in the twentieth century (Sempa,  2000): 

• Successful invasion of Russia by a West European nation (most probably Germany). Mackinder believed that the introduction of the railroad had removed the Heartland's invulnerability to land invasion. As Eurasia  began to be covered by an extensive network of railroads, there was an  excellent chance that a powerful continental nation could extend its  political control over the Eastern European gateway to the Eurasian landmass. In Mackinder's words, "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland."
• A Russo-German alliance. Before 1917 both countries were ruled by autocrats (the Tsar and the Kaiser), and both could have been attracted to an alliance against the democratic powers of Western Europe (the US was isolationist regarding European affairs, until it became a participant of World War I in 1917). Germany would have contributed to such an alliance its formidable army and its large and growing sea power.
• Conquest of Russia by a Sino-Japanese empire (see below).

The combined empire's large East Asian coastline would also provide  the potential for it to become a major sea power. Mackinder's "Who rules  East Europe commands the Heartland ..." does not cover this scenario,  probably because the previous 2 scenarios were seen as the major risks  of the nineteenth century and the early 1900s. 

One of Mackinder's personal objectives was to warn Britain that  its traditional reliance on sea power would become a weakness as  improved land transport opened up the Heartland for invasion and / or  industrialization (Sempa, 2000)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geographical_Pivot_of_History