Overview

Throughout the twentieth century, until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Western defence strategists feared that one power, or alliance, might come to dominate Eurasia. Admiral Mahan discussed the issue in The Problem of Asia (1900) but Mackinder made the defining statement in The Geographical Pivot of History (1904). Mackinder argued that the 'closed Heart-Land of Euroasia' was a strategically placed region, with great resources, that if controlled by one force could be the basis of a World Empire. James Kurth, in Foreign Affairs, has commented that it has taken two World Wars and the Cold War to prevent Mackinder's prophecy becoming reality. In WWI and WWII Germany achieved huge territorial gains at the expense of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union. In WWI the Russian empire was defeated by Germany but the western powers insisted that the territorial gains made by Germany, at the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, be given up. In World War Two Britain and the US gave material support to Stalin's totalitarian regime to prevent Nazi Germany gaining control of the territory and resources that might have been a basis for world domination. After World War Two the west, conscious of Mackinder's dictum (1919) that 'Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland,' quickly adopted policies to contain the Soviet Union. For a time there was a Western fear of an alliance between the Soviet Union and Communist China that would have created uncontestable control of the Heartland. The book examines Mackinder's global geostrategic view, from the perspective of geography, diplomatic history, political science, international relations, imperial history, and the space age.

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9780714657004

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Reviews

'Blouet's probing book should be read and contemplated by everyone wondering how the military and diplomatic history of the twentieth century may inform and perhaps guide strategists grouping their way into the very dangerous twenty-first century.' - The Journal of Military History

Author Information

Brian Blouet was educated in Britain and taught at the University of Sheffield before coming to the USA and teaching at the University of Nebraska, Texas A&M University, and the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He is the author of a biography of Mackinder and other books including Geopolitics and Globalization (2001).

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