Mackinder: Who rules Eastern Europe rules the World (2024)

FAQs

Mackinder: Who rules Eastern Europe rules the World? ›

Later, in 1919, Mackinder summarised his theory thus: Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world.

Mackinder thought that whoever controlled Eastern Europe –the Heartland—would control the world. The idea was that whoever gained control of Eastern Europe, controlled the Heartland –also known as the Pivot Area—and whoever controlled the Heartland, could easily gain control of the World Island (Africa and Eurasia).

Whoever rules the Eastern Europe will rule the Heartland, whoever rules the Heartland will rule the World Island, and whoever rules the World Island will rule the world! This theses became known, as the Heartland Theory, defined by Sir Halford John Mackinder, a famous English geographer, academic and politician.

In conclusion, the Heartland Theory has been widely criticized for its Eurocentric perspective, oversimplification, and lack of empirical evidence. Despite its historical significance, the theory is often seen as an outdated and overly simplified view of global politics.

He was convinced that the control of Eurasia and ultimately of the whole world was possible through controlling the Rimland. He, therefore, formulated his own theory, called the Rimland theory: “Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia, Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world”.

Later, in 1919, Mackinder summarised his theory thus: Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the world.

Mackinder's “Heartland Theory,” which states that the power that controls Central Asia—the great pivot—would eventually emerge as the most powerful state in international politics.

This they call the "Heartland", which just about coincides with the old empire of Genghis Khan. Hitler's step-by-step plan for world conquest can be summarized this way: Conquer Eastern Europe and you dominate the Heartland. Conquer the Heartland and you dominate the World Island.

The one great continent, which Mackinder called “the World-Island”, he further subdivided into six regions: the European coastland (Western and Central Europe), the Monsoon or Asian coastland (India, China, Southeast Asia, Korea and eastern Siberia), Arabia (the Arabian peninsula), the Sahara (North Africa), the ...

Hence his formula was: whoever rules the Rimland commands Eurasia, and whoever rules Eurasia commands the world. In both geopolitical conceptions, the world's spatial-functional structure consists of three main levels: the Heartland, Eurasia, and the Planet in Mackinder, and the Rimland-Eurasia-the Planet in Spykman.

What was Nicholas Spykman's opinion of Mackinder's Heartland Theory? ›

Spykman held that rimland was the key to world power; not Mackinder's Heartland, since seapower and airpower through their domination of littoral's coast would be able to contain and dominate heartland.

Sir Halford Mackinder (1861-1947) is mainly remembered today for his famous lecture on “The Geographical Pivot of History” delivered in front of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in 1904.

The Heartland, as described in Mackinder's Heartland Theory, is considered important because it is the world's largest landmass, with vast resources of minerals, timber, and other natural resources. Additionally, the Heartland is home to a large population, making it a key source of manpower.

Sir Halford John Mackinder (15 February 1861 – 6 March 1947) was a British geographer, academic and politician, who is regarded as one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy.

In a later work, Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919), Mackinder revised the concept of the pivot area, renaming it the “heartland” and significantly extending its boundaries, notably to include eastern Europe from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

Geopolitical theorist Halford J. Mackinder developed his heartland theory in response to the 19th century competition between Great Britain and Russia. This contest was characterised in large part by the Great Game played out in Central and South Asia.

The heartland theory established by Halford Mackinder suggests that whoever owns the heartland of Eastern Europe will control the world. The rimland theory developed by Nicholas Spykman suggests that sea power is more valuable and that alliances will keep the heartland in check.

One of them consisted of controlling the “inner crescent.” He put his idea of Eastern Europe as the key to the Heartland in a nutshell by saying: “whoever rules East Europe commands the Heartland; whoever rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; whoever rules the World-Island commands the World.”

In 1904, Mackinder gave a paper on "The Geographical Pivot of History" at the Royal Geographical Society, in which he formulated the Heartland Theory. This is often considered as a, if not the, founding moment of geopolitics as a field of study, although Mackinder did not use the term.

Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning.