Heartland+Theory

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Halford John Mackinder released an article called "The Geographical Pivot of History" in 1904, which outlined his beliefs on becoming a world power, known as the Heartland Theory. He stated that "Who rules East Europe commands the Hearland. Who rules the Hearland commands the World Island. Who rules the World Island commands the World." (Deblij 246). He called Eurasia the World Island because it is the largest land mass on the planet. The area between Eastern Europe and Siberia he calls the Heartland, due to its position in the center of the landmass and the vast amount of minerals and other resources Since the World-Island has over 50% of all the worlds natural resources, who ever had the most control over this area would have the greatest opportunity to use these resources for their own national strength. With the rise of the Soviet Union after WWII, the heartland theory gained creditability just as it lost creditability with the emergence of the United States onto the world stage, which went against the importance of the position of the state.

Ratzels Theory- One of the first political geographers, a German named Friedrich Ratzel believed that states were similar to a biological organism. They would be born, grow and mature, and eventually fall apart and die. Territory was the nourishment for a country as much as food is for animals, so if a country stayed in their current area of land without any territorial gain, they would stall and eventually fall from power. It was this theory that influenced Hitler to expand the German empire across Europe because he felt land that was theirs was taken from them after World War I. A similar strategy can be seen in the early United States as it expanded westward with Manifest Destiny in order to broaden the political reach of the state and make major economic gains. It was from Ratzel's initial theory that the study of geopolitics came around by studying the strength of countries and the influence they have on surrounding areas.