Halford John Mackinder
Encyclopedia
Sir Halford John Mackinder PC
(15 February 1861 – 6 March 1947) was an English
geographer
and is considered one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics
and geostrategy
.
, England
the son of a doctor, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Gainsborough (now Queen Elizabeth's High School
), Epsom College
and Christ Church, Oxford
. At Oxford he started studying natural sciences, specialising in zoology
under Henry Nottidge Moseley
, who had been the naturalist on Challenger expedition
. When he turned to the study of history, he remarked that he was returning "to an old interest and took up modern history with the idea of seeing how the theory of evolution would appear in human development". He was a strong proponent of treating both physical geography
and human geography
as a single discipline. Mackinder served as President of the Oxford Union
in 1883.
, where he introduced the teaching of the subject. As Mackinder himself put it, "a platform has been given to a geographer." This was arguably at the time the most prestigious academic position for a British geographer.
In 1892, he was the first Principal of University Extension College, Reading, a role he retained until he was succeeded, in 1903, by William Macbride Childs
. The college went on to become the University of Reading
in 1926, a progression that owed no small debt to his early stewardship of the institution.
In 1893, he was one of the founders of the Geographical Association
, which promoted (and promotes) the teaching of geography
in schools. He later became chairman of the GA from 1913 to 1946 and served as its President from 1916.
In 1895, he was one of the founders of the London School of Economics
. At Oxford, Mackinder was the driving force behind the creation of a School of Geography in 1899. In the same year, he led an expedition which was the first to climb Mount Kenya
.
In 1902 he published Britain and The British Seas, which included the first comprehensive geomorphology
of the British Isles
and which became a classic in regional geography.
He was a member of the Coefficients dining club
, set up in 1902 by the Fabian
campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb
, which brought together social reformers and advocates of national efficiency.
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. Whilst the Heartland Theory initially received little attention outside geography, this theory would later exercise some influence on the foreign policies
of world powers.
Possibly disappointed at not getting a full Chair, Mackinder left Oxford and became director of the London School of Economics
between 1903 and 1908. After 1908, he concentrated on advocating the cause of imperial unity and lectured only part-time. He was elected to Parliament in January 1910 as Unionist Party member for the Glasgow Camlachie
constituency and was defeated in 1922. He was knighted
in the 1920 New Year Honours for his services as an MP.
His next major work, Democratic ideals and reality: a study in the politics of reconstruction, appeared in 1919. It presented his theory of the Heartland and made a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasted (geographical) reality with Woodrow Wilson
's idealism. The book's most famous quote was: "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World." This message was composed to convince the world statesmen at the Paris Peace conference of the crucial importance of Eastern Europe as the strategic route to the Heartland was interpreted as requiring a strip of buffer state to separate Germany and Russia. These were created by the peace negotiators but proved to be ineffective bulwarks in 1939 (although this may be seen as a failure of other, later statesmen during the interbellum). The principal concern of his work was to warn of the possibility of another major war (a warning also given by economist
John Maynard Keynes
).
Mackinder was anti-Bolshevik
, and as British High Commissioner in Southern Russia in late 1919 and early 1920, he stressed the need for Britain to continue her support to the White Russian
forces, which he attempted to unite.
Whilst Oxford did not appoint a professor of Geography until 1934, both the University of Liverpool
and University of Wales, Aberystwyth
established professorial chairs in Geography in 1917. Mackinder himself became a full professor in Geography in the University of London (London School of Economics
) in 1923.
Mackinder is often credited with introducing two new terms into the English language : "manpower", "heartland".
, in particular by its main proponent Karl Haushofer
. Whilst Geopolitik
was later embraced by the German
Nazi
regime in the 1930s, Mackinder was always extremely critical of the German exploitation of his ideas
. The German interpretation of the Heartland Theory is referred to explicitly (without mentioning the connection to Mackinder) in The Nazis Strike
, the second of Frank Capra
's Why We Fight
series of American
World War II
propaganda film
s.
, particularly in his geopolitical model "Intermediate Region
".
"The science of distribution. The science, that is, which traces the arrangement of things in general on the Earth's surface."
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(15 February 1861 – 6 March 1947) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
and is considered one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
and geostrategy
Geostrategy
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...
.
Early life and education
He was born in Gainsborough, LincolnshireGainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
the son of a doctor, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Gainsborough (now Queen Elizabeth's High School
Queen Elizabeth's High School
Queen Elizabeth's High School is an 11-18 co-educational selective state grammar school, based in Gainsborough in western Lincolnshire, England.The school is selective; pupils wishing to enter at age 11 must sit and pass the Eleven Plus exam prior to entry...
), Epsom College
Epsom College
Epsom College is an independent co-educational public school in Epsom, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 13 to 18. Founded in 1853 to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orphans , Epsom's long-standing association with medicine was estimated in 1980 as...
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
. At Oxford he started studying natural sciences, specialising in zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
under Henry Nottidge Moseley
Henry Nottidge Moseley
Henry Nottidge Moseley, FRS was a British naturalist who sailed on the global scientific expedition of the HMS Challenger in 1872 through 1876....
, who had been the naturalist on Challenger expedition
Challenger expedition
The Challenger expedition of 1872–76 was a scientific exercise that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the mother vessel, HMS Challenger....
. When he turned to the study of history, he remarked that he was returning "to an old interest and took up modern history with the idea of seeing how the theory of evolution would appear in human development". He was a strong proponent of treating both physical geography
Physical geography
Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the...
and human geography
Human geography
Human geography is one of the two major sub-fields of the discipline of geography. Human geography is the study of the world, its people, communities, and cultures. Human geography differs from physical geography mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying human activities and is more...
as a single discipline. Mackinder served as President of the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
in 1883.
Career
In 1887, he published "On the Scope and Methods of Geography", a manifesto for the New Geography. A few months later, he was appointed as Reader in Geography at the University of OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, where he introduced the teaching of the subject. As Mackinder himself put it, "a platform has been given to a geographer." This was arguably at the time the most prestigious academic position for a British geographer.
In 1892, he was the first Principal of University Extension College, Reading, a role he retained until he was succeeded, in 1903, by William Macbride Childs
William Macbride Childs
William Macbride Childs was an English academic administrator and historian, who was involved in the foundation of the University of Reading and who served briefly as its first vice-chancellor....
. The college went on to become the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
in 1926, a progression that owed no small debt to his early stewardship of the institution.
In 1893, he was one of the founders of the Geographical Association
Geographical Association
The Geographical Association is a Sheffield, United Kingdom-based subject association with the core charitable objective of furthering the study, learning and teaching of geography. It is a lively community of practice with over a century of innovation behind it and an unrivalled understanding of...
, which promoted (and promotes) the teaching of geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
in schools. He later became chairman of the GA from 1913 to 1946 and served as its President from 1916.
In 1895, he was one of the founders of the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. At Oxford, Mackinder was the driving force behind the creation of a School of Geography in 1899. In the same year, he led an expedition which was the first to climb Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian , Nelion and Point Lenana . Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi...
.
In 1902 he published Britain and The British Seas, which included the first comprehensive geomorphology
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
and which became a classic in regional geography.
He was a member of the Coefficients dining club
Coefficients (dining club)
The Coefficients was a dining club founded in 1902 at a dinner given by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. It was a forum for the meeting of British socialist reformers and imperialists of the Edwardian era...
, set up in 1902 by the Fabian
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...
, which brought together social reformers and advocates of national efficiency.
In 1904 Mackinder gave a paper on "The Geographical Pivot of History
The Geographical Pivot of History
"The Geographical Pivot of History" was an article submitted by Halford John Mackinder in 1904 to the Royal Geographical Society that advanced his Heartland Theory...
" at the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
, in which he formulated the Heartland Theory. This is often considered as a, if not the, founding moment of Geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
as a field of study, although Mackinder did not use the term. Whilst the Heartland Theory initially received little attention outside geography, this theory would later exercise some influence on the foreign policies
Foreign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
of world powers.
Possibly disappointed at not getting a full Chair, Mackinder left Oxford and became director of the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
between 1903 and 1908. After 1908, he concentrated on advocating the cause of imperial unity and lectured only part-time. He was elected to Parliament in January 1910 as Unionist Party member for the Glasgow Camlachie
Glasgow Camlachie (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Camlachie was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1955.It elected one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...
constituency and was defeated in 1922. He was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in the 1920 New Year Honours for his services as an MP.
His next major work, Democratic ideals and reality: a study in the politics of reconstruction, appeared in 1919. It presented his theory of the Heartland and made a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasted (geographical) reality with Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's idealism. The book's most famous quote was: "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World." This message was composed to convince the world statesmen at the Paris Peace conference of the crucial importance of Eastern Europe as the strategic route to the Heartland was interpreted as requiring a strip of buffer state to separate Germany and Russia. These were created by the peace negotiators but proved to be ineffective bulwarks in 1939 (although this may be seen as a failure of other, later statesmen during the interbellum). The principal concern of his work was to warn of the possibility of another major war (a warning also given by economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
).
Mackinder was anti-Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
, and as British High Commissioner in Southern Russia in late 1919 and early 1920, he stressed the need for Britain to continue her support to the White Russian
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
forces, which he attempted to unite.
Significance of Mackinder
Mackinder's work paved the way for the establishment of geography as a distinct discipline in the United Kingdom. His role in fostering the teaching of geography is probably greater than that of any other single British geographer.Whilst Oxford did not appoint a professor of Geography until 1934, both the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
and University of Wales, Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...
established professorial chairs in Geography in 1917. Mackinder himself became a full professor in Geography in the University of London (London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
) in 1923.
Mackinder is often credited with introducing two new terms into the English language : "manpower", "heartland".
Influence on Nazi strategy
The Heartland Theory was enthusiastically taken up by the German school of GeopolitikGeopolitik
Geopolitik is the branch of uniquely German geostrategy. It developed as a distinct strain of thought after Otto von Bismarck's unification of the German states but began its development in earnest only under Emperor Wilhelm II...
, in particular by its main proponent Karl Haushofer
Karl Haushofer
Karl Ernst Haushofer was a German general, geographer and geopolitician. Through his student Rudolf Hess, Haushofer's ideas may have influenced the development of Adolf Hitler's expansionist strategies, although Haushofer denied direct influence on the Nazi regime.-Biography:Haushofer belonged to...
. Whilst Geopolitik
Geopolitik
Geopolitik is the branch of uniquely German geostrategy. It developed as a distinct strain of thought after Otto von Bismarck's unification of the German states but began its development in earnest only under Emperor Wilhelm II...
was later embraced by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
regime in the 1930s, Mackinder was always extremely critical of the German exploitation of his ideas
Geopolitik
Geopolitik is the branch of uniquely German geostrategy. It developed as a distinct strain of thought after Otto von Bismarck's unification of the German states but began its development in earnest only under Emperor Wilhelm II...
. The German interpretation of the Heartland Theory is referred to explicitly (without mentioning the connection to Mackinder) in The Nazis Strike
The Nazis Strike
The Nazis Strike was the second film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series. It introduces Germany as a nation whose aggressive ambitions began in 1863 with Otto von Bismarck and with the Nazis as their latest incarnation....
, the second of Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's Why We Fight
Why We Fight
Why We Fight is a series of seven war information training films commissioned by the United States government during World War II whose purpose was to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war. Later on they were also shown to the general U.S...
series of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
propaganda film
Propaganda film
The term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...
s.
Influence on American strategy
The Heartland theory and more generally classical geopolitics and geostrategy were extremely influential in the making of US strategic policy during the period of the Cold War.Influence on later academics
Evidence of Mackinder’s Heartland Theory can be found in the works of geopolitician Dimitri KitsikisDimitri Kitsikis
Dimitri Kitsikis is a Greek Turkologist, Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics. He has also published poetry in French and Greek.-Life:D...
, particularly in his geopolitical model "Intermediate Region
Intermediate Region
An established geopolitical model set forth in the 1970s by the Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis, professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada. According to this model, the Eurasian continent is composed of not only two civilisational regions, that is, Western and Eastern , but also a third...
".
Mackinder on geography
"...the science whose main function is to trace the interaction of man in society and so much of his environment as varies locally.""The science of distribution. The science, that is, which traces the arrangement of things in general on the Earth's surface."
Works
- Mackinder, H.J. On the Scope and Methods of Geography On the Scope and Methods of Geography, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Mar., 1887), pp. 141–174.
- Mackinder, H.J. Sadler, M.E. University extension: has it a future?, London, Frowde, 1890.
- Mackinder, H.J. “A Journey to the Summit of Mount Kenya, British East Africa”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 5 (May, 1900), pp. 453–476.
- Mackinder, H.J. Britain and the British Seas. New York: D. Appleton and company, 1902.
- Mackinder, H.J. "The geographical pivot of history". The Geographical Journal, 1904, 23, pp. 421–37. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The Geographical Pivot of History", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 175–194.
- Mackinder, H.J. “Man-Power as a Measure of National and Imperial Strength”, National and English Review, XIV, 1905.
- Mackinder, HJ. "Geography and History", The Times. 9 February 1905.
- Mackinder, H.J. as editor of The Regions of the World series which includes the 1902 Britain and the British Seas mentioned above - which included The Nearer East by D.G. Hogarth London, Henry Frowde, 1902 and 1905
- Mackinder, H.J. Our own islands, an elementary study in geography, London: G. Philips, 1907
- Mackinder, H.J. The Rhine: its valley & history. New York: Dodd, Mead. 1908.
- Mackinder, H.J. Eight Lectures on India. London : Waterlow, 1910.
- Mackinder, H.J. The modern British state : an introduction to the study of civics. London: G. Philip, 1914.
- Mackinder, H.J. Democratic Ideals and Reality. New York: Holt, 1919. Available online as Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996.
- Mackinder, HJ. 1943. "The round world and the winning of the peace", Foreign Affairs, 21 (1943) 595-605. Available online as Mackinder, H.J. "The round world and the winning of the peace", in Democratic Ideals and Reality, Washington, DC: National Defence University Press, 1996, pp. 195–205.
External links
- Mackinder biographical entry at the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
- see also द जियॉग्राफिकल पॉइवट ऑफ हिस्टरी