Geographical Pivot of History, H.J.

Geographical Pivot of History," H.J. Mackinder

Mackinder (1904) has written a classic article that paints in broad strokes through politics and geography. He sketches a vision of the movement of history based in geographical features and their effects (and limitations) on human action. He states that there is "a correlation between natural environment and political organization" (p. 423). Using this organic notion, he draws a connection between history and the landscape that shapes it powerfully.

He begins with the concept of a closed vs. open system. In the 400-year Columbian epoch, expansion was the rule. For Europe, Mackinder says, the crusades marked the beginning of expansion and modern European history (p. 431). They drew Europe out of its insular Medieval boundaries, transforming it from a settled region to a center of outward expansion. But since the land of the world has been discovered and explored almost in its entirety now, even to the poles, the system has closed. Politics must deal with an established map where all claims of ownership have already been staked. The significant consequence of this for politics is that countries will be forced to focus on the contest for efficiency rather than on territorial expansion (Mackinder, p. 422). He makes a certain prediction here. "Every explosion of social forces, instead of being dissipated in a surrounding circuit of unknown space and barbaric chaos, will be sharply re-echoed from the far side of the globe, and weak elements in the political and economic organism of the world will be shattered in consequence" (p. 422).

To describe historical dynamics, Mackinder makes several important turns of perspective. First, rather than prioritize a Euro-centric vision of history, he shifts to look at how the East has significantly affected matters in the West. European history is, he thinks, a product of Asian history. It was out of external pressure from the nomadic East (as well as the Viking pirates as sea) that Western nations crystallized to avoid extinction. What is crucial here is his concept of opposition: outside threat is the crucible for cultural advance and the formation of political ideas of nationhood. He believes that civilization and national identity coalesce when groups are forced to unite in order to battle an opponent. "A repellant personality performs a valuable social function in uniting his enemies, and it was under the pressure of external barbarism that Europe achieved her civilization" (p. 423). For Europe, therefore, resistance to the external and mobile forces of Asia created the conditions for unification. Europe was hemmed in by sea and land powers, and out of this pressure the settled people were not overwhelmed but were stimulated and mobilized (p. 428). As a concrete example, the idea of "France" was imposed on the tribes of Franks, Goths, and Romans by Hun aggression. They had to band together under the tension this threat exerted. This reaction stirred ideas of nationality and civilization.

Second, he elaborates the influential role that physical geography has played on political history. He calls it the "geographical causation in universal history" (p. 422). What he means is the effect of land and water formations, as well as climate, in shaping human action. Mackinder stresses that geography has a coercive influence: "Man and not nature initiates, but nature in large measure controls" (p. 422). Mountains control where and whether or not humans move and settle in an area. Rain and drought determine whether forest or steppe grows. Population spreads thickly near the sea on the rim of continents, while the heartland which is drier maintains its sparseness. Out of the forest develops settled people, whereas in the steppe nomads reign. In other words, the physical features of the earth are to some extent determinative of human life and action. This is important for his later discussion of the mobility of power and historical events.

The fact that Europe survived is in consequence of geographical features. "That they stimulated healthy and powerful reaction, instead of crushing opposition under a widespread despotism, was due to the fact that the mobility of their power was conditioned by the steppes, and necessarily ceased in the surrounding forests and mountains" (p. 427). The limitations of the steppe people -- for example, the Mongols -- was running into geographical conditions that they were not used to. India was sheltered from invasion by the Tibetan barrier (until a way to go around it was found). These examples show how the lay of the land influences history.

His third key in describing geo-historical dynamics is the technological rivalry between land and sea. His often used term for this is "mobility of power." Mackinder contrasts land-power and sea-power. Land-power during the Columbian period means horses or camels such as those the Mongol hordes used for conquest. These are appropriate instruments for traversing the steppes and engaging in raids across relatively flat land. In contrast to this is sea-power: "Mobility upon the ocean is the natural rival of horse and camel mobility in the heart of the continent" (p. 432). Sea-power is crucial for the outlying areas away from the heartland such as coasts and waterways that lead to the ocean. These are the marginal areas. Mackinder uses this distinction to set up a powerful image of competition and clash, using a plethora of historical examples through the modern world and stretching back into the Old World where empires rose and fell depending on their ability to deal with technology in their geographical setting.

Given these preconditions, what is the pivot of history? It is the landmass of Russia. Mackinder sees Russia as the politically strategic location for the twentieth century. With prescience, he sees in the migration of the Russian peasantry southward and the organization of the Cossack nomads in Siberia a gathering force that is poised to become the next empire (p. 434). He writes, "Russia replaces the Mongol Empire" (p. 436). This idea is based on the acquisition and exploitation of railways and the resources these make possible. The significance of land-power grows with the invention of the steam locomotive and the building of trans-continental railways. Mackinder predicts the growth of rail networks that will drive the significance of Russia (pivot point) upwards due to the material resources they will make available and the advantage of efficiency they hold over sea-power. "There have been and are here the conditions of a mobility of military and economic power of a far-reaching and yet limited character" (pp. 435-36). He believes that the tapping of these land-based resources would shift the balance of power away from the outlying margins and into the center of the hinge point (Russia), allowing it to expand outward.