Heartland theory History of Heartland Theory: Theory of Heartland 1919 modifications 1943 modification and concept of Midland Basin Why Eastern Europe Importance Success and failures Containment Criticism RIMLAND THEORY THEORY Spykman’s division of the world Mackinder vs Spykman Criticism

1. Presentation on
Heartland theory and Rimland theory
Kamrul islam karim

2. Heartland theory
History of Heartland Theory:
TheHeartlandTheoryformulatedbyHalfordJohn Mackinder.
“The Geographical Pivotof History" wasanarticle submitted by Halford John
Mackinder in 1904 to the RoyalGeographicalSocietythatadvanced his
HeartlandTheory.
InthispaperheadvancedthattheviewthattheEurasiancorewhichnamedas
pivot arealaterasheartlandin1919wasinaccessible toseapowerand
possessedthevast capacityofbecomingtheseatofagreatworldpowerwhich
wouldbeabletodominate the wholeworld
He published his book“Democratic Ideals and Reality”toformulatehistheory.
He spreads the pivotareain two times:1919,1943
Theory of Heartland
Mackinder theory states in three lines:
• “Whoever rules East Europe, commandsHeartland”
• “Whoever rules the Heartland,commands theWorld Island.”
• “Whoeverrules theWorldIsland,commands the world.”
Mackinder divided the world and call Europe, Asia and Africa as ‘World
Island’ which has 2/3rd of world land and 7/8th of population.

3. He arranged the landmass of the world in 3 tiers:
1. The Heartland:
2. Inner Crescent;
3. Outer or Insular Crescent
1. The Heartland:
It is the huge area of inner Eurasia east and north of river Volga
surrounded by mountains on three sides (S-E-W) and by ice-bound
Arctic on the north. This was so called ‘pivot area’ that he later
renamed as ‘heartland’. The distinguishing feature of heartland was
that it was not accessible to sea powers and therefore it was
strategically secure like a fortress. This was resource rich area having
agriculturally fertile Russian grassland Steppes and coal fields.
2. Inner Crescent;
The pivot area was surrounded by an ‘inner’ or ‘marginal’ crescent
consisting of an arch of coastland. It included rest of Europe, W. Asia, E.
Asia, and S. Asia. This area was characterized by drainage into navigable
seas
3. Outer or Insular Crescent
North America, South America and Africa south of Sahara, Oceana were
put in outer crescent category.

4. 1919 modifications
By 1919, the world had already seen the WW I, the defeat of Germany
and rise of Russia under communist regime. Mackinder redefined the
boundary of pivot area and included the area which sea power can be
refused access under modern conditions. He included Black Sea, Baltic
Sea, middle and lower Danube, Asia Minor (Turkey), parts of Mongolia
and Armenia. (Britain was defeated in Black Sea, Germany was not able
to enter in Baltic Sea in WW I) •In his 1919 modification, ‘World Island’
included the whole of Africa, unlike 1904 when only Africa north of
Sahara was included.
1943 modification and concept of Midland Basin
In this modification Mackinder retained the importance of heartland
but tried reinterpreting the roles of the countries of inner and outer
crescent. He suggested that the power equation will undergo a change
and was predicting rise of Americas under USA. Mackinder observed
the cultural and historical similarity between US & Britain despite the
Atlantic Ocean in between. He was able to foresee close economic and
political ties between the 2 nations. This grouping he called as ‘Midland
Basin’ which included N. America which was otherwise part of outer
crescent. •Having predicted rise of Midland Basin as political power,
Mackinder than predicted the future geopolitics as power struggle
between Heartland and Midland Basin. After WW II, this prediction was
fairly accurate because of the infamous superpower rivalry and cold
war between US & USSR.

5. Why Eastern Europe
• at the time, the vast resources of Eastern Europe were considered
incredibly important (coal, farmland, and lots of flat landforexpansion,
urbanization)
Importance
• raw materials andagriculture
• Security from outsideattack
• easilygaintheWorldIslandbycontrollingthecoastsandwarmwater
ports
Success and failures
It was an innovative approach relating geography with political
power struggle and he was fairly successful in predicting WW I,
WW II & post war conditions.
The USSR did try to expand out from the Heartland - it dominated
the countries of Eastern Europe militarily and economically after
WWII
NATO was the military alliance that was created to stop this
expansion
Warsaw Pact and COMECON were alliances of the Soviet bloc
Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring 1968), Poland
1980s are examples of how the Soviet government tolerated no
independence.
USSR sponsored communist parties outside Eastern Bloc and
tacitly supported terrorist movements to undermine the security

6. of western nations (e.g., IRA (Britain), Red Brigades (Italy), Red
Army (Japan)
Cuba, Vietnam and Afghanistan can also be seen as efforts by the
USSR to expand beyond the Heartland
they also supported a variety of governments throughout the
developing world
The IRA has been featured in the media on a regular basis, as it’s
conflict with Great Britain has been well-documented.
The Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse in Italian, often abbreviated BR)
was a Marxist-Leninist organization, based in Italy, which was
responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and
robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead". Formed in 1970,
the organisation sought to create a "revolutionary" state through
armed struggle, and to remove Italy from the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. The Red Brigades attained notoriety in the
1970s and early 1980s with their violent attempts to destabilise
Italy by acts of sabotage, bank robberies, and kidnappings.
The Japanese Red Army was a communist militant group founded
by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes
called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre. The JRA's
stated goals were to overthrow the Japanese government and
monarchy and to start a world revolution.
Containment
Containment was the West's response to Soviet expansionist
threats as seen at first in the context the Heartland theory 
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization – USA, Canada, Great
Britain), SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization - Philippines,
Pakistan, Thailand, Australia ), and CENTO (Central Treaty
Organization – Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan) were the military
alliances set up, mainly through US pressure, to carry out the

7. policy of containment. Seato and Cento no longer exist.
Basically, Soviet expansion was contained to the Heartland by the
threat of first strike nuclear retaliation if the Soviets invaded any
allied member or threatened the security of any member nation
Soviet response to containment was to leap- frog Western
Europe and to establish pro- Soviet bases (countries) elsewhere -
Angola, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Cuba
The Soviet response to containment was itself contained by the
further threat of nuclear war - especially the case with Cuba (and
the 1962 Missile Crisis)
Criticism
One criticism was he repeatedly modified his theory, diluting his
own ideas in subsequent revisions i.e. the theory is not
comprehensive in it’s original form.
He simplified history in a deterministic fashion as a struggle
between land and sea powers. In reality history is influenced by
the physical, socio-economic and cultural factors.
He overestimated the advantage and isolation of the heartland.
The heartland really is not as flat as he thought and the Heartland
has physical limitations because cold, continental climate.
The idea about Heartland’s relative isolation & political
prospective of Britain, according to Mackinder was probably
based on the Mercater’s map projection which inaccurately
exaggerate the area in high latitudes & polar region.
The mountains can’t actually deter the modern air force while the

8. US can access the Heartland across the Bering strait & across the
Arctic Ocean using the modern missile technology.
In contemporary times, the basis of geopolitics is rapidly changing
& political confrontations are no longer fought along conventional
lines. Modern forms of conflicts include trade wars, cyber wars,
WMD (weapons of mass destruction) which were alien in the
times of Mackinder.
The rising importance of trade has propelled the countries of
South Asia, E. Asia, S-E Asia such as India, China, which could not
have been predicted in Mackinder’s time.
The contemporary world has also seen the rise of non-state
players such as terrorism, drug cartels. Non state players also
include the supra national players such as international
institutions like UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank etc which are
probably more important determinants in the global geopolitics.
The rise of MNC’s further adds complexity in the ever changing &
evolving world order.
RIMLAND THEORY
• In 1942
• ByDutch-AmericanPolitical Geographer Nicholas Spykman
He criticized Mackinder for overrating the Heartland as being of
immense strategic importance due to its vast size, central geographical
location and supremacy of land power rather than sea power. He
assumed that the Heartland will not be a potential hub of Europe,
because:
1. Western Russia was then an agrarian society

9. 2. Bases of industrialization were found to the west of the Ural
Mountains.
3. This area is ringed to the north, east, south, and south-west by
some of the greater obstacles to transportation (ice and freezing
temperature, lowering mountains etc.).
4. There has never really been a simple land power–sea power
opposition.
Spykman thought that the Rimland, the strip of coastal land that
encircles Eurasia, is more important than the central Asian zone (the so-
called Heartland) for the control of the Eurasian continent. Spykman's
vision is at the base of the "containment politics" put into effect by the
United States in its relation/position to the Soviet Union during the
post-World War II period.
Thus, 'Heartland' appeared to him to be less important in comparison
to 'Rimland.'
THEORY
According to Spykman, "Who controls the Rimland rules Eurasia, who
rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world."
Spykman’s division of the world
1. Landlockedstates,
2. Islandstates,
3. States thathavebothlandand seafrontiers.

10. Spykmanassertedthatlandlockedstatesusuallyfacedsecurity
problemsfromtheir immediate neighbors.
Island states normally faced potential pressure from other naval
powers, but if they are offshore island states (Great Britain and Japan)
they could also face security problems from nearby coastalpowers.
States with both land and sea frontiers determined their security
based on several factors,including the extent of their sea and land
frontiers and the power potential of their immediate or nearby
neighbors.
Mackinder vs Spykman
Mackinder asserts that Eastern Europe is destine to gain control of the
world due to its control of theheartland.
SpykmanassertsthatrimlandStateslikeJapan,GreatBritainandChina
wouldlikely become superpowers because of their greater contact
with the outside world.
MackinderthoughtcountrieslikeAustraliaandtheAmericaswere
insignificantasthey were not a part of the world island; therefore
they were not essential to world dominance.
Spykmansawthe worldas consisting oftwogreatlandmasses,Eurasia
andNorth America & three islands, South America,Africa,and Australia.

11. Criticism
• It was a self-fulfillingprophecy.
• Inhisconceptofairpowerhedidnotincludetheuseofmodern missiles
withnuclear warheads.
• TheRimlandisnotaregionbutaunit,otherwisetheepitomeof
geographicaldiversity.
• TheRimland-Theoryis biasedtowardsAsiancountries.
TheRimland-Theorydoesnottakeintothevariousconflictsgoingon
betweenitsdifferentcountries(Indiavs.Pakistan,etc)