In geopolitical theory, Mackinder's "Land Heart" theory plays an important role. Mackinder was the first in the UK to have a geography department

He was the head of the geography department and professor of geography at the University of Oxford. Later, he also served as president of the famous London School of Economics and the Queen of England

President of the National Geographical Society. In addition, he is also a member of the British Parliament, an advisor to the British Privy Council and chairman of the Imperial Economic Council, and the British High Commissioner to South Africa and Russia in the British Foreign Office. It can be seen that he is a scholar and political activist.

In the era of transition from the 19th century to the 20th century, Britain's political and economic status in the world, especially its geopolitical strategic status, has undergone major changes. Economically, during the 19th century, due to the Industrial Revolution and the great development of industrial production, Britain became the "factory of the world", and its industrial product output occupied a monopoly position in the world. At that time, the old imperialism of Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands had declined, and the British Empire occupied an undisputed position in the world. To this end, Britain implements a liberal trade policy with foreign countries. By the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolution spread to Western Europe, Central Europe, and even Eastern Europe and North America. The industrial production of countries such as France, Germany, and the United States increased sharply, and exports increased significantly, becoming Britain's competitors. Britain's free trade policy is unsustainable.

In order to stabilize overseas markets, Britain had to vigorously develop colonies, so that it could ensure Britain's control and monopoly on the sale of goods, capital

export and the acquisition of raw materials there. This resulted in competition and conflict between Britain in Asia, Africa, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan in America

and the United States. In this competition and conflict, it can be said that the United Kingdom has the same characteristics, that is, maritime countries and land countries, the competition between Britain and Russia in Asia, the competition between Britain and France and our country Although the competition was in the contact zone between Asian and African colonies, in essence, it still reflected the contradiction between the British Isles and continental European law and Germany. In the war for the colonies

the war between Britain and the Boers in South Africa was very difficult. These situations indicate that the past belief that maritime hegemony was invincible has encountered challenges, and reflects the rise of land powers.

Under the influence of this huge change in reality, Mackinder put forward a new geopolitical theory of contemporary significance with his unique historical vision and profound macro-space concept - - "Lu Xin said". In 1904, Mackinder read his article "The Geographical Pivot of History" at the Geographical Society.

In this paper, Mai divided the world into "hub areas", inner crescent-shaped areas, and outer crescent-shaped areas

based on geopolitical characteristics. The hub area is located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, where the terrain is flat and the climate is either dry or cold. The south is grassland

and desert, the north is taiga and swamp, and it belongs to the inland water system and the Arctic Ocean water system. It is blocked by mountains, plateaus, and basins to the south, and is connected to the Eastern European plains to the west.

The inner crescent area is a ring zone surrounding the hub area. To the east is the realm of East Asian Buddhism, to the south is the realm of Brahmanism in South Asia, to the southwest is the realm of Islam in Southwest Asia and North Africa, and to the west is the realm of Continental Christianity. The outer edge of the region is the coast that touches the

Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans. The outer crescent is the rest of the world, which includes islands beyond the Eurasian continent, such as Britain and Japan; sub-Saharan Africa; all of South and North America and Oceania.

According to history, Mai pointed out that the nomadic peoples in the hub areas started from the early Huns, Alvars, Bulgarians,

Magyars, and Mongols. From here, the group passed through the pass between the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea and the southern Russian grasslands, either through the Eastern European plains north of the Carpathian Mountains, or through the Danube River Valley south of the Carpathians to enter the hinterland of Europe.

The Mongols marched westward and established the Golden Horde in southern Russia and the Iler Khanate in Southwest Asia. It was the steppe peoples who took advantage of the mobility of horses and camels

to invade Europe that formed the history of the great European nations. Therefore, Mai said that European civilization was the long-term struggle against Asia

As a result of the war, the history of Europe should be regarded as a history subordinate to Asia.

Next, Mai said that after Columbus discovered the continent, the West used the maneuverability of sea navigation to break through Europe and go to the world. They used their fleets to establish sea control and established large colonies in the inner and outer crescents. On land, the Russians used the Cossacks to cross the Ural Mountains, pass through Siberia, reach the Pacific coast, and then enter Central Asia. The cooperation between sea and land has offset the strategic advantages of the nomads in the original hub area.

Mai believes that today, due to the invention of the steam engine and the construction of railways, the role of land powers has been changed. It has replaced horses and camels

The mobility of camels in the past has restored In order to reduce the pressure on surrounding areas, hub areas in world politics emerged. In response to this situation,

Mai's conclusion is: "The expansion of the hub country to the edge of the Eurasian continent has turned the balance of power in its favor.

This will It would enable it to build up a fleet using the vast resources of the continent, and a world empire would then be in sight, which could happen if Germany formed an alliance with

Russia."

Faced with this possible situation, in order to maintain Britain's world status and naval superiority, Mai's countermeasures for Britain are:

"The threat of such a situation, France must be aligned with a maritime power (i.e. Britain), so France, Italy, Egypt,

India and North Korea will become bridgeheads from which external navies can be supported to force the hub alliance to also deploy land units

For the sake of maritime national interests, we must unite with France, which serves as a land bridgehead, and force Germany to give up participation. "

After the end of World War I, Mai saw the German army attacking the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea in Russia during the battle between the German army and the Russian army.

Ukraine and the Sea of ??Azov. Although Germany has lost the war, Prussia's traditional power still exists. After Russia's revolution, the power of Germany and Russia will definitely recover, and they will once again pose a threat to the maritime countries together or individually. For this reason, he published his article "The Ideal and Realization of Democracy" at the time of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In the article, he replaced the "hub area" with "the heart of the continent"

and saw the important role of Eastern Europe in geopolitics, and put forward his "center of the continent theory" on world geopolitics

It can be summed up in three famous sayings:

Whoever controls Eastern Europe will rule the "Heartland";

Whoever controls the "Heartland" will rule Who controls the World Island;

Whoever controls the World Island rules the world.

The World Island is the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Because they are connected into one, it is called the World Island. Eastern Europe is a multi-ethnic region that has long been under the influence of Central European powers and Russia. The Paris Peace Conference established new countries based on national principles, making them the key to preventing both countries from realizing their geopolitical trends.

In the Second World War, Eastern Europe failed to play its role in preventing Germany. With Germany's defeat and the Soviet Union's victory, the Soviet Union not only controlled Eastern Europe

but even stationed troops in East Germany. Its situation, according to Mai's theory of Lu Xin, is extremely superior. However, under the Cold War situation

the United States and the Soviet Union were in opposition for nearly half a century. As a result, the bipolar opposition pattern during the Cold War ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It seems that the geographical conditions of geo

politics are undoubtedly an important condition in the world political situation. It is also restricted by other conditions. Otherwise, the geographical conditions

will become the environment. Deterministic fatalistic philosophy.

MacKinder's "Land Heart Theory" is a progress in the theory of geopolitics. First of all, he broke the long-term thought of sea power and raised the thought of land power to the height of global strategy. This can be seen in the importance of land power in both wars. Secondly,

he observed the characteristics of geographical conditions from a global macro perspective, first paying attention to hub areas, and then pushing to inner crescent-shaped areas,

outer crescent-shaped areas, while paying attention to Their mutual relationships and connections in global strategies. Third, from the background of past history, we should grasp the relationship between hub areas and foreign areas. This large historical view is a global strategy of time and space formed by combining it with the global macro geographical view.

This geopolitical idea of ??global space and time is Mackinder’s great contribution. Fourth, the superior status of the grassland peoples in history lies in their mobility. Mai noticed that the emergence of railways at that time would bring new mobility to hub areas. This reflects

his view on the impact that technological development and changes will have on geopolitics.

In addition, we should also see that Mai's analysis, conclusions and countermeasures are all centered on the decline of the British Empire. In order to save its declining trend, he loudly called for Britain to pay attention to it. The developments in Germany and Russia posed a fatal threat to Britain. Therefore, it can be said that this doctrine

has a distinct contemporary character. It was Mai's geopolitical thought that emerged at the turn of the century, and his three famous quotes also reflected the imprint of the popular thought of geographical environmental determinism at that time.