The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

In addition to these three famous quotes about the Land Power Theory, Mackinder also said that in history, the nomadic peoples living in this area had conquered the peripheral areas many times, posing a great threat to the surrounding civilizations. The development of modern railways has formed new mobility. Russia has replaced the Mongol Empire. The alliance between the hub country Russia and Germany has the potential to expand to the peripheral areas of the Eurasian continent and form a world empire.

The second thing is that Mackinder cited a lot of historical facts to show that the conquerors from the interior of the continent expanded and invaded the marginal areas in three directions: southeast to the monsoon marginal areas and Australia; northeast to America through Siberia and Alaska; west to the marginal areas of Europe and the southern hinterland. World history generally develops in these directions.

Mackinder found the "heart" of the world's continents and established the theoretical basis for the theory of land power. At that time, as far as his country was concerned, people believed that Britain, as a sea power, faced serious challenges from the rise of land powers and needed to revise its strategy and foreign policy. Although it was obviously too late at the time, it did not affect the strong influence of the theory of land power on international strategy and political geography, because it was the first attempt to combine history, physical geography and political geography and provide a global strategic concept in the context of world geography.

The opposite of Mackinder's land power theory is the sea power theory.

What is sea power theory? Simply put, it can be said to be a theory of power or hegemony that controls the world through the ocean.

This theory originated from the idea of ​​the ancients to establish a strong national maritime force to control the ocean. Representative figures include Themistocles, the naval commander of the ancient Greek city-state Athens in the 6th to 5th century BC.
and Pericles. In modern times, this idea has been further developed and even became a military term.

The theory of sea power as a military term was founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It holds that the ocean will inevitably become the main area of ​​competition and conflict among maritime powers eager for wealth and strength. Maritime powers must meet multiple conditions to gain freedom of action at sea. The key to naval strategy is to establish and use a country's maritime power in peacetime and wartime. The way to seize control of the sea is fleet decisive battles and maritime blockades.

The originator of the sea power theory is Mahan, who believes that sea control is the most important to a country's strength. The main routes of the ocean can bring a lot of commercial benefits, so there must be a strong fleet to ensure sea control, as well as enough merchant ships and ports to take advantage of this benefit. At the same time, he emphasized the value of marine military security, believing that the ocean can protect the country from fighting on the mainland, and that sea control has a greater impact on war than the army. He advocated that the United States should establish a strong ocean-going fleet to control the waters near the Caribbean Sea and the Central American Isthmus, and then further control other oceans, and then further work with the great powers to use the maritime interests of Southeast Asia and China.

In addition to Mahan, the representatives of the Sea Power Theory include British naval theorist and historian JS Corbett, Russian naval officer NL Crado, etc. Because the basic viewpoints of the Sea Power Theory are highly respected by maritime powers such as Britain, the United States, and Japan, and have a profound impact on the maritime policies and naval strategies of these countries.

The first people to accept the theory of sea power were the British. At that time, Britain was debating the issue of expanding its navy, and Mahan's works had an important impact on the British naval construction and naval strategy. At the same time, because he made many comments on the failure of the French navy, he was valued by the French and praised his comments for being objective and fair.

In Germany, William II used the Sea Power Theory as the theoretical basis for expanding the navy and stipulated that Mahan's works be the textbooks of the naval school. In Japan, because the Sea Power Theory was created at a time when Japan was fully expanding its ocean-going navy, it was highly praised by Japanese political and military circles. In Russia, the Russian translation of the early works of the Sea Power Theory was regarded as a classic by young naval officers. Kladno advocated the application of the Sea Power Theory to the construction of the Russian navy and maritime power, and was therefore praised by the Tsar.

The United States accepted the theory of sea power as a national policy a little later than Europe. After Roosevelt became the Undersecretary of the Navy in 1896, he began to fully accept the theory of sea power and vigorously developed the navy, revised the naval system, and built arsenals and docks. By the time the Spanish-American War broke out in 1989, the United States had a fleet superior to that of Spain, laying the foundation for victory. After the war, the US Navy controlled the Caribbean and occupied Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, Samoa and Wake Island.

Many people believe that the United States inherited Britain, which is not without reason. From the perspective of the United States' concept of global governance, it is generally inherited from Britain. However, in terms of governance effectiveness, it is obviously not as good as the British!

This is why there has always been a view in academia that the United States is the most powerful world empire in the world's history, but also the worst world empire in history.

The United States attaches great importance to the theory of sea power and the theory of land power, which can be seen from the actions taken by the United States during World War I, World War II and after World War II. The United States replaced Britain with World War I and World War II, and cooperated with the Soviet Union to dismantle the British and French colonial system. The United States controls the key fulcrums of the world's major shipping routes with its powerful navy and a large number of overseas military bases. This is a manifestation of the theory of sea power in the United States.

The United States has always been meddling in the affairs of Eurasia and Africa, causing unrest in these two continents. It even launched the Gulf War and the Kosovo War in the 90s. As soon as the 21st century began, it could not wait to launch the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. This also shows that land power theory is a manifestation of the United States.

However, since the 80s, the United States has been facing challenges from all sides in terms of maritime and land power.

Today, this challenge is so powerful that it has caused the United States to make a significant retreat in both sea power and land power.

There is even a fierce debate in the United States. Some people believe that land power should be abandoned, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be ended, and the United States should withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq. Some even more extreme views believe that the United States should abandon its large number of military bases in Eurasia and Africa and concentrate its efforts on ensuring its dominance in sea power.

Of course, there are even more extreme views that believe the United States should withdraw all overseas military bases, return to the era of isolationism, accumulate strength, live its own life well, and have the opportunity to regain world hegemony in the future.

Another group believes that the United States can retire now, and as the world hegemon, it can only meet the challenges it faces and should do more to maintain its land and sea power so as to dominate the world and contain all challengers.

This group even made some very alarmist remarks, that is, once the United States retreats, it will be a deep abyss!

Britain lost its vast colonies in World War II, and its national strength weakened rapidly. It is now in an embarrassing position. This is only because of the US-UK alliance system and the support of the United States.

This is the lesson!

Britain can withdraw and still rely on the US-UK alliance system to maintain its influence in the world.

If the United States withdraws, what can it rely on?
Rely on the mercy of the new world hegemon? (End of this chapter)