Articles | Volume 78, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-183-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-78-183-2023
Standard article
 | 
28 Mar 2023
Standard article |  | 28 Mar 2023

Mackinder's “heartland” – legitimation of US foreign policy in World War II and the Cold War of the 1950s

Oliver Krause

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Cited articles

Albert, M., Reubner, P., and Wolkersdorfer, G.: Kritische Geopolitik, in: Theorien der Internationalen Beziehungen, edited by: Schieder, S. and Spindler, M., Leske und Budrich, Opladen, 505–529, ISBN 9783810034670, 2003. 
Best, W.: Grundfragen einer deutschen Grossraum-Verwaltung, in: Festgabe für Heinrich Himmler zum 40. Geburtstag, Wittich Verlag, Darmstadt, 33–60, 1941. 
Blouet, B. W.: Halford Mackinder: A Biography, A & M University Press, Texas, ISBN 9781603441988, 1987. 
Bolles, B.: A look at `invisible' C.O.I. How Col. Donovan plays George Creel role explained, Evening Star, Washington, 30, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1941-10-05/ed-1/seq-30/#date1=1941&index=0&rows=20&words=Creel+Donovan+George+Plays&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1941&proxtext=Donovan+plays+George+Creel+&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 (last access: 10 March 2023), 5 October 1941. 
Bowman, I.: Geography vs. Geopolitics, Geogr. Rev., 32, 646–658, https://doi.org/10.2307/210002, 1942. 
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Short summary
Halford J. Mackinder's heartland theory became one of the most popular and cited geopolitical concepts in the 20th century. Through a complex process of trans- and international reception and adaption, the theory lost its attachment to its original geographical and historical parameters. Its translation from text into a simplified representation in maps accompanied the process of popularization and made the theory an instrument of legitimizing political actions in the public sphere.