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able in the Pacific. From this point of 

 view the real divide between east and 

 west is to be found in the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



' ' The oversetting of the balance of 

 power in favor of the pivot state, result- 

 ing in its expansion over the marginal 

 lands of Euro-Asia, would permit of the 

 use of vast continental resources for 

 fleet-building, and the empire of the 

 world would then be in sight. This 

 might happen if Germany were to ally 

 herself with Russia. The threat of such 

 an event should, therefore, throw France 

 into alliance with the over-sea powers, 

 and France, Italy, Egypt, India, and 

 Korea would become so many bridge 

 heads where the outside navies would 

 support armies to compel the pivot allies 

 to deploy land forces and prevent them 

 from concentrating their whole strength 

 on fleets. On a smaller scale that was 

 what Wellington accomplished from his 

 sea-base at Torres Vedras in the Penin- 

 sular War. May not this in the end 

 prove to be the strategical function of 

 India in the British Imperial system? 

 Is not this the idea underlying Mr 

 Amery's conception that the British 

 military front stretches from the Cape 

 through India to Japan ? 



' ' The development of the vast poten- 

 tialities of South America might have 

 a decisive influence upon the system. 

 They might strengthen the United 

 States, or, on the other hand, if Ger- 

 many were to challenge the Monroe 

 doctrine successfully, they might de- 

 tach Berlin from what I may perhaps 

 describe as a pivot policy. The partic- 

 ular combinations of power brought into 

 balance are not material ; my contention 

 is that from a geographical point of 

 view they are likely to rotate round the 

 pivot state, which is always likely to be 

 great, but with limited mobility as com- 

 pared with the surrounding marginal 

 and insular powers. 



' ' I have spoken as a geographer. 

 The actual balance of political power 



at any given time is, of course, the 

 product, on the one hand, of geograph- 

 ical conditions, both economic and stra- 

 tegic, and on the other hand, of the rela- 

 tive number, virility, equipment, and 

 organization of the competing peoples. 

 In proportion as these quantities are 

 accurately estimated are we likely to 

 adjust differences without the crude re- 

 sort to arms. And the geographical 

 quantities in the circulation are more 

 measurable and more nearly constant 

 than the human. Hence we should 

 expect to find our formula apply equally 

 to past history and to present politics. 

 The social movements of all times have 

 played around essentially the same phys- 

 ical features, for I doubt whether the 

 progressive desiccation of Asia and Af- 

 rica, even if proved, has in historical 

 times vitally altered the human environ- 

 ment. The westward march of empire 

 appears to me to have been a short ro- 

 tation of marginal power round the 

 southwestern and western edge of the 

 pivoted area. The Nearer, Middle, and 

 Far Eastern questions relate to the un- 

 stable equilibrium of inner and outer 

 powers in those parts of the marginal 

 crescent where local power is at present 

 more or less negligible. 



"In conclusion, it may be well ex- 

 pressly to point out that the substitution 

 of some new control of the inland area 

 for that of Russia would not tend to re- 

 duce the geographical significance of the 

 pivot position. Were the Chinese, for 

 instance, organized by the Japanese to 

 overthrow the Russian Empire and con- 

 quer its territory, they might constitute 

 the yellow peril to the world's freedom 

 just because they would add an oceanic 

 frontage to the resources of the great 

 continent, an advantage as yet denied 

 to the Russian tenant of the pivot 

 region." 



At the conclusion of Mr Mackinder's 

 address, a number of objections were 

 raised against his arguments by mem- 

 bers of the audience. Sir Thomas 



