GEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF RUSSIA’S FOREIGN POLICY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS ACCESS TO THE OPEN SEA BY MARY DOMONICA FANTI B.S., University of Illinois, 1935 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GEOGRAPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, 1946 URBANA, ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL AUGUST 3 1 , 1946 I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY_______MARY DOMQNICA FANTI_________________________________ F.NTTTT.RD GEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF RUSSIA1 S FOREIGN POLICY WITH__________ _____________PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS ACCESS TO THE OPEN SEA__________ BE ACCEPTED* AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF_ MASTER OF SCIENCE S in Charge of Thesis / I ^ * c f V Head of Department Recommendation concurred inf Committee on Final Examinationf ♦Subject to successful final examination in the case of the doctorate. fRequired for doctor’s degree but not for master’s. 500— 4-46— 32348 . m m - . sssKBs • • 1 8 IQ9 It Ji.£Ti-ris\h ■- vh * » .* « * * * * i' - *.* . **•*•'» * * *-# «.«*<•»•»« ■** VJ» «viu& a£ * utJU&feil «auis; a;.iC: XOCfcVfcitfU* . * * . m -. m * * .... | **.»**-#.* wli?;x it<35. ^ o l l 38&»t»?ul v v & o m x s m . mm.*.*... j r o ; : ■'•■ r- • l -% *^.m .»m .m *..4...«.«.,m oaf . * £ H & 1 m m ** m *•» untteuaa Camvit-lc»i0 fo r ..cnU: at* - 3 r o & t &m® : & Sbft-io .<**•* sr Jrfjiait iu . - 0 ^ 0 1: §1 '.ja.?. lC^4 MtMMMMM.yMM . 1 . v. t m . # * m *,y.^ vi£' 143 miuiKt Hjqplc?. »* m m ...».• Vi‘*•:*:X‘~ 5 fcr irr-Tu • 1 0 0 3 0 ? m m & & M*M#« ; i , iip a* i;,;;-pna^.la.u mm.. *. - m m Peridt" of ^vc&isiofu m ..m m #*m .«*.*. m. ■ til '.jozrtttty* * . .• M M M M- . i . »«#«*»*«• m,* <- ■*. ,c.;o bj%h t o l.%i\ & MM...MM.CMCMM -* u -x i/v u . v ,. , .vm?; v~ 1 :i<xr.o^ to :m* «mm.»*.mm« A^?oia he* ’kir-mm)- a t ■ V£iS* «£. ««*.»MM.n. •«■-.».»*. **M« ivOO0&f' cr« n • ^ u - l<vv^r ; m m .».m *. 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O t . ■ %tW > m. ................ ,..-'?3 4 .*^# policy, nthe geographic position of a nation, indeed, is the prin­ cipal factor conditioning its foreign policy—the principal reason why it must have a foreign policy at all**1 It is const tuted by the territory of a state viewed from the standpoint of position or location in the world* In our study of Russian foreign policy in its drive for access to the open sea, we need be concerned at length with the geographic factor only* the geographic setting of any national power involves several basic factors* l a u The size of an area that irakes up a state affects both its development and the influence It can wield in international affairs* thile a relatively large area Is not in Itself indica­ tive of power, it is generally a prerequisite for a state that aspires to power* Uruguay with its srall size can never hope to be powerful, yet Brazil, though larger than the United States, holds a secondary position due to a combination of unfavor­ able conditions* Shape has a bearing on the political and econom­ ic life of a nation, for national unity is fostered by compact­ ness, as well as by the utilisation of resources both human and material* The foreign policies of Chile, Italy, and Hormy are conditioned by their exceptionally long, exposed coastlines and that of Czechoslovakia Is affected by its long hemed-in land boundary* The location of a state with reference to its access­ ibility to trade routes and principal reserves of industrial raw materials affects its economic and political life* History shows 1* Jules Canbon, *fhe Permanent Bases of French Foreign Policy" Foreign Affairs. VIII (1930), 173. that situations advantageous for trade and cor^nerce lead to high states of development• Though the Netherlands and Dencark are sm ll and deficient In rlneral resources they are highly developed because of their proximity to Industrial areas of Europe and the principal trade routes of the world* t o r i No landlocked nation in the world of today is a great power* Any nation that has an internal combination of geographic assets that give promise to a high degree of development mist give up its aspirations for power unless it includes among its assets direct accessibility to the sea* Some even hold that a landlocked nation eaist push to the sea or suffer political death* Switzerland has maintained a vigorous national life for centuries but it might be said to be the exception that proves the rule* Boundaries, land or sea, can be avenues to the outside world as is the case of those in the United States, or protective barriers from it as is true of Bolivia* Afghanistan In her moxintain fastnesses has been protected fro® invasion by her two powerful neighbors but the isolation resulting from this very protection has denied it the ability and initiative fundamental to progress* £ U m M * Climate is important, too, for only in the temperate zones has human energy attained the high degree of efficiency necessary to large scale industrialisation and expansion* Extreme dryness and cold precludes agricultural cr pastoral production in suffi­ cient quantities to be cf any substantial value* Extreme and continuous heat or hu&idity is no worm conducive to a high stage of development than is the cold* Research shows that greatest •If— development takes place In those countries of the middle latitudes where frequent changes in weather are the rule; human beings re&ct in a manner favorable to progress where the weather changes are characterized by differences in temperature rather than in mois­ ture or amount of exposure to sunshine. All Great Powers today lie in middle latitudes* aaU L&M , M-Xn$£6l.£gl&$ms£2L* the basic natural resources of a state consist of soil and mineral deposits* Possession of coal and iron, the basic materials of industrial power, makes p o s s ib le a high degree cf Industrial­ isation and only those nations that p ossess these can have coia- s e r c i a l power in peace and stren gth In war. Without the* no rodern nation can hold the rank of Great Power. However, the extent of industrial development by the fortune te possessors of these resources IS conditioned by the degree of accessibility to the reserves, by cliisate and by resourcefulness of the people* China is only potentially a Great Power* Her mineral resources are yet undeveloped. Until she becomes aware of her wealth and develops it, she will rerain in that rank* Soil is, of course, the most valuable of natural resources for it provides the basis for all vegetable and animal products upon which mankind subsists* Though possession of fertile soil is no guarantee th* t its possessor can become a Great Power, no area without it ever reached this high rank* Uruguay is the classic example of a country that has deep, fertile soil and no appreciable amounts of mineral resources* In earlier days when civilisations were based largely on soil fertility , and animal and hue an power, the absence of mineral resources ir<eant far less to a nation than the lack of fertile soil, but today mineral resources are a vital part of the actual or potential power of a great nation* Tonography. the configuration of the land of a nation can add to or de­ tract fro® its political unity* The presence of a high traversing mountain chain with a few low passes can force a regional develop- rent on a nation that is at once disastrous to national unity and to political strength. One of the contributing factors to the backward state of sany of the South American countries Is this very condition* Peru can never hope to achieve any high degree of national unity while the mountains reraln the formidable barrier they do now* For one hundred fifty years our own Appalachian Mountains prevented expansion westward while they forced a favorable consolidation of the colonies along the eastern seaboard. However, the absence of relief both internally and along a nation*s periphery can ei courage invasion and devastation* Belgium lying astride a great plain has had to stand helplessly by while great invasions poured in at two different times within a generation* Density of copulation. A relatively large population is an essential eleisent of national strength? yet It alone is no guarantee of power today* China with its four hundred fifty million people cannot compare in power with France with a population of forty two trillion. In fact a large inert population, sans industry, national cohesion or productivity, may display an actual basic source of weakness in that it invites economic exploitation or colonisation on the - 6 - part of over-populfcted, highly industrialized countries seeking markets for their surplus goods* To an ambitious Japan, China presented just such a situation* On the other hand, Australia with a sparse population left to itself without artificial bar­ riers would Invite irsiigration and economic penetration by an aggressive over-populated nation that talks of "living sp*ce*.