WISCONSIN STATE UNIVERSITY - LA CROSSE GRADUATE COLLEGE Candidate: Wayne A Jacobson I recommend acceptance of this seminar paper to the Graduate College in partial fulfillnient of thls candidnte's ,- qulrements for the degree Master of Science. The candidate La,. >c..>leted his oral seminar report. d& aper Advisor This seminar paper is approved for the Graduate College. ! Lebensraum: Geography, Geopolitics, and The Third Reich A Seminar Paper Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Wisconsin State University - Lacrosse In Partitl Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Wayne A. Jacobson Nay 16, 1968 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Illustrations ..................................i ..11 I. Introduction.................................... ...... 1 11. Historical Development ................................5- 111. Political Geography Versus Geopolitlco ................ 4 IV. Political Geography of Germany .........................I V. Haushofer and Ideas that Influeneed Him: ..............10 Ratzel, Kjellen, and the Japanese 1 VI. Mackinder'a Theory .................................. :.3 - VII. Haushofer and Nazi Germany .......................... 19 VIII. Future Applications of the Concept of Geopolitics .........................................3C Bibliography ............................................ .33 Appendix ..................................................35 TABLE _OF ILLUSTRATIONS ii Changes In the boundariefi of Germany a.s a i.c::ul.t 0.f iiorld V:lr I. ................................ g .,-..?. ,,,,.. Y'IIL: iY<!\i \for1 (1 i~yIsL~.~,.I~I Bornan, 1928 1;;lcKir:Lar's pivot arezr, b~lsedon his map of 1904. .........16 iron Political Geo:l;rophy by Nornran Pounds, 1963. Circles represc~itine;the rclative populaticil of thc ';!orZd Island ad its setellites. ..................17 f7.o::.A 3er:locr:itic 1cie:'is and Re; lity by fi-lfora A,.. :-:kinder, ,Ir iibd. Circjt~;sre,resenting the resltive areas of the ';orlfL Island and its sotellites. ......................17 fro!;: 3emocrctic and Re~~lityby Hall'o~-d;-~. :K: ,.?r, I?<<?. ~Suro,:~in 1960 .............................................J,7 r) from ~ammond's Historical Atlas. Illustrations in theappendix are from German Strategy of blorld Conquest by Derr~ent;Jhittlesey., 1942 ........ .; ,-4,) I. Introduction To quote a remark once mado by Sir Thomas Holdich, "The cost of geographical ignorance is immeasurable." Xistory has shown that geographical ignorance in the twentieth century is a crime, and the bill is paid for not with dollars but with tears and wlth the life blood of youth on battle- fields all over the world. It is the author's purpose in this paper to examine the importanoo of understanding geography in connection wlth international relations. An attempt will be made to discuss the basic elementa of political geography and geopolitics as well as the rblationship between the two. The political geography of Germany after Uorld War I'will be examined bs will the ideas of the German Geopolitik. An attempt will be made to relate these things to the policies of the Third Reich. The idea of Lebensraum, or living space, will be discussad as a motive for the territorial expansion of Germany. The contributions of Haushofer, KJellen, Ratzel, .' dackinder, and Hitler shall be included. The paper is limited in soope to a disoussion of geopolitics in Germany; no mention ia made of the geopolitics of Russia, England, and Americae 11. Historical Development Since the conception of the first state there has been n direct relationship between man's practical and military maneuvers on the one hand and the factors of geography favor- ing or handicapping him on the othea. "Geographyt1comes from n Greek word meaning literally "description of the earth." But geography is concerned with man as well as the earth alone, and with relationships and analysis as well as wich description. The geographer analyzes the physical world ana examines relations between places in order to throw iight on the pattern and nature of human society. He investigate^. the interrelationship which exists between man and his physioal environment. He examines regional differences, attempts to account for them, picks out regional patterns, and tries to draw regional lines and to discern regional relationships. The geographer ooncentrates this study of the earth and its spatinl framework, or the pattern of distribution of things \ %a on the earth's surfaoe, toward a better understanding ol' the human world. He sets man in the framework of the earth wnich he inhabits. The recognition of the geographical factor in history and politics has its roots deep in the historical past. ., .. Greeks such as Herodotus, Plato, and Strabo raised questions concerning the interaction between the society and the geography of an area. Plato was intrigued by the relationship ! of a state to its area. Aristotle was interested in the state and its physloal environment. Among the Romans,Julius Caesar stands out for his early contributions. In his writing of Gallic Wars he combines political geography and history which indicates his recognition of the limitations imposed by the natural environment upon his conquests. The cognizance of the importance of the geographio factor is often cited as the reason for Caesar's suoceseful expansion of the Roman state. Caesar never went beyond the limits imposed by geography but conquered a compact area bounded by strong fronfiers. While Alexander was stopped just within the gateway to India and Napoleon was starved out at Moscow because they overlooked the geographio factor of space (long lines of supply) In their attempts to conquer Gne world, Caesar suooeeded by retreating Of his own will from those areas where geography seemed to indioate that such a cause was bestI1 It was the Germans many years 'later who first recognized political geography as a separate discipline. It was Immanual %ant during the eighteenth century who won the title "fatner of political geography." Kant's ideas found few adherents 1 I outside of Central Europe and Germany. However, among his 1 countrymen there arose a number of followers whose contributions .:/ are noteworthy in one way or another. Among these were l~ucille,Carlson, Geograpaphy and World Politic? (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentioe Hall, Ino., 195i-1, P* 13. Ii Friedrich List, ::nrl Rltter, Alexander Von Nietzche ., and Friedrich Ratzoi. Ratzel pUbl.ished the first methodical treatise on political geography and so became the actual origlnntor of that branch of the.discipline. The study of poli.',cal geography Ls concerned with the interaction of geographical area and political process; it is tha study of the spatial distribution and space relations of polisical process. Its attention centers on the part of tho e.rt.. occui~icdby a given political systeza, subsystem, 0.r syst- ,. As a part of geography, then, political geography ~cais with :nnnqs relationship to the earth, encompassini;: aspeL:b of such physical sciences as tne studies of climacd, landforms, and soils. At the level ol thu state, ~oliticalgeography desc2ibes and snalyzes tne physical aspects of the area, tke degree of political homogeneity of the state, and the state'; external relations. Political geography is relateu to the broi;~field of power politics, and a few have concentrate;. on this aspect in terms of the national self-interest 01% a particular state. 111. Political Geogr-phy Versus Geopolitics The most extreme exponents of power politicswere thu folioj?ers of the German ~choolof geopolitics who perverted polivical geography into a tool of Nazi policy. In the words of Karl Haushofer, ttPolitical geography views tho state 'rom the standpoint of space, while geopolitics views space -om the standpoint of the state.*12 In other words political , , ! geography is a descriptive and analytical science dealing with; ', 8 : , . spatial relations, boundaries, resources, and other aspects * ! j . , , < of the political area. Geopolitics treats the same general . I , , , subject material but approaches it from the point of view of national self-interest. "Geopolitik," according to Haushofer, I "is a dynamio science. Political geography is static and descriptive; it describes and explains a condition. Geopolitik probes the'dynamics of world political change; it vivifies space.1'3 A definition of geopolitics worked out by the editors of Zietschift fucr Geopolitik may be said to include the views of both Kjellen and Haushofer, who were so important in ils development. "Geopolitik is the science dealing with the dependence of political events upon the soil. It is based upon the broad foundations of geography, especially pollcical geography, which is the doctrine of political organisms of space and their stru~ture..~Geopolitikaims to furnish '?.a armature for political action and guidance in political iife...Geopolitik must come to be the geographical conscience of the state. 114 2~.Etzel Pearcy, World f'olitical Gco~raphy(New ::~rk: NcGraw Hill Co., 19621, p. 5 . .. 3~obertStrauz-Hupe, Geopolitics (New York8 G. >- Putmen's Sons, 19421, p. 52. 4~ucille Carlson, Geography and World Politics (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentic Hall, Inc., 19581, Richard Hartshorne, an American geographer, has concluded that, "geopolitics represented simply the appllca- tion of the ltnorrledge and techniques of political geography to the problems of international relations."5 ' According to the English geographer Geoi'frey tlartin, Geopolitics may bo regarded as a brnnch