Central Asia in International Relations

This book explains how the Central Asian region was perceived in the geopolitical thinking of Britain in the 1900s. It details the geographical pivot of history and heartland theories, developed by the British geo-strategist Halford Mackinder (1861-1947), and how it evolved over the past ten decades in the context of the Russian annexation of Turkestan (1860s); Germany’s advances in two World Wars (1914-18 and 1939-45) and the Cold War (1947-1991) among others. Mackinder sought a formula which could provide ‘practical value as setting into perspective some of the competing forces in international politics’ of his time. As he explained, the state which possessed the heartland of Eurasia — much of Russian and Central Asia — would be able to ‘fling power from side to side’ in that territory. Mackinder thus sought an approach that could provide guidance for the preservation of the British Empire. (p. 201)