Geopolitics and geostrategy

If Emperor Nicholas II had adopted the geostrategic views of Major General Alexei Vandamm, there would hardly have been a revolution in Russia in 1917. Who knows, maybe St. Petersburg would still be the capital, and a certain Romanov would be cycling along Nevsky Prospekt, imitating the King of Sweden.

The books and articles of Vandam were very popular in the run-up to the First World War. He was then Russia's answer to the legendary British geopolitician Helford Mackinder. While Mackinder believed that Britain should prevent the unification of the "Heartland," i.e., the Eurasian continent, and discourage the continental states in their quest for seaports, Vandam formulated the opposite strategy - in his view, Russia should unite with Germany and France in order to achieve its geopolitical objectives, i.e., to gain an outlet to the warm seas.