ABSTRACT
While the theoretical foundations of Geopolitik were laid only in recent times, its practical application-the instinctive sense for geopolitical possibilities, the realization of its deep influence on political development-is as old as history itself. Geopolitical vision inspired daring leaders who guided their people along novel neverbefore-travelled roads. Powerful new states emerged because their creators, with the sensitivity of the true statesman, understood the geopolitical demands of the hour. Without such insight, violence and arbitrariness would have charted the course of history. Nothing with lasting value could have been created. All structures of state which might have been erected would sooner or later have crumbled into dust and oblivion before the eternal forces of soil and climate.
