Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United KingdomMackinder, Halford John
History
Seven Lectures on the United Kingdom for use in India: Reissued for use in the United Kingdom
Mackinder, Halford John
Great Britain
Here is a scene typical of the varied difficulties which have to be
met by the very varied army of our King. Mounted Infantry of West
African soldiers, commanded by white officers, have arrived at some
wells, one of which is to be seen at the foot of the officer on the
right. Unfortunately on this occasion a caravan with cattle had
passed and drawn all the water, so that the column had to move on
another 10 or 12 miles. Such are the difficulties to be encountered
on the frontiers of the Empire. It is evident that local men will
meet these difficulties most easily. Each race knows its own land
best. Therefore, while the King has one Navy to defend the whole
Empire, he has many Armies in its different parts. Both the Navy and
the Armies are essential to one another. As long as the Navy keeps
the sea, no great force can invade the British Empire, except on its
two land frontiers. On the other hand, the Navy can only be free to
command the sea if the King’s subjects in each land are prepared to
defend the Naval Bases should it be necessary.
[Sidenote: 31. Map of World showing position of important campaigns
on land since 1660.]
There is one thing more, however, to be added. Battleships and
cruisers can sail over all the ocean, except where covered with
the northern and the southern ice. Three-quarters of the world,
therefore, lies open to them. But battleships and cruisers cannot
sail over the plains and the mountains. It is, hence often necessary,
when the enemy has been defeated at sea, to land a British Army in
order to achieve a given end. In this map each red dot, and you see
how many there are, marks the position of a land campaign fought by
Britain in the last two centuries and a-half. The most striking fact
is that no dot is placed in the British Isles. There were a few small
battles fought in Britain during the first hundred years of this
time, but no great campaigns in the sense that there were British
campaigns on the mainlands of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Had
all the small wars been inserted, some parts of the continents would
have been coloured red all over, for the dots would have joined. Now
I think we may draw this conclusion from the map--that the British
Navy has saved the British Isles from war on land, but that the
British Army has often carried war into the country of its opponents.
The Army is now stationed chiefly in India, because of the Indian
Land Frontier in the north-west, and in the British Isles, but
portions of it are also in Gibraltar, in Malta, in Egypt, in South
Africa, and in other parts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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