Prisoners of Geography — Summary

A Book by Tim Marshall

The role of geography in determining the world’s power balance.

Did you realize that the ground on which you stand has formed the civilization in which you live? If this seems a little abstract, consider this: the physical characteristics and resources surrounding you have had a significant impact on your country’s economy, as well as how it has fared in the many conflicts waged throughout history.
Prisoners of Geography examines six of the world’s most intriguing and significant geographies. More often than you may believe, the decisions taken by international leaders are heavily influenced by the terrain. Sometimes these leaders and the people they represent turn out to be geographical captives.

Because it fears an attack from the West, Russia maintains an assertive presence in the Baltics.

There is no doubting that Russia is massive. Russia is by far the world’s largest country, spanning 6 million square miles and encompassing eleven separate time zones.
So, what keeps Russia’s President Vladimir Putin tossing and turning at night? It’s a special swath of terrain that resembles a slice of pizza.
This specific pizza-slice-shaped wedge begins in Poland and runs southeast to the foot of the Ural Mountain range, then northeast to Russia’s capital city of Moscow.

Putin is especially concerned since this region of land is part of the North European Plain, which spans from France to Belgium, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, Poland, and terminates at the Russian Urals. This terrain, as the name implies, is flat, making the European entryway to Russia weak and difficult to protect.
Any country in the North European Plain could theoretically send an army over the flatlands and into Moscow. This is exactly what has occurred to Russia throughout its history, as Putin is well aware.

This was the course that the Germans used in their military efforts during both World Wars. But that’s not all: since 1812, invaders from the Northern European Plain have attacked Russia once every 33 years on average!
For years, Russia’s strategy for countering the danger from the North European Plain has been to dominate Poland and the Baltic states that sit between it and Russia, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Belarus.

These are the countries that make up the “meat” of the pizza slice. While the wedge is 2,000 miles long from north to south in its easternmost part, it is just 300 miles width across Poland and the Baltic republics. Russia will be able to fight off prospective Western invaders more easily if it can establish a strong defensive front here.
Unfortunately, this implies that the Baltic states will continue to struggle.

Fears of Indian invasion and water scarcity maintain China’s hold over Tibet tight.

If you’re familiar with Tibet’s history, you’ll know that it’s been the location of an ongoing battle for independence from Chinese domination. It’s also one that has seen Tibetan monks light themselves on fire to protest Chinese tyranny on a regular, if always surprising, basis. In 2008, 21 Tibetans were killed as protests became violent.
There has been no shortage of humanitarian appeals advocating for the end of Tibet’s occupation. So, why is China so adamant about keeping Tibet?
The solution to this query may be found just west of Tibet in India.

Because China and India are by far the two most populous countries on the earth, there is concern about how bloody any big confrontation between them may become. It is probably good that the Himalayan mountains, which stretch along China’s western border, provide as a natural buffer zone between these two great powers. But this is bad news for Tibet, which is right in the heart of this buffer zone.

Tibet’s homeland is the Tibetan Plateau, which is located on China’s side of the Himalayas. So, if India sent an invading force across the Himalayas, they might capture the Tibetan plateau and hold a commanding position looking down on mainland China from which to launch their attack.
This is the key strategic rationale for China’s occupation of Tibet. If they don’t control it, they’re opening the door for India to seize it, leaving them tremendously exposed.
However, China’s efforts are motivated by another factor: water.

Tibet has long been known as “China’s water tower,” as three of China’s major rivers — the Mekong, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze — all originate in Tibet. So, not only would India have a superior offensive posture in Tibet, but they could also cut off China’s primary water supply if they controlled this territory.
In China’s opinion, whether India would ever try to deprive China of water is unimportant. The truth is that they could, and this poses a sufficient danger to China’s wealth for them to continue to occupy Tibet.

The United States is impregnable because to its arsenal of weapons and geographical advantage.

Which nation do you think a realtor would hold in the greatest respect if you were to conceive of the globe in terms of real estate? When nice neighbors, water supplies, and cutting-edge security systems are taken into account, most real estate professionals would rank the United States of America first.
Unlike the majority of the countries described in this book, the United States is not worried about conventional invasions.

The physical location of the United States is unusual in that it renders the country almost impenetrable to any invading force. Its only neighbors are Canada and Mexico, both of which are not only friendly, but also large enough that any invading force seeking to reach the United States through these nations would have to create impossibly extensive supply lines.

The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, which border the country’s west and east coastlines, provide some of the finest protection for the United States. This essentially prevents invasions from the east and west, because any invading army would have to battle with a full, dangerous ocean before ever reaching its target.
How does 100,000,000 loaded weapons sound for a cutting-edge security system?

Because of the United States’ lax gun regulations, any small town now has the ability to take up weapons and defend itself from invasion without the assistance of the federal government. Because this is a society where the right to carry weapons is inscribed into its social fiber, millions of Americans have easy access to firearms.
Any invading army would encounter a fresh group of armed residents in each Springfield and Sunnydale.

Northern Europe has been blessed by geography, whereas the south has been cursed.

Europe has made significant contributions to the contemporary world, for better or worse, as a result of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. This isn’t by chance; it’s owing in great part to Europe’s moderate temperature, abundant rainfall, and good soil, all of which contributed to the development of successful communities.
However, due to location, certain sections of Europe have flourished more than others.
When the Eurozone crisis reached its apex in 2012, negative stereotypes began to surface with increasing regularity in German media, attempting to explain why some regions of Europe were facing such a terrible economic collapse.

These stereotypes, in particular, characterized northern Europeans as hardworking hard workers and southern Europeans as a bunch of lazy slackers. However, rather than being due to a lack of work ethic, the underlying cause of several southern European nations’ difficulties resides in location.
The same Northern European Plain that worries Russia has offered excellent soil and a plethora of fruitful crops to France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. As a result, they are the nations associated with labor and wealth. With an abundance of commodities and things to trade, Northern Europe became home to busy commercial centers and significant metropolitan centres.

Southern European nations, on the other hand, have significantly less arable land.
Greece, for example, lacks adequate fertile territory to be a big agricultural exporter, which implies that the nation can only grow a small number of the great commercial centers that abound in the north. These cities, such as London and Hamburg, are home to the highly educated and talented employees that propel modern economies ahead.
Unfortunately for southern European states such as Greece, geography continues to play a significant role in their well-being and political future.

Geographical forces have created gorgeous but unsuitable streams throughout Africa.

Africa’s connection with its seas and waterways is complicated and difficult, and this isn’t simply because of its huge deserts. Africa has some of the most beautiful beaches and coastlines in the world, as well as famous rivers. However, as we will see, African governments have been dealt a terrible hand when it comes to commercializing these rivers.
For starters, Africa’s picture-perfect coastline is almost worthless for establishing ports.

Unlike much of Europe’s and the United States’ rugged beaches, where the ocean drops suddenly into deep waters ideal for mooring boats, Africa’s coastline is largely flat and shallow. This renders cargo ships unable to load and unload products for import and export.
While this is still a challenge, human ingenuity is beginning to find a way past Africa’s difficult topography. Tanzania and Angola, for example, have forged alliances with China to begin the construction of man-made deepwater harbors. In Tanzania, they’re utilizing physical force to develop the Bagamoyo port so that it can someday load and unload 20 million containers of goods each year, making it Africa’s largest port.

However, Africa’s problems do not stop at the shore. Moving inland, Africa’s rivers present another another topographical impediment to trade.
The Zambezi River is one of Africa’s longest and most beautiful rivers. Its 1,600-mile stream winds across six nations, accentuated by whitewater rapids and magnificent waterfalls like Victoria Falls. These breathtaking characteristics may be appealing to adventurers, but they drastically restrict the river’s utility as a mode of transportation. Simply simply, cargo ships and waterfalls do not go along.

The impracticality of Africa’s rivers as viable commerce routes has severely curtailed trade and communication between the continent’s many regions. As a result, economic growth across the continent has been substantially hampered, as have the formation of main trade routes.

North Korea’s geography has endowed it with hills, whereas South Korea has flat territory all the way to Seoul.

North Korea is becoming a significant nuisance, particularly for South Korea, due to the apparently unending threats it offers to surrounding countries. You might be asking how this challenging arrangement has lasted so long, and the answer, once again, is geography.
Despite having twice the population and 80 times the economic might of North Korea, not to mention having a superpower like the US on its side, South Korea has remained the vulnerable one.

This is due to the hills and hilly terrain on North Korea’s side of the border, which is only 35 miles from Seoul, South Korea’s capital city and home to half of the country’s 50 million residents.
Military analysts estimate that North Korea has 10,000 warheads cached beneath these hills, ready to fire 500,000 rounds onto Seoul in 60 minutes. So, if a battle breaks out, South Korea understands it will have to deal with millions of civilians fleeing south from Seoul while also attempting to establish a strong defense line in that area. It doesn’t take a strategic genius to figure out that this is a formula for disaster.

Another factor working against South Korea is that the 35 miles separating Seoul and North Korea are flat, making the hills on the North Korean side of the border much more perilous.
As a result, if North Korea launched a surprise attack, their army could simply maneuver across the flat terrain and into the heart of the enemy’s capital city, delivering a crushing blow. If, on the other hand, South Korea launched a surprise attack, it would instantly encounter a series of topographical speed bumps that would slow down ground soldiers and expose them to attack.

This is one of the reasons why these two opposing nations have been in a political stalemate for more than 50 years.