Founder of the French geopolitical school Vidal de la Blanche (1845--1918) - professional geographer. At one time, he became interested in the political geography of F. Ratzel and, on its basis, created his own geopolitical concept, in which, nevertheless, he deeply criticized many of the key provisions of German geopoliticians. In the book “Picture of the Geography of France,” published in 1903, he writes, in particular:
The relationship between soil and man in France is marked by the original character of antiquity, continuity... People have lived in the same places since time immemorial. Springs and calcium rocks initially attracted people as convenient places for living and protection. Our man is a faithful student of the soil. Studying the soil will help determine the character, morals and preferences of the population.
As we see, here he stands firmly on the soil theory. But subsequently, to a greater extent, his ideas were formed on the basis of the rich tradition of French geographical and historical concepts. He critically comprehended and reworked many currents of German political and geographical thought. This critical approach is clearly visible when compared with the approach to geopolitics of its founder F. Ratzel. A critical spirit in relation to the teachings of German geopoliticians is characteristic of absolute majority scientists of France in the first half of the 20th century. If the core of Ratzel’s theory consists of the categories of space (Raum), geographical location of the state (Lage), “need for territory,” “sense of space” (Raumsinn), then Vidal de la Blanche has a person in the center. De la Blanche is essentially the founder of the “anthropological school” of political geography, which in his “execution” became an alternative to the German school of geopolitics “the theory of large space” and was called possibilism.
This confrontation in science is a reflection of the real contradictions between two neighboring countries, France and Germany, friends and rivals, a reflection of the entire sum of contradictions that have accumulated over the centuries.
Different scientific approaches to resolving global contradictions between two countries are a theoretical reflection of attempts to resolve global problems, search for the most optimal ways achieving your goals.
In his fundamental work “Eastern France” (1919), Vidal de la Blanche analyzes the problem of geopolitical rivalry between France and Germany - the problem of Alsace and Lorraine, and eastern France in general. He put forward the idea of transforming these lands (mostly German-speaking), which passed back to France after the First World War, into a zone of mutual cooperation between the two countries. To transform these rich provinces not into a barrier that fences off one country from another, giving benefit to only one side, but to make them as permeable as possible. In fact, the French geopolitician created a historical model of the development of first the Franco-German, then the European geopolitical space as a whole. De la Blanche still gave preference to French interests. This is evident from how thoroughly he proves the historical and geographical facts of these lands belonging to France.
Unlike the German school of geopolitics, de la Blanche rejects rigid geographical determinism, which sometimes resembles fate. He put in first place not geographical fatalism, but the will and initiative of man; man, like nature, can be considered as a “geographical factor.” Moreover, he assigned an active role to this factor as a subject of influence on historical processes. But this active subject does not act in isolation, but within the framework of a natural complex.
The main element of his theory is the category of locality in the development of civilization. Its basis is made up of individual centers, which are the first bricks, elements of civilization. They are small groups of people who are formed in the interaction of man with nature. In these primary cells - social cells - certain “ways of life” are gradually formed.
Interacting with environment, a person grows and develops. The scientist noted:
Geographical individuality is not something given in advance by nature; it is just a reservoir where the energy inherent in nature sleeps, which can only be awakened by man 28 .
These primary centers, interacting with each other, begin to form and, finally, form the basis of civilization, which, as it evolves, expands and covers more and more new territories. This expansion does not always occur smoothly and progressively. In the process of expansion and complication of structures, civilization experiences setbacks, bursts of energy are replaced by catastrophes and regression. The very forms of interaction of “primary foci” - cells are diverse and contradictory: there is influence (assimilation), borrowing and even complete destruction.
According to de la Blanche's theory, the process of interaction begins and, increasingly accelerating, occurs in the northern hemisphere from the Mediterranean to the Chinese Sea. In his opinion, in Western and Central Europe the interaction of the primary foci (elements) of civilization occurred almost continuously and
political formations, replacing each other, were superimposed on one or another configuration of interacting sets of small centers, communities, these unique microcosms.
The rapprochement and interaction of these heterogeneous elements, the assimilation of one another led
to the formation of empires, religions, states, through which the skating rink of history rolled with greater or less severity... It was thanks to these individual small pockets that life glimmered in the Roman Empire, and then in the Western and Eastern Roman empires, in the imperial government entities Sassanids, Persians, etc. (In vast areas of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the civilizational process was often interrupted, resuming somewhat later and partially).
As we see, de la Blanche repeats some of the ideas of F. Ratzel: their approaches to world history as a “continuous process of differentiation.” But if we talk about by and large, then this idea was formulated, substantiated, and developed more deeply and thoroughly by both of these scientists by G. Spencer.
We have already noted above that Vidal de la Blanche, in his concept, unlike F. Ratzel and other geopoliticians, emphasized not only the surrounding geographical environment. He viewed the role of states and political entities in the process of development of civilizations differently. If for F. Ratzel, as already said, the state is also an organic being, “developing in accordance with the law of growing territories,” then the French geopolitician believes that the state rather resembles something external, secondary, determined by the nature and form of interaction of local cells of civilizations.
This interaction occurs the more actively, the better the communications between local foci: rivers, lakes, seas, highways and railways etc. De la Blanche paid a lot of attention to communications in his works and argued that in the future, with appropriate communications, with the active interaction of individual centers of civilization, the creation of a world state is possible. And a person in that state will recognize himself as a “citizen of the world.”
An interesting aspect in the theory of the French geopolitician is the idea of gradually overcoming contradictions between continental and maritime states. This consolidation, in his opinion, will occur through the formation of fundamentally new relations between land and sea. He believed that continental spaces were becoming more and more permeable, as all types of communications were being improved, the road network was expanding and modernizing; sea routes and transportation (in general, the sea and ocean) are becoming increasingly dependent on connections with the continents. In this regard, he says that the “interpenetration” of land and sea is a universal process.
And one more touch in the multi-level concept of the French scientist. (We have already noted above that his state is, as it were, secondary, “a product of the activity of individual cells, communities, aware of the unity, similarity, compatibility of the main elements of their existence,” it (the state) is a product of this realized unity. ) Based on this, the geopolitician specifically understands the borders of states. The border is a living, conscious phenomenon; it is not determined by the “external” framework of the state or directly by physical and geographical factors.
A historian by training, it is worth saying that Paul Vidal de La Blanche (1845-1918) will in many ways be the opposite of Elisa Reclus. Vidal de La Blanche became the founder of the French geographical school, he is the author of the book Geographical Picture of France, which made up volume I of the academic History of France, published by Ernest Lavisse. In short, it is worth saying - Paul Vidal de La Blanche is a bright representative of official science.
a) Possibilism
It is important to know that a great admirer of German geographers, in particular Ratzel, Vidal de La Blanche advocated the strict scientific nature of geography. “The task of geography is to find out how the physical and biological laws that govern the world combine and change on different parts of the Earth’s surface,” he pointed out in 1913. With all this, being an opponent of dogmatism, Vidal de La Blanche categorically rejected Ratzel's determinism. The latter, in his book The Earth and the Evolution of Man (1922), qualified the approach of the French scientist as “possibilist.” "Any space (valley, mountain, river...; countryside, city...) contains many virtualities (for example, a river can be a border, a route of communication or a place of trade...); only a person can materialize some of these possibilities. The geographical existence of an area is by no means predetermined by nature once and for all... It is worth noting that it will be derived from human activity and gives unity to materials that do not have such unity in themselves."
Unlike Ratzel, Vidal de La Blanche does not attempt to create complex theoretical structures. It is worth noting that he writes, analyzes, and studies models. Thus, the concept of “way of life,” widespread in French geography in the first half of the 20th century, contributed to the focus on micro-geography: small space(village, city, region) was considered in isolation from the outside world and from numerous world flows, while larger spaces (states, continents and subcontinents) were considered artificial entities that could be decomposed into many smaller units.
This approach characterizes, in particular, the works Geopolitik (1936) and Peoples and Nations of the Balkan Peninsula (republished in 1993), written by Jacques Ancel, one of the followers of Vidal de La Blanche. Focusing on the “way of life,” Jacques Ancel pushes into the background such categories as nationality, borders, and the state, in the name of “a democratic rural unit of civilization, where the Balkan peasant rules. Being the rightful owner of his land, he also wants to be the rightful owner of the state ".
b) Eastern France - Lorraine and Alsace
In 1917, Vidal de La Blanche published the book Eastern France - Lorraine and Alsace. First World War was in full swing. The United States entered it on the side of the Allied powers (France, Great Britain...), and it was obvious that American forces became the decisive factor in the victory over the central empires. France, whose “bearded men” suffered terribly in the trenches, could not help but think about the main goal of its armed struggle against Germany: the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, annexed by the Germans in 1871. It was very important that the United States of America and its President Woodrow Wilson understood the enormous importance of this goal for the destinies of France.
The book It is worth saying - Fields of Vidal de La Blanche was intended to show why Alsace and Lorraine remain French territories, despite their Germanic culture and history. The author pointed out, in particular, that in 1789 the population of these provinces confirmed their belonging to France and enthusiastically accepted the ideals of the French Revolution, incl. the principle of self-determination of peoples. Can the book Eastern France be considered a purely scientific work? Or the work of a patriot who realized that in such a difficult ordeal as was Great War, science had no other tasks other than serving the interests of the Motherland?
It is quite natural that Vidal de La Blanche’s arguments did not find support among German geographers. From their point of view, the Rhine could not be the border of Germany: “Baden has always been a mirror of Alsace” (Friedrich Metz)
But can geography remain neutral and speak truths acceptable to all if it finds itself embroiled in international conflicts?
Ratzel-(1844-1904) Germany. Works: “Political Geography”, “On the Laws of Spatial Growth of States”.
Ideas: 1 The state as an organism (small states died out, large ones developed), Space as a political resource, Space is not a condition, but a political force. The growth of states is aimed at covering “politically valuable places.” The growth of states is associated with their growth into natural -closed spaces. The growth of states is carried out by connecting and absorbing small states. Large states tend to maximize geographical expansion (the idea of a world power). Typology of borders: artificial, natural (land, sea). Laws: The profitability of natural land borders is inversely proportional to their length .The profitability of natural sea borders is directly proportional to their length. The border is a peripheral organ of the state and serves as an indicator of growth, strength and weakness and changes in this organism. He put forward the idea of oceanic cycles (the movement of the strategic centers of the world from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and then to the Pacific Ocean).
Vidal de la Blanche (1845-1918).
The main work was published posthumously in 1922, “Principles of Human Geography.”
He accepted Ratzel’s ideas and adopted his methodology. 1898, in an article dedicated to Ratzel, questioned one of Ratzel’s main conclusions: “geographical individuality is not something given in advance by nature, it is only a reservoir where the energy inherent in nature sleeps, which can only be awakened by man.” Man is an important geographical factor, i.e. bearer of initiative.
In history, he distinguished 2 aspects: spatial (geographic), reflected in the environment, and temporal (historical), reflected in a person regarding initiative, i.e. the second aspect is more important, and the geographical location is an opportunity given by nature. The theory of passibilism He studied in detail the mechanism of expansion and spread of civilization. Within each specific spatial area with its own special geographical conditions man interacted with nature, as a result of which, over a certain period of time, a certain “way of life” was developed, closed in this area - a center or cell of civilization. In the process of interaction between cells of civilizations, an exchange of its achievements occurs, as a result of which civilization spreads. He highlighted the special “happy” situation of Europe: climate, and most importantly, geographical diversity, therefore, the diversity of centers of civilization, way of life, there is an intensive exchange of achievements, because the foci are densely located. In Europe, the development of civilizations was carried out continuously, but in Africa and Asia, cells of civilization were destroyed, and after a break they were partially resumed. He believed that the main region of world civilization was the “Northern Hemisphere” from the Mediterranean to the Chinese Sea. Believed that France was the most good example interpenetration of centers of civilization and performs an important civilizing mission in the world.
Before the outbreak of the First World War, he noted that Germany is the only great power in the world that has no outlet for expansion, is territorially pushed aside by its great neighbors, and therefore is potentially dangerous, and its strengthening must be prevented.
Introduction…………………………….................................................. .......................p. 3
“Human Geography”……………………………………………………pp. 4-12
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….....pages 13-14
Sources……………………………………………………………………………….p.15
ViewAle de la Blache(Vidal de la Blache) Paul (22.1.1845, Peznas, - 5.4. 1918, Tamaris), French geographer. The creator of the French geographical school, in which special importance is attached to human geography. Author of studies in the field of physical geography and population geography ["Picture of the Geography of France", 1903, "Eastern France" (Lorraine and Alsace), 1917, etc.], a large atlas on the geography and history of the world (contains maps of ancient, medieval and new history, geography of continents and countries). Founder (1891) of the French geographical magazine "Annales de géographie". The scientist’s main theoretical works are summarized under the editorship of E. Martonne in the book “Principles of Human Geography” (1922). Based on the idea of V. de la B. and under his leadership, the preparation of a multi-volume work on world geography, published posthumously, began.
Introduction
The founder of the French geopolitical school, Vidal de la Blanche (1845-1918) is a professional geographer. At one time, he became interested in the political geography of F. Ratzel and on its basis created his own geopolitical concept, in which he nevertheless deeply criticized many of the key provisions of German geopoliticians. In the book “Picture of the Geography of France,” published in 1903, he writes, in particular: The relationship between soil and man in France is marked by the original character of antiquity, continuity... People have lived in the same places since time immemorial. Springs and calcium rocks initially attracted people as convenient places for living and protection. Our man is a faithful student of the soil. Studying the soil will help determine the character, morals and preferences of the population.” As we see, here he stands firmly on the soil theory. But subsequently, to a greater extent, his ideas were formed on the basis of the rich tradition of French geographical and historical concepts. He critically comprehended and reworked many currents of German political and geographical thought. This critical approach is clearly visible when compared with the approach to geopolitics of its founder F. Ratzel. A critical spirit in relation to the teachings of German geopoliticians is characteristic of the vast majority of French scientists in the first half of the 20th century. If the core of Ratzel’s theory consists of the categories of space (Raum), geographical location of the state (Lage), “need for territory,” “sense of space” (Raumsinn), then Vidal de la Blanche has a person in the center. De la Blanche is essentially the founder of the “anthropological school” of political geography, which in his “execution” became an alternative to the German school of geopolitics “the theory of large space” and was called possibilism.
Let's take a deeper look at some of its provisions.
"Human Geography"
Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845–1918) is the founder of the French school of “human geography”, which is mainly concerned with the study of the influence of the geographical environment on humans, in particular local natural conditions on the history of a given area. In 1891, Vidal de la Blache founded the magazine “Annales de Geographic”.
As a professional geographer, Vidal de la Blache was fascinated by Ratzel's “political geography” and built his theories based on this source, although he harshly criticized many aspects of the German geopolitical school. De la Blache's views were formed under the influence of the rich traditions of French geographical and historical thought, as well as critical understanding of German political geography. The theoretical provisions of Vidal del Blache were in many ways opposed to the concept of the founder of geopolitics, Ratzel.
This feature - an explicit or hidden polemic with the concept of Ratzel and his followers - is generally characteristic of French approaches to the problems of geopolitics in the first half of the 20th century. It was in opposition to German geopolitics that the French interpretation of modern geopolitical aspects developed international relations. If at the center of Ratzel’s concept were the concepts of space, the geographical location of the state and the concept of “sense of space” associated with the “need for territory,” then Vidal de la Blache put man at the center of his concept, becoming the founder of the “anthropological school” in political geography, a kind of French an alternative way of understanding geopolitical problems.
Unlike German political geography of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from which Vidal de la Blache drew many ideas, the French author was alien to geographical fatalism. He gave great importance the will and initiative of man. In an 1898 article dedicated to Ratzel, Vidal dela Blache first put forward the thesis that “man, like nature, can be considered as a geographical factor” - and not so much a passive one, but actively influencing and directing processes on globe, but acting not in isolation, but within the framework of the natural complex.
The confrontation between the German and French scientific schools reflected the real contradictions between the two countries and their interests. The objective needs of each of them - France and Germany - to solve their immediate and strategic problems, to find their stable place in the European concert of states and peoples determined not only politics and public opinion, but also scientific approaches to solving global problems of human civilization, forced them to look for theoretical justifications and explanations of ongoing processes and outline the contours of the future.
No wonder that Special attention Vidal de la Blache paid attention to Germany, which was France's main political opponent at the time. He believed that Germany is the only powerful European state whose geopolitical expansion is deliberately blocked by other developed European powers. If England and France have their vast colonies in Africa and throughout the world, if the USA can move almost freely to the south and north, if Russia has Asia, then Germany is squeezed on all sides and has no outlet for its energy. De la Blache saw this as the main threat to peace in Europe and considered it necessary to weaken this dangerous neighbor in every possible way.
This attitude towards Germany logically entailed the geopolitical definition of France as part of the common front.” sea power”, oriented against continental powers. De la Blache's position was opposed by the Germanophile movement, led by Admiral Lavalle and General de Gaulle.
In his book “Picture of the Geography of France”(1903) de la Blache turns to the theory of soil, so important for German geopoliticians: “The relationship between soil and man in France is marked by an original character of antiquity, continuity... In our country it can often be observed that people have lived in the same places since time immemorial times Springs and calcium rocks initially attracted people as convenient places for living and protection. Our man is a faithful student of the soil. Studying the soil will help determine the character, customs and preferences of the population.”
But, despite this – quite German – attitude towards the geographical factor and its influence on culture, Vidal de la Blache believed that Ratzel and his followers clearly overestimated the purely natural factor, considering it decisive. Man, according to de la Blache, is also “the most important geographical factor,” but at the same time he is also “endowed with initiative.” He is not only a piece of scenery, but also the main actor of the play.
This criticism of Ratzel’s excessive exaltation of the spatial factor led Vidal de la Blasha to develop a special geopolitical concept - “possibilism” (from the Latin possibilis - possible). According to this concept, political history has two aspects – spatial (geographical) and temporal (historical). The geographical factor is reflected in the environment, the historical factor – in the person himself (“the bearer of initiative”). Vidal de la Blache believed that the mistake of German “political geographers” was that they considered relief to be a determining factor political history states This diminishes the factor of historicism and human freedom. He himself proposes to consider the geographical spatial location as “potentiality”, “opportunity”, which can be actualized and become an actual political factor, or may not be actualized. This largely depends on the subjective factor - the person inhabiting this space.
In 1917, Vidal de la Blache published one of his fundamental works - the book "Eastern France" dedicated to a geopolitical problem vital for France - the problem of Alsace and Lorraine and eastern France in general. It is known that France traditionally considered it necessary to establish a border with Germany along the Rhine, which in French school textbooks for last centuries was called nothing less than one of the great rivers of France. In his work, Vidal de la Blache proves the original belonging of the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to France and the incompetence of German claims to these areas. At the same time, he appeals to the French Revolution, considering its Jacobin dimension an expression of the geopolitical tendencies of the French people, striving for the unification and centralization of their state through geographical integration.
He also explains political liberalism by people’s attachment to the soil, and hence the natural desire to obtain it as private property. This is Vidal de la Blache’s view of the connection between geopolitical realities and ideological realities: the spatial policy of Western Europe (France) is inextricably linked with “democracy” and “liberalism”.
The leitmotif of Vidal de la Blacha's research was the question: how to incorporate the lands of Alsace and Lorraine (where the majority of residents speak German) into French life? The answer seems to lie on the surface: introduce everything French and displace everything German. However, Vidal dela Blache puts forward the seemingly paradoxical idea of transforming these lands, which again passed to France after the First World War, into a zone of mutual cooperation between France and Germany. He writes about the need to make these rich lands not a dam, fencing off the benefit of only one side, but to open them to mutual relations and make them as permeable as possible. He considers this issue not from the point of view of immediate tasks, but tries to build a historical model of the development of the European geopolitical space as a whole (not forgetting, of course, French interests). At the same time, de la Blache gives, in addition to the historical, a geographical justification for the belonging of these lands to France.
The main provisions of Vidal de la Blache's concept are presented in complete form in his book, published in 1922 (the manuscript remained unfinished due to the death of the author in 1918). Central element de la Blache's concept is the concept of local development of civilization, the basis of which is individual cells (cellules), foci (noyaux). These primary cells, elements of civilization, are very small communities of people that are formed in the interaction of man with the surrounding nature. Within these relatively isolated cells, certain “ways of life” are gradually and spontaneously developed. Man, in interaction with the environment, forms himself, finding himself, at the same time, nature reveals its capabilities only within the framework of this close interaction with man. “Geographical individuality,” wrote Vidal de la Blache, “is not something given in advance by nature; it is only a reservoir where the energy inherent in nature sleeps, which can only be awakened by man.”
These “cells”, “primary elements”, interacting with each other, gradually form the fabric of civilization, which, expanding, gradually covers ever larger territories. This interaction is not some ongoing progressive process, but individual outbreaks, giving way to catastrophes and regression. The very forms of interaction between the “primary cells” of civilization are just as diverse and contradictory: from borrowings and mergers to almost complete destruction. The interaction process primarily affects the “northern hemisphere from the Mediterranean to the Chinese Sea” - it is this zone that Vidal de la Blache highlights when building his concept. Within the northern hemisphere, especially in Western and Central Europe, the interaction of the “primary elements” of civilization occurred almost continuously and political formations, “succeeding each other, were superimposed on one or another configuration of interacting sets of small foci, communities, these unique microcosms.” The rapprochement and mixing of these heterogeneous elements led “to the formation of empires, religions, states, through which the skating rink of history rolled with greater or less severity.” It was thanks to these individual small pockets that life glimmered in the Roman Empire, and then in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, in the imperial state formations of the Sassanids, Persians, etc. (In vast areas of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the civilizational process was often interrupted, resuming somewhat later and partially.)
Vidal de la Blache's concept echoes some provisions of Ratzel's concept. primarily with his approach to world history as “a continuous process of differentiation.” Ratzel paid great attention to local centers from which the diversity of civilizations was formed. In one of his works, he wrote: “Thanks to isolation, differences could develop that only later began to mutually influence each other and have a beneficial or harmful effect on the natural properties of man. All racial and cultural differences between peoples, all differences in the power of states must ultimately be reduced to a process of differentiation accomplished through changes in geographical location, climate and soil.” In contrast to Ratzel, Vidal de la Blache, in addition to emphasizing the active role of man and in addition to rejecting geographical determinism (characteristic of Ratzel), defined the role of states completely differently, political entities in the process of development of civilizations. If for Ratzel the state is, first of all, an “organic being”, developing in accordance with the “law of growing territories” http://www.humanities.edu.ru/db/msg/86259 - p65, then de la Blache is inclined to consider it rather as something external, secondary, ultimately determined by the very nature and form of interaction between various local foci, these individual cells of civilization. It is noteworthy that neither Ratzel nor Vidal de la Blache denied the possibility of the formation of a world state. Ratzel, however, associated this possibility with the territorial growth of states, which he considered a universal trend. Development of contacts, expansion trade relations he considered it primarily as a prelude to the establishment of political control of a given state over the new colonized territories. Trade and war for Ratzel are two forms, two stages in the process of territorial growth of the state. Vidal de la Blache also paid great attention to communication issues, he believed possible creation in the future of a world state as a result of the interaction of individual local foci. He viewed this process of interaction as self-sufficient, capable of leading in the long term to a person becoming aware of himself as a “citizen of the world.”
An important feature of Vidal de la Blache’s concept is the thesis about the gradual overcoming of contradictions between maritime and continental states through the formation of fundamentally new relations between land and sea: continental spaces become more permeable, an extensive network of communications orients them towards sea routes, the sea, in turn, is becoming increasingly dependent on connections with continental zones. This “interpenetration” of land and sea is a universal process - this is the conclusion of Vidal de la Blasha.
De la Blache's possibilism was perceived by most geopolitical schools as a correction of the rigid geographical determinism of previous geopolitics. In France, as already noted, he became the founder of the national geographical school, whose representatives were L. Febvre, A. Demangeon, J. Gottman, J. Brun, E. Martonne and others. De la Blache’s approach was also taken into account by the German geopoliticians of the Haushofer school , who considered Vidal de la Blache's criticism to be entirely justified and important. In this case, obviously, the role of the ethnic or racial factor increased when considering the political history of states, and this resonated with the general surge in racial problems in Germany in the 20s.
Conclusion
As we see, Vidal de la Blanche stands firmly on the theory of soil. In the book “Picture of the Geography of France,” published in 1903, he writes, in particular: “The relationship between soil and man in France is marked by the original character of antiquity, continuity... People have lived in the same places since time immemorial. Springs and calcium rocks initially attracted people as convenient places for living and protection. Our man is a faithful student of the soil. Studying the soil will help determine the character, morals and preferences of the population.”
Subsequently, to a greater extent, his ideas were formed on the basis of the rich tradition of French geographical and historical concepts.
The French school of geopolitics is the least expansionist and the most humanitarian. Paul Vidal de la Blanche (1845–1918) sharply criticized Ratzel for his geographical determinism and put forward the principle of “possibilism”, which is fundamentally important for modern geopolitics, according to which a particular space only provides a person with the possibilities of one or another geopolitical configuration, but the realization of these possibilities depends on the will of the people.
The geographer considered the leading historical process to be the civilizational process - the gradual integration of small social cells into more and more complex organisms - countries, peoples, civilizations. Vidal de la Blanche envisioned the creation of a world state in the future, but not through conquest, like other geopoliticians, but through peaceful civilizational integration.
Important for French geopolitics is the idea of convergence, the interpenetration of opposing geopolitical forces - Land and Sea, great powers. Blanche saw the solution to the border dispute between France and Germany in the transformation of Alsace and Lorraine from a zone of conflict into a zone of cooperation.
The geopolitical ideology of the European Union is largely based on the geopolitical ideas of de la Blache and his followers; the ideas of globalization in their “internationalist” aspect are also largely related to the influence of the French school, which has great merit in developing the ideas of flexibility and variability in geopolitics.
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Vidal de la Blanche
Blanche Vidal de la (1845 - 1918) - French professional geographer, founder of the French geopolitical schools. Proceedings: “Picture of the Geography of France” (1903), “ Eastern Europe"(1919). The founder of the “anthropological school” of political geography - possibilism (space does not predetermine history, but predisposes to one direction or another), which became an alternative to the German school of geopolitics. At the center of geopolitical theory, B. placed not geographical fatalism, but the will and initiative of man. Man, like nature, can be considered as a “geographical factor”. The latter is assigned an active role as a subject of influence on historical processes, which does not act in isolation, but within the framework of the natural complex. The main element of his theory is the category of locality in the development of civilization. It is based on individual foci, which are small groups of people formed in the interaction of man with nature. The state is determined by the nature and form of interaction between local cells of civilizations.
Materials used in the book: Political thought of modern times. Personalities, ideas, concepts: Quick reference/ Comp. Mikhailova E.M. – Cheboksary: CHKI RUK, 2010, p. 7.
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