Geopolitical consequences of The Treaty of Versailles

Abstract

The following article is an attempt to refer to problems I have encountered during my seminars held within the National Security course. They concern a rebirth of interest in geopolitics that one can observe among the students. This doesn’t mean only “the return to geopolitics” in academic inquiries, but a widespread tendency to explain questions of international relations and security in terms of geopolitical conceptions. Geopolitical theories are used not only to explain international politics, but also historical developments determined by geographic factors, and with political realism in view. Geopolitics is treated as a kind of formula that, if supplied with adequate data, should give concrete answers regarding strategies and policies. What is interesting is that the academic youth has difficulties with both defining the object of their inquiries, as well as with distinguishing between a conscious geopolitical strategy and strategies forced by geographic circumstances. Keeping that in mind, I began to investigate and analyze particular facts by placing them on a geopolitical matrix. The following article presents the results of my research, in which I focus on a very interesting moment in history, when old political conceptions broke down, making room for new ones - also geopolitical.